A Conscientious Company

Maldon Language Interpreters, LLC (MALDON) is a small business interpreting company. Primarily, MALDON provides American Sign Language (ASL)/English and Spanish interpreting services. Some of the places that an ASL/English interpreter can be found working includes schools, within government agencies, and even at religious institutions. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg. An interpreter is needed anywhere a member of the American Deaf Community (ADC) needs to access. Beyond “where” the interpreter can be, MALDON is concerned with “how” the interpreter shows up. For MALDON, it is essential that our interpreters know that above everything else, effectively connecting people is our goal.

INTERPRETERS AS PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE CONNECTORS

MALDON believes that a professional sign language interpreter should possess a special character, one where they are intentional with the decisions they make while interpreting. Wondering, “Intentional, how?” Well, MALDON believes that professional ASL interpreters should always make an earnest effort to support direct human interaction—this is easier said than practiced. Interpreters are there to work with words, phrases, and speech in general. However, it should not be at the sake of replacing (or encouraging) people to people interaction. This is a higher level of thinking and perhaps a concept not taught in interpreter training programs. This is a concept that I have adopted for MALDON after a discussion I had with a colleague.  The colleague wanted “…to one day have a society where ASL interpreters are not needed.” While I do not totally agree with that position, I do agree with some of it. I do not completely agree, because I love working as an ASL interpreter. I hope we always have them and that we continue to improve the profession and services that we render. However, the takeaway for me from that conversation was that interpreters really should have the kind of character where they can demonstrate understanding of the bigger goal. The bigger goal should always be to connect people.  

Written by Shawn Maldon, M.Ed, NIC

About the author: Shawn Maldon is the founder and owner of Maldon Language Interpreters LLC (MALDON). In addition to interpreting, Shawn enjoys mentoring, writing, creating, gardening, and community organizing.