In Italy, in recent years, interest in sign language interpretation has gradually gained ground. Some twenty years ago, it was a skill performed by only a small number of people related in some way to a Deaf person or working within the Deaf community. Since the 1980s, Italian research on deafness and the complexities of sign language have led to more awareness of the needs of the Deaf among hearers and conversely, the Deaf themselves have started to take a more ac-tive role in the diffusion of Deaf culture outside the confines of their associations and clubs.
Long-dated experience gained from professional interpreting prac-tice, from the training of students in consecutive and simultaneous in-terpretation and from direct participation in the recent sign language course, has enabled the authors to make interesting comparisons be-tween spoken and signed-language interpretation. The paper thus out-lines some of the salient differences and similarities existing between the better-known modes of oral language interpreting (simultaneous and consecutive) and interpretation from and into a signed language. Reference is also made to research work conducted at the SSLMIT on some features of sign language interpreting, such as the different strategies adopted in interpreting between signed languages, from speech-to-sign and from sign-to-speech, and the role of short-term memory in voice and sign interpreting.
