A history of interpreting in deaf communities

This chapter provides a potted history of some of the early documented evidence students can find of sign language translation and interpreting. Leahy discusses an earlier known example of a deaf person using an ‘interpreter’ back in the 14th century in England. Deaf people known as ‘mutes’ worked for successive sultans in the Ottoman court from the 15th century until the 20th century, and being deaf was seen as an advantage: they had a high status and could not be bribed by enemies. International events are often places where students have seen multilingual deaf people work as interpreters, and as such it is a useful topic to explore. The chapter outlines some of the initiatives taken in some select countries around the world in establishing qualification regimes for sign language interpreters and translators. Sign language interpreter and translation organisations all around the world make up the membership of the World Association of Sign Language, founded in 2003 in Montreal, Canada.