Singapore country report

The presenter is working as an interpreter for the Singapore Association of the Deaf. There are 5 million people in Singapore. There are four official languages. English is the most important language used. Around 6000 signing deaf people. There are influences from different sign languages.

There is no sign language interpreter association, only the one that provides the interpreting services within the deaf association. As of June 2011 there are 3 staff hearing interpreters, 2 deaf staff interpreters.  There are 27 voluntary interpreters.

Training: we are now adopting an accreditation system. You must be 16 year old, and have mastered English language, and must attend an introductory workshop.

Achievements:

• The training programme was recently set up. Prior we had in house training, or on the job training and not real interpreter training.
• The adoption of the accreditation system

Challenges:

• Different sign languages in the deaf community. It is challenging because there is no standard agreement on which sign language or signs to use. And mostly SEE is taught.
• More often the code of ethics is violated, because interpreters do more than they should.