Mandela Memorial: Deaf Signer Was 'Fake'

[flowers]

http://news.sky.com/story/1180724/mandela-memorial-deaf-signer-was-fake

"There was zero percent accuracy. He couldn't even get the basics right. He couldn't even say thank you.

"You're supposed to indicate with your facial expressions, even if it's not an exact sign. He didn't indicate that (booing of Jacob Zuma) at all. It just passed him by.

"Nobody knows who he is. Even at this hour we still don't have his name."

Paul Breckell, chief executive of Action on Hearing Loss, said: "The use of appropriately qualified communication support is crucial to ensure that deaf people can engage with and access the same opportunities as hearing people.

"Sign Language, be it British, International or South African, is a visual and expressive language yet the limited number of signs, the amount of repetition, lack of facial expressions and huge gaps in translation meant that deaf or hard of hearing people across the world were completely excluded from one of the biggest events in recent history."

The memorial was also affected by faulty public transport which prevented some mourners from getting to the event and a faulty audio system that prevented some of the crowd from hearing leaders' speeches.

Anyone else see this? Why would they put a fake signer on stage?

[Rapunzel]

ake Tapper ‏@jaketapper 1h

Actress @MarleeMatlin says she was appalled by the #interpreter at the #MandelaMemorial.

[mountaineer]

'Fake' deaf signer at Mandela event claims mental illness
AFP – 3 hrs ago.

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Johannesburg (AFP) - The sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's funeral has said a schizophrenic episode was to blame for accusations that he was an imposter who gesticulated nonsense during the entire service.

Thamsanqa Jantjie was branded as a scurrilous fake after members of South Africa's deaf community said his signing at Tuesday's memorial ceremony had amounted to nothing more than "flapping his arms around."

In an interview Thursday with the Johannesburg daily, The Star, Jantjie put his behaviour down to a sudden attack of schizophrenia, for which he takes medication.

He told the newspaper that he lost concentration, started hearing voices and hallucinating.

"There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation," he said.

"I tried to control myself and not show the world what was going on. I am very sorry. It's the situation I found myself in," he added.

Jantjie's efforts at the memorial service, during which he translated eulogies by US President Barack Obama among others, triggered outrage in the deaf community and prompted a government investigation.

Cara Loening, director of Sign Language Education and Development in Cape Town, labelled him a "complete fraud" whose signing looked like someone "trying to swat a few flies away from his face and his head".

Asked why he didn't just leave the stage, Jantjie said that, given the historic importance of the event, he felt compelled to stay even though he could not hear or concentrate properly.

"Life is unfair. This illness is unfair," he said.

"Anyone who doesn't understand this illness will think that I'm just making this up," he added.

Attended by nearly 100 sitting and former heads of state or government, the speeches at Mandela's memorial were supposed to be interpreted into sign language for deaf viewers.

Jantjie's signing appeared at odds with that of the public broadcaster's signer, who was shown in a small insert box on SABC television screens.

The interview with The Star did not address the fact that Jantjie's competence had been called into question before the memorial furore erupted.

The South Africa's Translators' Institute said they already had reservations about Jantjie, who had previously signed at the ruling ANC party's events, including its centenary anniversary last year. The institute's chairman Johan Blaauw said there had been complaints over his work on those occasions as well, but the ruling party took no action.

 

[mountaineer]

Mandela interpreter a violent schizophrenic; hallucinated during speeches
By Associated Press
December 12, 2013 | 7:21am


JOHANNESBURG — The man accused of faking sign-language while standing alongside world leaders like President Obama at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service said Thursday he saw “angels” at the event, has been violent in the past and suffers from schizophrenia.

Thamsanqa Jantjie said in a 45-minute interview with The Associated Press that his hallucinations began while he was interpreting and that he tried not to panic because there were “armed policemen around me.” He added that he was once hospitalized in a mental health facility for more than one year.

Jantjie, who stood gesticulating 3 feet from Obama and others who spoke at Tuesday’s ceremony that was broadcast around the world, insisted that he was doing proper sign-language interpretation of the speeches of world leaders.

But he also apologized for his performance that has been dismissed by many sign-language experts as gibberish.         
 
“I would like to tell everybody that if I’ve offended anyone, please, forgive me,” Jantjie said in his concrete home in a low-income Johannesburg neighborhood. “But what I was doing, I was doing what I believe is my calling, I was doing what I believe makes a difference.”

The statements by Jantjie raise serious security issues for Obama, other heads of state and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who made speeches at FNB Stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg’s black township. The ceremony honored Mandela, the anti-apartheid icon and former president who died on Dec. 5. Many of them, including Obama, stood one yard away from Jantjie.

“What happened that day, I see angels come to the stadium … I start realizing that the problem is here. And the problem, I don’t know the attack of this problem, how will it comes. Sometimes I react violent on that place. Sometimes I will see things that chase me,” Jantjie said.

“I was in a very difficult position,” he added. “And remember those people, the president and everyone, they were armed, there was armed police around me. If I start panicking I’ll start being a problem. I have to deal with this in a manner so that I mustn’t embarrass my country.”

Asked how often he had become violent, he said “a lot” while declining to provide details.

Jantjie said he was due on the day of the ceremony to get a regular six-month mental health checkup to determine whether the medication he takes was working, whether it needed to be changed or whether he needed to be kept at a mental health facility for treatment.

He said he did not tell the company that contracted him for the event for about $85 that he was due for the checkup, but said the owner of SA Interpreters in Johannesburg was aware of his condition.

AP journalists who visited the address of the company that Jantjie provided found a different company there where managers said they knew nothing about SA Interpreters. A woman answered the phone at a number that Jantjie provided and said it was not for the company, and another phone number went to a voicemail that did not identify the person or company with the number.

Jantjie said he received one year of sign language interpretation at a school in Cape Town, and insisted that he has previously interpreted at many events without anyone complaining.

The AP showed Jantjie video footage of him interpreting on stage at the Mandela memorial service.

“I don’t remember any of this at all,” he said.

[Luis Gonzalez]

I trust what that fake signer said more than I trust what Obama said.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Was Garret Morris unavailable?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2Q0cyJSs04

[flowers]

Sign language interpreter for Mandela memorial says he was hallucinating, often becomes 'violent'

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/12/interpreter-for-mandela-memorial-says-was-hallucinating/

A man being criticized by sign language experts for providing fake interpretations while standing close to President Obama and other heads of state at Nelson Mandela’s memorial says he becomes violent “a lot” and was hallucinating during the event.

Thamsanqa Jantjie did not describe his qualifications for being a sign language interpreter, but told The Star he works for an interpreting company that paid him $85 for working Tuesday's event, according to The Associated Press. He told Radio 702 on Thursday he's receiving treatment for schizophrenia and had an episode while on stage at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.

[NavyCanDo]

How does this happen?   He was 3 feet from Obama.    When I invited to see George W. Bush off as he boarded Air Force One, everyone on the list had to do both a FBI and a Secret Service screening.

[Machiavelli]