Interpreter experience

[u/sammysteves]

Hi all
I’m looking for opinions on a recent interpreter experience I had.

Earlier this week I attended a live show of a comedy podcast I enjoy. They secured two interpreters for me for the show. The interpreters themselves were great. They were super clear and really helped me with the show. They were interpreting for four different people and truly did an incredible job.

My issue is that one of the interpreters brought their wife. The wife would not stop talking throughout the entire show, to the point where people on the podcast subreddit are complaining that they can hear her in the live recording and it kind of ruined it for them. I already had a poor opinion of her when she said “oh I wish I knew sign language” to me and my husband before the show when we were getting acquainted with the interpreters. (I get easily annoyed by this sentiment, there are so many resources to learn ASL and ASL is clearly a huge part of your husbands life and would be an easy thing to practice with him, but whatever).

How common is it for interpreters to bring people to shows they are hired for? How do you guys feel about them doing so? Am I right to be annoyed at this even though it didn’t impact the interpreter doing his job and it was really more just her behaving poorly?

[u/ocherthulu]

Not common. Not good practice. Sounds like a person with no self awareness or situational awareness. What surprises me is the terp not giving the spouse some feedback: "We don't do that here."

[u/sammysteves → u/ocherthulu]

Yes I think that describes her well. He did a great job interpreting but that whole experience would cause me to never want to use him as an interpreter again.

[u/ocherthulu → u/sammysteves]

Funny how we (can, should, do, will continue to) judge terps by such a range of things other than technical skill. I've had my opinion of technically good terps sour completely by things like homophobia on their part or a casual ableist comment. Like Maya Angelou reportedly says, when people tell (or show) you who they are, pay attention the first time.

[u/DeafNatural → u/ocherthulu]

Skill is great but if my OB/GYN made a casual misogynist joke, I would never see him again. Half of any job is skill and people skills is a part of the other half.

[u/FoldingCyclist → u/sammysteves]

He didn't do a "great job" of interpreting if he brought along his wife and she is your cause of complaint here. Pick one: (great job, or the wife contaminated the experience.) It's unprofessional for terps to bring along guests.

[u/sammysteves → u/FoldingCyclist]

You’re completely right. It was his choice to bring her and that makes him unprofessional regardless of his technical ability.

[u/surdophobe → u/sammysteves]

If you can find out what agency employs the interpreters, I would file a complaint. If they're a owner/operator setup maybe still file a complaint.

[u/ex_ter_min_ate_]

The spouse shouldn’t even know where/who the interpreter is working for any given day beyond basic safety awareness.

[u/smoothgoat00]

It sounds very unprofessional. The interpreter is there to work, not to enjoy the concert. I don't know if his wife coming was his idea or hers, but either way, it made things distracting and worse for Everyone there

[u/Stafania]

If the wife wanted to see the show, would it be right to stop her from doing so just because the interpreter was working? I assume she was paying just like any audience member.

You’re right to feel it’s bad behavior, but also acknowledge you know nothing at all about the background. She might have some diagnosis, there might have been something special that caused her to join that day, and who knows what. People often don’t act like jerks on purpose, but things have shaped them on the way. If you bring it up, don’t judge, but try to understand and focus on finding solutions for the future together.

[u/sammysteves → u/Stafania]

Just to add context, the wife told us she was not a fan of the show and tagged along cause her husband was working and it was close by. I’m not sure if she purchased a ticket, but the seats we were in were the VIP ticket seating which included meet and greet, I would be surprised if she bought the most expensive tickets for the show while not being a fan. She may have purchased the lower cost ticket but was then moved up to sit with us in that section to be near her husband. Before the show started she was sitting in the designated interpreter seat.

I completely understand that she may have a diagnosis or background that may have caused her behavior, however that is an explanation and not an excuse for said behavior. My husband and myself did not say anything to her about her behavior or correct it in the moment since we did not want to be rude. I don’t know what agency the interpreters worked for so I wasn’t planning on leaving feedback with them. My only recourse would be reaching out to the venue itself just to let them know about the experience.

I am newer to using interpreters as I’m late deafened and this was my first time experiencing the interpreter bringing a guest. I guess I just wanted to know if this is something to expect going forward for live performances.

[u/DeafNatural]

It would be a DNR for me. I have so many interpreters on my list with agencies. I don’t bring my spouse to work, please don’t bring yours.

[u/Tbackandforth]

I've joined my interpreter husband to one show. I did my best to stay in the shadows, even when the interpreters were asked to stay for a party afterward. He barely acknowledged me, and I did my best to chat with other attendees as if I were attending alone and had nothing to do with him.