BBC News: Owners of Mandela 'fake' interpreter firm 'vanish'
What a scandal! Of course by now everyone has heard about the interpreter at the Mandela memorial who was 'signing' using apparently made-up gestures. He was either a conman, having a psychological health episode or linguistically confused, depending on which story you read.
There is some linguistic discussion at Language Log here: Language Log: Fake sign-language interpreter at Mandela funeral. It seems that his gestures could not have been any sort of language as there was no structure to them and he did not use facial expressions at all in his interpretation.
This palaver raises a lot of issues, for example the need to increase understanding of sign language among the hearing community as well as the understanding of the science of interpreting. Authorities also need to make sure they employ qualified and certified translators and interpreters, and that certification is only awarded to people who really know what they're doing!
There will always be unqualified/uncertified people providing translations and interpreting (I have done both myself in informal settings), and often they provide a good service to the people they are helping. However, where national and international events are concerned, governments should probably check and double check the credentials of those providing language services before hiring them and putting them in front of an audience of millions.
In the first link you can watch a video of an fully-qualified interpreter interpreting a segment from one of he speeches at the memorial. Quite a difference from the 'fake'!
