Hi, my name is Chris Gorges I'm a sign language interpreter here in the
Central Valley in California and I wanted to start producing some content for this
channel to really start building up more support for those that are either
already involved in the deaf community or those that may be thinking about
becoming involved, whether it's learning the language or wanting to become a sign
language interpreter and make that as a career or maybe you are already a sign
language interpreter. If you've been in the field of sign language interpreting
you may have come across that it might not be the most supportive environment
so that's something that I wanted to change. I think that it would be really
helpful and beneficial if we became more supportive of one another, so that's
really the main goal and main purpose of producing this content going forward.
I wanted to start building that community of support. So maybe you're someone that
is just beginning to learn sign language or you're thinking about learning sign
language, so I wanted to create some content that can really help that
process go a little easier not only just learning the basics or learning signs
and vocabulary, but it can initially be very exciting process but eventually we
can hit a wall or we hit these plateaus and I want to share some
personal experiences of myself, my wife and maybe a lot of others that have
experiences those ups and downs and kind of how to push through and just keep
making that progress. Or maybe you're someone that is just beginning their
career as a sign language interpreter or you're thinking about making it a career,
that can be a very overwhelming process right there in the beginning because not
only are you learning a language but you're also trying to learn how to
interpret, you're learning different situations are you going in to become an
educational interpreter or are you going to be interpreting for the community or
are you going to be interpreting in medical fields such as hospitals clinics
dentists, a lot of that can be overwhelming in the beginning and so I
wanted to create some content that can just make that process a little bit
easier just share some stories and experiences and I would love to hear
from you as well what is it that you wanted to get out of your career or what
motivated to become a sign language interpreter.
So I would really love to hear back from all of you, and also if you're someone
that has been in the field for a lot of years
as a sign language interpreter or just very involved in the deaf community,
not only would I really love to hear from you your experiences some of the things
that you would like to share with others but also I wanted to create some content
for you. Maybe you have been in education and you're just starting to interpret
for medical or maybe you're thinking about getting more certifications
there's a lot out there, there's the ESSE, there's the EIPA, there's NIC provided
through the NID, there's just a lot of acronyms, so I will I plan on going over
those certifications and other videos of breaking them down: where to get them,
how much they cost, and what they can do for your career, and also tips on how to pass
them. Maybe you're an educational interpreter and your student is
progressing through the grades and all of a sudden you find yourself
interpreting for classes that you've never had to interpret before
particularly those in the STEM fields it can be very daunting to start
interpreting for Microbiology or for physics or for quantum physics, higher
mathematics like algebra, calculus, geometry. Each one of those subjects has
their own set of vocabulary and structure on how to explain that to a
deaf student. So over the years it has been a struggle but I would love to
share some resources that I found very useful in those fields and of course I
don't want to leave out the deaf, so many of these videos will probably be in ASL
first, and then voiced over and have closed captions for the hearing. Not only
is that showing love for the deaf but it also will help you as an interpreter or
maybe someone that's just learning the language to really kind of get your feet
wet, and one of the best ways to really dive into the language and to make that
progress if you're just learning sign language or if you are writing an
interpreter or are thinking about just expanding your horizons and getting
closer to the community. Going to deaf events is a great way to do that and
tomorrow, this Friday we will be hosting a deaf event in Porterville, CA
so if you happen to live in the area,
if you're in Visalia, Tulare, Lindsay, Strathmore, please come on by and
join us, it's going to be tomorrow at 6 PM, at a Panera Bread.
I'll have some details linked in the description below with the address, time, and
everything that you need to know for it. I would love to see you there in person
again my name is Chris Gorges, my wife Johnni Gorges will also be there and
my little daughter that's a 1 and a half will be there as well. So please come by
and be a part of the community. So just one more thing before I leave the
company I work for Fox interpreting is actually looking for more interpreters,
so if you're someone that is just on the fence or maybe thinking about making
sign language interpreting a career, please let me know. So hopefully I can
start pushing out this content sooner rather than later, I'm gonna try to
force myself to put out content every week. So I look forward to building up
this channel with you, I want this to be a cooperative thing and not just me
talking to you. I want this to be a community of support like I mentioned
before, so if you found this video helpful at all please leave a like and
if you look forward to some of the content that I'll be producing in the
future please consider subscribing, and until next time thanks for watching, bye!