The deaf community is a special group of people with a unique culture, language, and needs. Far from what you might think, interpreters provide much more than simply translate a language. More importantly, they give the message a cultural context. A professional sign language interpretation expert will make your words to be relevant to the deaf audience and in their first language. But is it expensive to high a sign language interpreter (or SLI)? How much should you expect to pay of these kinds of services? Well, as a guide her is what it will cost you to hire an SLI.
Hiring a Professional Sign Language Interpreter
As you would expect, the cost of contracting an SLI varies according to many factors. These include:
• Your event’s run-time
• If the interpreter was hired on short notice
• The local hourly rates
• The experience of the SLI
• The age group of the audience
• The type of event you are holding (interpreters will charge more for high-end events)
Note that any event lasting more than two hours will require that you hire more than a single interpreter. And for conferences that go longer than 4 hours or those that don’t have breakout sessions, even more interpreters will be needed. Although hourly rates also do vary a great deal, below are samples rates that you can use as a guide.
For An Event Lasting 3 Hours
In this case, you will need at least two interpreters. With an hourly rate of $65/hour, expect to pay a total of $390 for the whole event.
Concerts
Usually, concerts are billed by a flat-rate fee that might range from $300-$600 per interpreter. Depending on the length of the event, you may need two or three interpreters. The rates take into account the many prep hours that an interpreter does to muster each song. Expect to pay anywhere between $600 and $1800 when hiring SLIs to your concert.
Costs for hiring SLIs for an 8-hour conference with no breakouts
For this, you will need at least two interpreters costing $65/hour. Expect to pay a total of $1040 for the whole duration of the conference.
8-hour conference with 2-hour breakout sessions
Going by the same rates, this will set you back $1300.
Sign language interpreters play an important role in ensuring that you bring in your deaf audience into the meeting or conference. The cost of hiring a sign language interpreter professional varies based on several factors, including the duration of the event, the number of interpreters, and the local hourly rates.