CITS Course Participants Take Their First Steps in RSL Interpretation

Last week, CITS staff members and participants of Russian Sign Language courses took part in the regional championship of professional skills among people with disabilities of Astrakhan Region Abilympics.

On May 16, they volunteered as Russian Sign Language interpreters. Each interpreter worked at a particular venue and had a particular topic for interpretation – adaptive physical education, floristry, drawing, massage, photography – master classes in these and many other topics were interpreted into Russian Sign Language.

On May 17, the RSL course participants and CITS staff members performed the sign song Birches on the stage of the Astrakhan State Theater of Opera and Ballet at the Abilympics closing ceremony, which pulled at the audience’s heartstrings.

Veronika Masly, a starting interpreter of Russian Sign Language, shared her impressions: “At first, I worried a lot, because I had never interpreted for schoolchildren before and I was afraid that they would not fully understand me. When I came to the event, I realized how important the work of an interpreter was, because the hearing members of the jury could not understand the deaf participants, and I managed to bridge the language gap between them.”