Words Made Visible

Two of the sign-language interpreters who bring government updates to the hearing impaired tell us about their job and friendship

- Carla Coetzee

They're two of the women we see whenever the president, the minister of health or the minister of police go on national television to give us updates about Covid-19 – the women at the bottom of our screens who interpret every word coming from the leaders’ mouths.

The task they must perform is simple: translating everything into sign language for the hard of hearing.

Yet while it may be simple it’s by no means easy: miss one vital instruction or life-altering law and they won’t have done their job properly.

But Nicoline du Toit and Andiswa Gebashe are, so to speak, old hands at the game now.

South African sign language is as natural to them as their mother tongue – and now that they’ve been called on to help the government convey its messages during the war on coronavirus, they’ve risen to the occasion.

Nicoline (46) and Andiswa (34) are part of a team of five interpreters, and they operate in teams of two during broadcasts to make sure everything is covered.

“We work closely together as we interpret,” Nicoline says.

“I’m constantly looking to my teammate in case I miss something or misinterpret something – especially when the minister switches to another language.”

Andiswa and Nicoline both work for Kwarenge Language Solutions, which offers freelance services to government.

But the two women have more in common than just their job: they’ve been best friends for more than a decade and although neither were born with any form of hearing impairment, both were signing long before they learnt to speak.

Both Nicoline’s parents are deaf while Andiswa’s dad has a hearing impairment.