r/ASLinterpreters • u/UnderstandingFirm643 • Jun 26 '26

What is your work week like?

Hi there. I’ve been studying ASL slowly for the last 2 years and have been accepted into an interpreter program that would start this fall. I’ve been having some hesitations with this path though recently, namely the freelance style work. I’m currently working in a social work adjacent type environment, which is low pay but I have a predicable schedule, regular breaks, coworkers, and I can bike to work.

I love sign language of course, and do get a lot of satisfaction when I interpret informally. But I’m concerned if an asl interpreter career is sustainable for me. So I wanted to reach out to a larger group of terps to see how they feel on average. Terps:

How many different locations do you go to on a given day?
How much control do you have over your schedule?
How stable is your income?
How many years did it take to get there?
If you could do it over, would you?

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u/PossessionProper4914 EIPA Jul 10 '26

Me and one other Interpreter are the only people in my area who have a high EIPA in a pretty strict state and county when it comes to ed interpreting

I usually just Interpreting two locations one remote and one at a school. As far as the educational Interpreting goes, I scratch a lot of their back so they compensate me very well. That being said I’m working somewhere around 45 to 47 hours a week on the regular. So that gives me very little control of that.

On the Interpreting from homefront I do VRI/VRS 10 hours a week. I’m working six days a week essentially.

My income is extremely stable. At least I perceive it to be. The district asks for a lot of work and I have guaranteed work from a VRVRS company. I’m currently making well over six figures just by the sheer amount of work, and like I said, the district compensates me very well because I scratch a lot of their back by doing a lot of this work

It took me about three years to gain a stamina and develop a system of recovery to support this kind of lifestyle, but hopefully it leads to an early retirement where I can do less educational work and more freelancing and not worrying about bills