The latest ASLIA Vic meeting covered a lot of ground and so it was with great relief (to get through all that business, and to get down to what I suspect most came for!) that those in attendance settled in for the presentation. Susan kicked off by thanking ASLIA Vic for supporting her in being able to attend WASLI, which was by all accounts a memorable experience.
The scene was set with pictures and some geographical & historical facts on Segovia, Spain where WASLI was held. I’m sure all watching (the presentation being in Auslan) were imagining themselves wandering around the ancient city’s aqueduct that provides Segovia with its name sign, in that glorious warmth, as I was. Down to the conference; WASLI, held over 2 days, was particularly memorable for an intimate, friendly collegial atmosphere. With 31 countries in attendance, both hearing and deaf delegates, and presentations from UK, Canada, USA, Kosovo (with Susan as co-presenter), Spain, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Japan making it feel very much the WORLD association (South America was represented in a presentation by Canadians on the past present and future of interpreting in Columbia) Although Africa did not present they did make up delegation numbers. Africa will no doubt be prevalent at the next WASLI in 2011 as South Africa won the bid to be the next host country. Topics covered such things as health problems for interpreters in Japan, lexical variation in NZ sign language, the impact of international trainers in the new Kosovo Interpreter Training Program, mentoring and money matters. We all agreed that the next WASLI would be a worthwhile trip and a relatively short one from Perth! See you in Durban, South Africa in 2011.
With that wonderful smooth and friendly experience behind her Susan headed off to Madrid for WFD where she worked for the AAD delegate, Kyle Meirs. The contrast was striking with everything here being big and perhaps not as co-operative as one would hope for an international Deaf congress; simply the physical space of being at a congress that has thousands of delegates, necessarily being large, to state one. Members sat in horror watching (the beautifully animated visual vernacular) of the tussle with officials about getting access to papers in order to prepare for interpreting sessions. Officials were of the opinion that any congress papers were for International Interpreters only……individual countries that had interpreters with them didn’t seem to count in the preparation stakes. How disappointing to hear this of a Deaf congress. How to prepare for such high level interpreting with no access to papers? Eventually the papers could be photocopied, at the interpreter’s expense! Of course the experience of seeing fifty or so interpreters lined up interpreting in their respective languages is something all interpreters must see at sometime in their career if not to work at….regardless of the difficulties that occur at such a large event…..like having to line up for hours to get ones registration. Of course the social side of WFD was wild! Far too much occurred to go into here but I am sure Susan would be happy to chat more if you have specific questions.
WASLI will henceforth be held just prior to WFD, and as mentioned this will next take place in Durban, South Africa in 2011. It is an excellent way to get a first hand global perspective on our profession. To meet people from all corners of the globe that have a common interest is really refreshing and can help to infuse us with renewed enthusiasm for our work and community. Thanks Susan for bringing this sense of enthusiasm back home to us…..and inspiring us to perhaps attend the next round of WASLI & WFD. |
Photos from the
15th World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf
Spain 2007
provided by Susan Emerson
Images of the September 2007
ASLIA Vic workshop
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