OHIO’s Brooks provides insight into complexities and beauty of American Sign Language during surge in state visibility

Marla Berkowitz waves her hands in intricate patterns as her face changes expressions to match the signals being delivered. She stands picture-in-picture to relay the important words said by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine during the daily COVID-19 press conferences.

As viewers across the state of Ohio tune in each day to hear DeWine’s latest updates on the pandemic and its effects on the state, Berkowitz is there to provide an interpretation to the deaf population as the state’s only certified deaf interpreter. Her skill has inspired social media mentions and memes and sparked interest in American Sign Language (ASL) and the interpreting profession.

Becky Brooks, ASL coordinator and professor in Ohio University’s College of Health Sciences and Professions, explained the reason for the animated movements and facial expressions is all part of a unique and beautiful language.

“ASL is its own language with its own grammatical structure and linguistics makeup,” Brooks said. “It is a spatial, gestural language with its own spectrum of dialect. When you see it, you really see how beautiful a language it is.”

ASL utilizes facial expressions, hand signs and movements to convey grammatical information and also indicate aspects of tone. In spoken language, the paralinguistic cues of voice are used to create the emphasis and meaning of the words spoken. For individuals who are deaf, Brooks said, the paralinguistic cues are on their face and the seriousness of the situation has to be conveyed in the facial expression. Otherwise, the words come across toneless.

“When I’m interpreting, if they’re ‘yelling’ with their signs, I’m yelling with my voice,” Brooks said. “If a patient is in pain and expressing that through ASL, I have to interpret that authentically. If I relay that without the context, the response will be different. We’re trying to match our speaker and their message. If I don’t yell when they are, they won’t get the attention demanded and needed in that moment.”

The field of interpreting ASL is in its infancy, relatively — In the 1970s, deaf students were integrated into public schools and the demand for interpreters truly came into focus. Prior to formal education courses being implemented, many who knew ASL learned it because they were a child of a deaf parent or learned it from being around another close family member or neighbor. For deaf people in the country, ASL is often their preferred language of choice.

In a literal sense, interpreters often literally hold life and death situations in their hands, and they’re required to be certified due to the integral role they can play during critical incidents.

“Even now with the Coronavirus, the information that’s being conveyed through the interpreters’ hands to so many people is so important and the way it is interpreted impacts how the message is understood,” said Brooks. “It has to be done correctly and accurately. Marla and her team are doing a fantastic job.”

At Ohio University, six ASL courses are housed in the Division of Communication Sciences and Disorders. These courses discuss how deaf children acquire language, introduce ASL as a language and introduce students to the deaf community and culture. Brooks said the program is working on a certificate in ASL and that the courses satisfy the language requirement for many majors and degrees at OHIO.  

Even upon completion of all six courses, one’s mastery of ASL still requires much time and practice. However, even mastery of ASL does not make an individual qualified to be an interpreter. Interpreting is a complex and separate process, Brooks explained.

“An interpreter simultaneously has to listen to or watch a message, get the full concept and then reformulate it into a new language. All of this is happening while new concepts are continuously being introduced, Brooks said. “It’s a rhythm. It all may look like effortless motions but it’s not effortless at all.”

Brooks commended Berkowitz’s proficiency, saying, “She makes it very visual for people who maybe don’t have a lot of language skills and she’s really skilled at conveying language to the multitude. Marla does a great job of matching the governor and conveying the appropriate information in beautiful ASL. She’s rocking it.”