Sign of the times: party leaders to debate in silence
The final debate between Jacinda Ardern and Bill English will be aired in silence for the first time, during International Week of the Deaf.
A sign language version of tomorrow’s political clash between the Labour and National Party leaders will be translated in a hand-to-hand battle between interpreters.
Bridget Ferguson and Alan Wendt, representing Ardern and English respectively, said it would be a challenge to keep up with the speed of the stoush.
But New Zealand should be excited to have the event broadcast through the preferred national language of hearing-impaired Kiwis.
‘‘It is a complex task and requires a level of fluency and interpreting skill that can keep up with the pace the debate’s running at,’’ Ferguson said.
‘‘We’ll also have an interpreter for the moderator [Mike Hosking]. This gives the equivalent experience for deaf people watching.’’
As Ardern and English speak over each other, the interpreters will also sign over each other to ‘‘give viewers the same experience’’.
It’s a complex task, however. Wendt said the New Zealand Sign Language debate would not be aired until Friday to allow them time to accurately interpret the live debate.
Signs for policy words needed to be created, and people within the deaf community would help them to ensure viewers were given the correct messages from Ardern and English.
‘‘Debates are adversarial and very quick-moving by nature,’’ Wendt said. ‘‘So we are going to be recorded and then uploaded a day later.’’
Deaf Aotearoa spokeswoman Victoria Manning said interest in politics within the deaf community was hindered by difficulties interpreting English captions, especially during a fast-paced political stoush.
The signed debate would help change that. She said English was ‘‘complicated’’ and usually a second language for hearing-impaired people.
‘‘This is the first opening of the door, giving deaf people an opportunity to engage with political debates and issues in their own language. Having that for the first time might get more people interested in politics.’’
Manning said Deaf Aotearoa would work to make the signed debates a permanent fixture in future. ‘‘[The broadcast] is a new challenge but exciting. It’s stretching the limits of sign language, and stretching the amount of information deaf people have access to.’’
Preparations for the next election’s sign language debates will begin straight away.
The only reason it had not happened before was because it was a large logistical exercise, which came at a cost.
The final live debate will be captioned for hearing-impaired viewers. The New Zealand Sign Language-interpreted Vote 17 Final Leaders Debate will be broadcast on TVNZ on Friday.