An old video of American Sign Language interpreter Holly Maniatty matching the supersonic speed of rapper Eminem’s fast track “Rap God” at a concert is going viral again. Posted by a user named logicalbiharic on Reddit is the video of Firefly Music Festival that took place in 2018.
It is common for musicians to have an ASL expert with them on stage, but Ms. Maniatty’s mesmerizing speed and synchronization of the sign language along with Eminem has impressed the netizens. So far, the video has garnered 89,000 upvotes with various comments.
Watch the video here:
While some internet users were impressed by her supersonic speed, others were concerned that if deaf people could understand her.
One user commented, “I know a good amount of ASL and this is too fast for me to understand. That said, a lot of Eminem’s rap is also too fast for me to understand, so it’s basically the same experience. If they slowed down it wouldn’t be an authentic interpretation. They don’t just translate, they also have to get the rhythm and tone as close as possible.”
Another user commented, “The real question is, would a deaf person looking at her manage to capture and interpret all the signs.”
The third user wrote: “Sign language interpreter here, although I’m not a performance interpreter. Interpreters don’t sign word for word unless the client uses ‘SSE’ and asks for it. What we do is interpret the meaning and there are many single characters that have multiple words or ideas. Of course, there are occasions when we sign word for word, but generally we don’t.”
The fourth commented, “My deaf friend liked loud concerts because she could feel the bass in her chest. So even for completely deaf people, they can get some of it.”
Ms Maniatty has previously appeared with Snoop Dog, Jay Z, Wu-Tang Clan and Beastie Boys.
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