Silent anti-COVID soldiers: Bridging the deafening gap with sign language

Two COVID-19 experts of Shanghai, Zhang Wenhong and Wu Jinglei, have become local icons. They have made a place in people's heart with their warm, professional and humorous remarks at every COVID-19 press conference, allaying residents' fears and soothing their anxiety.

Standing firmly alongside them are a group of sign language interpreters from the Shanghai Disabled Persons' Federation. They have been providing silent but warm power and support to the city's deaf and mute.

The team of seven enables Shanghai's estimated 80,000 deaf and mute people to enjoy the equal rights of "watching" a live broadcast of the press conference.

The heart-warming move was launched on February 22, 2020, when the federation raised the idea of arranging sign language interpretation at press conferences so that the city's disabled group could also obtain timely and accurate pandemic prevention and control information.

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During a recent press conference, Dr Zhang, head of Shanghai's COVID-19 treatment team and director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, mentioned quite a number of technical terms such as cycle threshold. For most, it was difficult to understand.

What about the sign language interpreters? It would well have been difficult for some but definitely not for Tang Wenyan, one of the seven interpreters.

Tang, who has 16 years of experience in sign language interpretation, accurately conveyed the meaning to the disabled.

"For cycle threshold, I interpreted it as a critical value," Tang explained. "The use of sign language is like the use of a foreign language. When you get familiar with it and keep practicing it, it can be quite a natural process.

"We need to make our interpretation straightforward and easy to understand, particularly for the elderly disabled," Tang told Shanghai Daily.

The interpretation service has been given a thumbs-up by local residents.

"It is such a human approach," one of netizens said on a social media post.

By the end of last year, Shanghai had more than 80,000 people with hearing impairment, according to the Shanghai Disabled Persons' Federation.

Tang said she initially learnt sign language out of curiosity and then decided to make a profession out of it because she found there's a strong demand.

"In China, the research of sign language did not start long ago and it varies in different places, like local dialects," she explained.

There is still a huge paucity of sign language interpreters in China and relevant research is still in early stage, Tang noted.

In fact, sign languages vary in different countries.

The world of sign language is just as colorful as that of other languages and has its own unique systems, wording and grammar rules.

It doesn't necessarily have links with vocal languages. For example, sign languages used in the United States and Britain are quite different and they belong to a different family of languages although both countries have English as the official language.

On the contrary, sign languages used in the United States and Thailand are quite similar as they belong to the same language subfamily.

"Some terms related to COVID-19 were formed by local deaf and mute groups," Tang remarked.

The live broadcast of a press conference that usually lasts half an hour is stressful.

"At the beginning, I was nervous when facing the camera," recalled Kou Chenzhu, one of the sign language interpreters who appeared at a press conference in March 2020 for the first time.

"But when the press conference starts, I am 100 percent concentrated," she said. "The interpretation is a test of the knowledge of interpreters and their spontaneous response."

"Working six to eight hours daily is nothing new for a sign language interpreter, and my brain is exhausted after one day of work," said another interpreter Xiao Liang.

"If you talk to me when I finish work, my brain may turn the words into error codes," she joked. "But I want to do my bit in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic."

Ti Gong

Gu Zhong is the only male interpreter in the team, and he was born in a deaf family.

"I have been using sign language since my childhood," he said. "I have merged Shanghai dialect into sign language."

The team keeps learning and exchanging experiences after each press conference.

"Too many technical expressions will befuddle the disabled audience," said Gu. "We need to make it understandable."

"We elaborate based on the spokesperson's explanations," stated Kou.

Tang insisted that continuous learning is important.

"I watch each press conference once again after it ends," she said. "And I communicate with deaf and mute groups to improve my interpretation.

"There was no fixed sign-language term of the COVID-19 at the beginning, and we formed our own version during 'communication'."

"In fact, facial expression is important in sign language," noted interpreter Ge Yuhong who has been working in the field for over 20 years.

"Due to the pandemic, we are required to wear masks during the press conference, thus we need to use eye expressions, intensity of gestures and even postures to make the interpretation as easy to understand as possible," Ge pointed out. "Sign language is a bridge of communication between deaf people and others."

"Live broadcast of the press conference is more demanding than other interpretation scenarios," Gu claimed. "We need to pay attention to bearing as well.

"My legs become stiff after each press conference and I sweat in the sultry weather."

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Their efforts seem to have paid off.

"The sign language interpretation of Shanghai's COVID-19 press conferences is the best I have ever seen," a netizen, identified as fire814, posted on Weibo.

"The screen ratio of sign language interpretation is properly set and the interpretation is highly precise," the netizen noted in the message.

Xiao is a teacher of sign language interpretation.

She receives a lot of WeChat messages from her students with hearing impairment after each of her press conferences.

"I feel relieved thanks to your interpretation," one of the messages reads.

Moreover, many of her friends have become interested in sign language after watching the press conferences.

"I feel like a bridge promoting sign language," she gushed. "It will help more people to care about the demand of the deaf and get close to the group."

Behind the hard work is the wish to give comfort and warmth to people with hearing impairment to get through the tough period.

"I want to help them, and at the same time my work is closely linked with their help, support and encouragement," Tang noted. "I have many friends who are deaf and mute."

Claiming she is a "silent solider," Kou said: "I strive to do better and better. I have a strong sense of mission for the job and it is my duty to convey COVID-19 prevention information to my deaf friends accurately and in time."