Whereas some intimidating ASL learning programs almost dare students to capture rapid signed examples and complex linguistic concepts, the tone and style of the Art of Interpreting imply that the author and sign models hope students will succeed in learning this material. The book begins at the beginning, explaining the interpreting process with a gentle introduction to language origins and cultural interchanges. Cartoon-style panels and a few photographs accompany the text. One slight flaw in the video samples is the sign models' tendency to mouth English words along with ASL sentences, in lieu of more natural non-manual facial expressions.
Strong emphasis is placed on the linking of culture and language.
The nuance and challenge of the interpreting task rises with each level. Interpreters, Borden warns, must never content themselves with robotic translation of words or signs. All rights reserved.