Since the beginning of the corona crisis, Hogeschool Utrecht has noticed a huge increase in interest in training to become a Dutch sign language interpreter. Due to the popularity of interpreter Irma Sluis, who translates the cabinet’s press conferences, the educational institution is overwhelmed with questions from people who show an interest in the program.
A spokesperson for the University of Applied Sciences has made a notification about this de Volkskrant attached to NU.nl. He cannot name concrete numbers. “But everyone at the course notices that there are an unusual amount of questions and that the telephone rings remarkably much”, the spokesman summarizes.
Incidentally, the University of Applied Sciences itself does not draw up the balance until September, when it is clear how many concrete additional registrations there are for the new academic year. Normally, about fifty new students register for the program, which started in 1997.
“Irma’s recent performances for millions of people have literally brought sign language into the picture for a large audience,” says the spokesperson for Hogeschool Utrecht. “That gives many people ideas.”
Sluis also recently made a special video on this Instagram was placed to draw attention to the training.
Irma was one of the first students in the program
She was one of the first students of the Institute for Sign Interpreter and Deaf Studies, the only place in the Netherlands that offers a bachelor’s degree in interpreting Dutch sign language. The sign interpreter has been working for the NIS since 2005, but her participation in the press conferences on the corona crisis caused her breakthrough with the general public. Especially her portrayals of the words ‘hoarding’ and ‘if you can’t take it home’ went viral.
When the Hague was suddenly changed for a colleague during the press conference last week, it led to a lot of commotion on social media. It turned out that the long press conferences became too tough for Sluis to do on her own. The rock band Mooi Werk from Drenthe launched Friday musical tribute to the popular sign interpreter that was listened to nearly 80,000 times within one day.
Sign language still not officially recognized in the Netherlands
Utrecht University of Applied Sciences is delighted that the course is gaining more recognition due to the corona crisis. “It is nice that there is more awareness of the importance of this form of communication that hundreds of thousands of people in the Netherlands are partly dependent on,” said the spokesman.
“But we hope that this trend will continue. Dutch sign language is still not officially recognized by the government. And we hope that the government and political parties will make more use of sign language interpreters to make the upcoming election campaign more accessible to this group. . “
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