National selection star Kateryna Zabotkina responds to criticism of her sign language translation for the first time

Sign language interpreter Kateryna Zabotkina, who became a star of the network during the National Selection for Eurovision 2024 due to her charisma, has responded to comments about her unprofessionalism for the first time. She admitted that in some cases the translation was not literal.

This was the first time in history that the National Selection was made inclusive so that the songs of the participants could be appreciated by Euro fans with hearing impairments, and the network immediately received complaints from viewers who really expected translation. Kateryna Zabotkina commented on the criticism for Radio Liberty.

"I realize that there may have been moments where I could have conveyed the meaning a little differently than it sounded in the song, but I am very open to people writing to me, giving me suggestions and guidance. It inspires me," said the Ukrainian.

When adapting the songs into sign language, it was decided to focus on the Ukrainian audience, so translating English-language songs was twice as difficult for Zabotkina.

"I auditioned exclusively in Ukrainian sign language because we were working in Ukraine for a Ukrainian audience. We made a decision that we would translate everything and adapt it into Ukrainian, so it was a double challenge. It was quite a difficult translation," explained the National Selection star.

As a reminder, after the wave of excitement about the emotional and charismatic sign language performance had passed, users began to notice some unpleasant details. For example, complaints from people with hearing impairments that the movements on the screen did not explain anything to them.

Marina Liferova, a professional sign language interpreter, explained to OBOZ.UA that the reason for the poor translation was probably the lack of preparation for the show. She called her colleague's work "emotional dancing with some sign language words".

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