19. Sign Language Interpreter Education in Sweden

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"Sign Language Interpreter Education in Sweden" | Chapter summary in International Sign (IS)
Chapter authors: Malin Tesfazion, Elisabet Tiselius, and Johanna Mesch
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: Johanna is standing in the studio (blue background). She is a white woman with blond hair. She is wearing a dark blue blouse and is signing in International Sign.
Transcript:
In this chapter, we give an overview of sign language and sign language interpreting in Sweden. The deaf population consists of approximately 10,000 deaf persons and about 2,000 deafblind individuals. Sweden has 10.5 million inhabitants in total. Swedish Sign Language (svenskt teckenspråk [STS]) is the first language of the deaf population and interpreting services for deaf people have been developed since the late 1960s. Deaf people have the right to sign language interpreters for community services such as health care, family occasions (e.g., weddings and funerals), leisure, and some specific work-related instances.
Deaf children either attend a school for deaf students or are integrated into a mainstream classroom. Sign language interpreters work in both these contexts, although the numbers are low in mainstream educational settings. Sign language interpreting is more developed at the university level, since there are no universities with sign language as the language of teaching. In higher education, students have the right to interpreters for everything related to the university and social activities.
Sign language interpreter education in Sweden is organized both at the university level and at the postsecondary non-university level. The programs are three to four years long, and most students learn sign language during the program. Deaf people have access to both types of sign language interpreter education, however, due to STS being their first language, the education differs slightly. One shorter interpreting program offers speech-to-text interpreter education. At the university level there is also a theoretical MA program in translation studies, which can be focused on sign language interpreting. To date, there are two completed PhDs in the field of sign language interpreting in Sweden. There is also an active research community in sign language and interpreting.
At the time of the writing, we have seen an increased demand for speech-to-text interpreting and new technical developments in terms of speech recognition. We expect that future sign language interpreters will have to master slightly different skills than those needed today due to technological developments.