Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Find out more at https://gupress.gallaudet.edu/internationalperspectives
"The Status of Sign Language Translator and Interpreter Education in Brazil: The Connection Between Research and Formal Education" | Chapter summary
Chapter authors: Marianne Rossi Stumpf and Ronice Müller de Quadros
From “International Perspectives on Sign Language Translator and Interpreter Education”
Edited by Jemina Napier, Stacey Webb, and Robert Adam
Published by Gallaudet University Press
**This video may not be repurposed or incorporated into other works in any way without the express written consent of the signer and the chapter authors.**
Visual description: A woman with shoulder-length hair wearing a blue sweater is signing in front of a blue background.
Transcript:
This paper presents the scenario of sign language translator and interpreter education in Brazil.
We discuss the connection between research and formal education established after the Libras law in 2002. This law recognized Libras as a national language used by deaf communities in Brazil. This law established a language policy that included formal education of sign language translators and interpreters. In 2008, the first bachelor’s degree program was established to educate sign language translators and interpreters in Brazil. Creating a bachelor’s degree, a four-year course, impacted the professionalization of Libras translators and interpreters.
Sign language translation and interpretation research was established as part of the translation studies. Qualified deaf and hearing persons actively participate in the decision-making and planning of the issues in which deaf people are involved and the issues of quality of translation and interpretation.
We have trained researchers through graduate programs in linguistics and translation studies with specific research involving Libras, deaf education, interpretation, and translation. The formal education at higher levels at the university feeds back into the training of translators and interpreters across the country and gives visibility to SLTI. Also, it impacts Libras language planning.
The research produced feeds the formal education of these professionals. There are eight courses in different universities across the country. The curriculums of these bachelor’s degrees have been updated based on findings of the research produced in the last 20 years. The consistency of research in sign language translation and interpretation (around 14 dissertations and theses each year) has advanced our experience in translating tests, national university entrance exams, teaching materials, official documents, glossaries, literature, and more. The development of translation practices in these contexts established this as a professional area of activity for sign language translators, with the involvement of many deaf professionals, in addition to hearing persons. From these SLT practices, research on SLTI has increased, generating several important outputs, thus leading the way in this area.
We present the history of this process in Brazil and share a summary of some of the work produced in the last few years in our country.
Find out more at https://gupress.gallaudet.edu/internationalperspectives
"The Status of Sign Language Translator and Interpreter Education in Brazil: The Connection Between Research and Formal Education" | Chapter summary
Chapter authors: Marianne Rossi Stumpf and Ronice Müller de Quadros
From “International Perspectives on Sign Language Translator and Interpreter Education”
Edited by Jemina Napier, Stacey Webb, and Robert Adam
Published by Gallaudet University Press
**This video may not be repurposed or incorporated into other works in any way without the express written consent of the signer and the chapter authors.**
Visual description: A woman with shoulder-length hair wearing a blue sweater is signing in front of a blue background.
Transcript:
This paper presents the scenario of sign language translator and interpreter education in Brazil.
We discuss the connection between research and formal education established after the Libras law in 2002. This law recognized Libras as a national language used by deaf communities in Brazil. This law established a language policy that included formal education of sign language translators and interpreters. In 2008, the first bachelor’s degree program was established to educate sign language translators and interpreters in Brazil. Creating a bachelor’s degree, a four-year course, impacted the professionalization of Libras translators and interpreters.
Sign language translation and interpretation research was established as part of the translation studies. Qualified deaf and hearing persons actively participate in the decision-making and planning of the issues in which deaf people are involved and the issues of quality of translation and interpretation.
We have trained researchers through graduate programs in linguistics and translation studies with specific research involving Libras, deaf education, interpretation, and translation. The formal education at higher levels at the university feeds back into the training of translators and interpreters across the country and gives visibility to SLTI. Also, it impacts Libras language planning.
The research produced feeds the formal education of these professionals. There are eight courses in different universities across the country. The curriculums of these bachelor’s degrees have been updated based on findings of the research produced in the last 20 years. The consistency of research in sign language translation and interpretation (around 14 dissertations and theses each year) has advanced our experience in translating tests, national university entrance exams, teaching materials, official documents, glossaries, literature, and more. The development of translation practices in these contexts established this as a professional area of activity for sign language translators, with the involvement of many deaf professionals, in addition to hearing persons. From these SLT practices, research on SLTI has increased, generating several important outputs, thus leading the way in this area.
We present the history of this process in Brazil and share a summary of some of the work produced in the last few years in our country.
