First Steps on Firmer Ground

This article focuses on a further training project for sign language interpreters ¹ implemented from February 1997 to March 1998 at the Institute of Translation Studies at the University of Graz. This one-year project, the subject of detailed analysis in this article, was the first attempt to be undertaken in Austria to teach and observe sign language interpreters who had received no formal training but had mainly worked as natural interpreters, very often in complete isolation and without any opportunity to reflect upon and discuss their work. In order to be able to analyse the different effects of this project in a useful context, it is outlined here against the background of the ever-changing perception of the social practice of sign language interpreting in Austria.