Last week’s discussions were rich with insights and practical advice for sign language interpreters. Several members shared their strategies for maintaining engagement with their audiences during virtual events, highlighting the importance of interactive CEUs. Another thread delved into the nuances of interpreting humor, especially the challenges of translating puns across languages. Both topics sparked lively exchanges and offered valuable perspectives for professionals in our field.
This Week’s Hot Topics
CEUs for platform audience engagement
Members discussed strategies for making continuing education units more engaging, especially in virtual settings. This is crucial for keeping skills sharp and audiences connected. Read more
When a pun needs three passes
Interpreters shared their experiences with translating puns, a task that often requires multiple passes to capture the humor. This sparked a conversation on the art and challenge of interpreting layered meanings. Read more
Looking forward to the coming week, let’s continue to share and learn from each other’s experiences. Your contributions help us all grow as professionals.
In those interactive CEUs during virtual events, I ask presenters to drop ‘pun coming’ in chat so I can prep a concept-level render. I’ll sign the literal once, brief hold, then flip to the intended meaning — keeps Deaf folks engaged without derailing rhythm. If it still lands flat, I bail on the wordplay and give a clean ASL equivalent.
I’ve had luck seeding a quick visual anchor a few beats before likely puns — during prep I ask for two themes and set loci I can call back to, @Nora. > it still lands flat, I bail on the wordplay and give a clean ASL equivalent. Same; if laughs lag I tag it with a quick PUN/PLAY and pivot — do you cue mods to flag puns in chat?
For puns, I render the meaning first, then tag a tiny ‘wordplay’ cue with a one‑beat fingerspelled anchor on the key term so both layers are visible, @Nora. If the pace is brisk, I ask the speaker to keep that word onscreen for two beats or I bank the anchor for recap — puns are cats: chase them and they bolt.
During interactive CEUs on Zoom, I ask the moderator for a quick 2‑second breath after obvious setups, then render the meaning and flash a tiny non‑manual wordplay cue (mouth change + single indexed point). If it’s truly untranslatable, I add a brief parenthetical in captions like (pun on TREE/LEAVE) and drop a timestamped note in chat after, @Nora. Just watch frequency — over-cuing gets noisy fast.
With “time flies,” I hold TIME-PASS on my non-dominant hand and pop a tiny flying‑clock classifier with my dominant for one beat so both layers read, @Nora… If the frame’s tight or the speaker’s rapid, I skip the split and do a half‑second literal echo after the idiom so it doesn’t clutter.
Quick example: I set a small “pun corner” just above my left shoulder; when a pun hits, I place the literal there and keep the intended sense center so pacing stays clean. If the frame’s too tight, I’ll drop the source word in chat as “src: ___” right after, with the speaker’s OK, @aharper34. It’s a docking station for puns — tidy and easy to skip if the stream is flying.
When a pun hinges on sound, I plant a tiny fingerspelled anchor of the homophone off to my right once, then render the intended meaning center; later I just glance/tap that spot to cue the joke without stalling. It works well in narrow webinar framing, but if the wordplay is super culture‑bound I skip the FS and lean into the sense instead — @Nora, do you use an anchor too?