When Cláudia finished 12th grade, she dreamed of becoming a speech therapist, but she was unable to enrol in higher education right away. So she signed up for a volunteer programme run by the Portuguese Youth Institute at the Araújo Porto Institute, where ‘deaf children attended primary school’. ‘I was with the kids in class, during breaks, and I started learning sign language with them.’ 

After this volunteer work, which lasted about two years, Cláudia graduated with a degree in Psychopedagogy. ‘I didn't take the LGP Translation and Interpreting course straight away because I liked helping people with learning difficulties, which is also a characteristic of some deaf people,’ she says. Later, when she finished her degree, she enrolled at the Escola Superior de Educação (ESE) in Porto ‘because I really wanted to be a sign language interpreter’. After completing her degree, Cláudia taught future LGP interpreters at ESE and, four years later, began working in schools with deaf students. Today, she works as an interpreter for deaf students at the Dr. João de Araújo Correia School Group in Peso da Régua.

“It is important to distinguish between LGP interpreters and teachers. I am currently working as an interpreter in Régua. I do not teach the language, and those who teach it do not translate. In an educational context, these roles are sometimes confused; they complement each other, but they are different,” she explains.

“Since 2008, there have been so-called reference schools in the country which, if parents so wish, provide bilingual education to deaf students,” explains Cláudia. “Students learn sign language in a school context with teachers, because most deaf people are born into hearing families, and their parents do not master LGP; therefore, they have the opportunity to learn sign language from an early age, starting in preschool.”

Interpreters usually accompany deaf students from the 5th to the 12th grade. ‘This is when the student already has a greater command of the language, which can only be acquired through interaction with classmates and learning in a school context. From then on, we are able to translate a lesson; so I am in a classroom next to a teacher, in front of deaf students, and I am constantly mediating communication,’ she explains.

Sign language is not universal

Contrary to what many hearing people still believe, sign language is not universal; each country has its own sign language. "A language is associated with a culture. I am Portuguese, I speak Portuguese. I am an LGP interpreter because the deaf community I work for is the deaf community in Portugal." Incidentally, Cláudia points to SpreadTheSign, available online, where you can compare the sign languages of different countries.

There are also regionalisms in LGP

When questioned by Agenda Porto, Cláudia confirms that there are regionalisms in LGP. ‘It is more noticeable between the north and the south, just as we say “café” or “bica”.’ The interpreter gives the example of the difference in the sign for the word ‘volunteer’ in Porto and Lisbon [see the video below]. ‘It's also a challenge for us as interpreters, because to translate for a deaf person from Lisbon, I have to know that gesture, but I think these differences are what make LGP even richer. Besides being beautiful, because the hands and body can convey everything,’ she emphasises.

As an interpreter, Cláudia enters a silent world, transforming sounds into gestures and translating not only what is said, but what is felt. To do this job, she says, you need ‘a lot of preparation beforehand, at home’. "When it's a theatre show, for example, we are given the script in advance and we have to prepare it, digest that language. And we have to make an effort to convey the actors' feelings, to convey the sensations – and it's not just the gestures that count; it's our body language, our facial expressions."

LGP interpreters end up having room for creativity and personal expression in artistic contexts. ‘It has happened to me here in Porto that the actor came to get me and included me in the play. I wasn't expecting it, but I felt that I also had to improvise at that moment, to leave a little bit of myself there.’

One of her most memorable moments as an interpreter in cultural events was the New Year's Eve concert, organised by the municipality on Avenida dos Aliados, where she had "the privilege" of interpreting for Rui Veloso in front of a crowded square. ‘It was a big challenge and I really enjoyed it.’

The interpreter also stresses that ‘all plays are always a challenge.’ ‘Especially when they are by great playwrights, who also require a lot of research on our part to understand the best gesture to translate that expression, that feeling, that word.’

And, by the way, she points out that in LGP there are not gestures for all words. ‘When I'm on television translating, people sometimes tell me that I “took a little longer”, but as there aren't gestures for all words, at that moment, in a fraction of a second, I have to use several gestures to explain a concept,’ she says, giving the word ‘euthanasia’ as an example.

“Even in shows, I have to do this preparation beforehand, because if I don't have a gesture for a particular word, I have to come up with a series of gestures, or change the context, to get the message across as accurately as possible.”