Meet the man who interprets the PM’s speeches into sign language

July 3, 2018

Tagata Pasifika sat down to speak with Alan Wendt, Parliament’s sign language interpreter, about his high-profile role.

Alan Wendt speaks volumes without a single sound and is often seen, but not heard, among the country’s leaders as their sign language interpreter in the halls of power.

“Spoken language interpreters tend to be centred in that way because we have to be visible, it’s literally because deaf people need to be able to see us,” Mr Wendt told Tagata Pasifika.

Mr Went was studying German and linguistics at Victoria University when he realised he needed to pick up another language paper.

“I just saw it in the prospectus ‘Oh, sign language what is that?’ Does everybody wear hearing aids, what does that mean?

“I registered for the class and I went along to my first class and the lecturer, who was a deaf professor, just kind of knocked me off my feet. He was so smart and so engaging and managed to teach the first class without an interpreter.”

Alan, a Samoan who raised in New Zealand, soon found he had a knack for sign language and it’s been keeping him busy for the last 14 years.

Mr Wendt sat down with Tagata Pasifika reporter Soana Aholelei to talk about his passion for sign language, which you can watch in the video above.

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