Modes of Interpreting 7

• Sign language interpreting

Signed language is a language which, in lieu of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, makes use of visually transmitted sign patterns (manual communication, body language & lip patterns) to convey meaning simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation & movement of the hands, arms or body, & facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's thoughts. Wherever communities of deaf people exist, sign languages generate. In fact, their complex spatial grammars are markedly different from the grammars of spoken languages. Hundreds of sign languages are in use around the globe & are at the cores of local Deaf cultures. Some sign languages have obtained some kind of legal recognition, while others have no status at all.
Signed codes of oral languages can be useful for learning oral languages or for expressing & discussing literal quotations from those languages, but they are usually awkward & unwieldy for normal discourse.

• Common use of Sign Language interpreting

Sign languages often generate in deaf communities, which can include interpreters, friends & families of deaf people as well as individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing themselves. For example, a teacher & deaf student of English in the United States might use Signed English to cite examples of English usage, but the discussion of those examples would be in American Sign Language.