Ever wonder who’s behind the interpreting at a major United Nations meeting, an international Deaf conference, or a global sporting event? Chances are, it’s someone holding one of the field’s most specialized credentials: an Accredited International Sign Interpreter.
A Rare and Demanding Credential
Becoming accredited in International Sign isn’t a quick certification course. It typically requires years, often decades, of hands-on interpreting experience across multiple countries and contexts before an interpreter is even eligible to apply. Accreditation is jointly overseen by the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI), and interpreters who earn it are added to an official WFD-WASLI IS Certified Interpreters list, the go-to resource event organizers use when they need qualified IS interpreting support.
Meet the Kind of Career That Leads There
Take Nigel Howard, an instructor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Victoria and adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia. Howard has worked as an interpreter for nearly 30 years across medical, mental health, legal, theatre, and conference settings, both locally and internationally. That breadth of experience is typical of the interpreters who go on to earn IS accreditation: it’s less about mastering one setting and more about being able to move fluidly across many.
Howard is an Accredited International Sign Interpreter under both WFD and WASLI, and he’s also part of the United Nations’ team of International Sign interpreters, work that includes both live interpreting and broadcast media translation, some of the highest-stakes interpreting settings there are.
Why the Bar Is So High
International Sign interpreting demands more than fluency in a national sign language. Because IS has no native signing community and draws on shared vocabulary and gesture built through international contact, interpreters need to:
- Understand multiple national sign languages well enough to draw on shared elements across them
- Navigate cultural differences in signing style and communication norms in real time
- Interpret unfamiliar legal, medical, or technical terminology on the fly
- Work seamlessly within interpreting teams, often switching between Deaf and hearing team interpreters mid-assignment
The Bigger Picture
Every Accredited International Sign Interpreter represents years of accumulated skill in service of a simple goal: making sure Deaf people from different countries can understand each other and be understood, whether that’s at a UN summit or a Deaf-led international festival. It’s a demanding path, and one that plays a quiet but essential role in keeping the global Deaf community connected.
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