Posted on 12/11/2013 6:31:44 PM PST by ransomnote
ou can't make things like this up, but this unnamed man apparently did.
From AP via My Way News (12/11/2013):
Mandela ceremony interpreter called a 'fake'
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - A man who provided sign language interpretation on stage for Nelson Mandela's memorial service, attended by scores of heads of state, was a "fake," the national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa said on Tuesday.
Asked about the claim by The Associated Press, South Africa's government said it was preparing a statement.
Three sign language experts said the man was not signing in South African or American sign languages. South African sign language covers all of the country's 11 official languages, according to the federation. It wasn't immediately clear if the unidentified man was using a different method to communicate.
The unidentified man seen around the world on television next to leaders like U.S. President Barack Obama "was moving his hands around but there was no meaning in what he used his hands for," said Bruno Druchen, the federation's national director.
Nicole Du Toit, an official sign language interpreter who also watched the broadcast, said in a telephone interview that the man on stage purporting to sign was an embarrassment.
"It was horrible, an absolute circus, really really bad," she said. "Only he can understand those gestures."
South African parliament member Wilma Newhoudt, a member of the ruling party who is deaf, also said the man communicated nothing with his hand and arm movements. AP interviewed both Druchen, who also is deaf, and Newhoudt by telephone using an interpreter.
The man's identity hasn't been disclosed.
Video from UK's Telegraph:
(Excerpt) Read more at ex-skf.blogspot.com ...
Wow, he was doing his thing for 4 hours and nobody took him off stage. I would have at least thrown in some break dancing and some twerking towards the end. "
Maybe his teleprompter stopped working.
Maybe he was signing in Kwanzaan. You never know.
It would have been great if he’d incorporated the universal gesture for self pleasure during the Obama speech...
Meanwhile, I keep thinking someone will post a story about who he was and why he did this.
Or did he?
“Uh... err, ya’ kno, umm...”
Demonstrating what the thousands of innocent victims families see when they see the world mourn a man that killed their families? INSANITY.
Yo, lowbridge, did you have anything to do with this? It’s got your signature.
Coming soon to SNL or Key&Peele (Comedy Central).
Key&Peele already does an Obama Translator skit(ghetto talk) on each show, but obviously not in sign language.
And he’s probably the only real person up there
So a complete unknown, so far, phony translator is right next to a bunch of world leaders and our marxist messiah. That be some fine security by all concerned.
Those were gang signals he was doing!
Dat boy be Crippin’!
So basically, you’ve got a guy waving his arms meaninglessly, pretending to be an interpreter for a guy flapping his lips meaninglessly, pretending to be POTUS? Perfect...
Jeez, you rassiss, the man was translating to Cannibalese.
I’m sure this ain’t the first time.
He was receiving a US Government subsidy for his work... Quality does not count..... like the folks who did the US Gov Healthcare website.... we pay them for their effort, not results.... sarc!
The word is in the deaf community that in South Africa they pay big bucks for sign language interpreters. So, people will learn just enough signs in order to fool people who don’t know any sign language. The deaf claim that most of what these people sign is absolute gibberish.
i thought only white people knew how to sign.
maybe he was signing for the americans who lived in the 56th and 57th state?
Another story about the fake sign guy that again answers no questions. Why is he just called ‘an identified man’? Surely by now somebody knows who he is, right? Who signed this guy on to do this and what is that person saying today? How did he gain security clearance? How on earth could this have gone on for hours with no one telling him to get the hell off the stage? Questions questions questions….
Or, another possibility, he signed in Austrian. Sorta looked Austrian.
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