"This is a beautiful picture. What does it have to do with deaf people?" A professional sign language interpreter criticized Kateryna Zabotkina's dancing at the National Selection

Sign language interpreter Kateryna Zabotkina, who became the star of the National Selection for Eurovision 2024 due to her charisma, is accused of uninformative translation. Due to the fact that she is self-taught, both for people with hearing impairments and professional interpreters, many gestures were not clearly and appropriately represented in the song composition. Therefore, the "emotional dances" pleased only the group of spectators who could hear the participants' performances.

Maryna Liferova, a professional sign language interpreter, explained in a comment to OBOZ.UA that the reason for Zabotkina's poor translation was probably the lack of preparation for the show. For people who use sign language to communicate, Kateryna's work was useless, and for those who can hear, it's a pretty picture that doesn't solve anything.

"It's just a beautiful, lively girl in the frame, but for deaf people, what is it? If we're talking about sign language and deaf viewers, they should have announced that the songs would be translated, pay attention to that. Yes, for people who can hear, it's just another picture of someone dancing, but it's not the picture that decides," explained Liferova.

According to the interpreter, for the National Selection, the team should have been more careful about choosing the employee, especially when it was an innovation. It's worth noting that this year's show was translated into sign language for the first time. For Maryna Liferova, it was strange why the National Selection Committee did not contact the Ukrainian Society of the Deaf (UDOH) or Suspilne, since the broadcaster also has its sign language interpreters.

"Why didn't they contact the Ukrainian Society of the Deaf or Suspilne? Suspilne has sign language interpreters, but they hired a self-taught girl. It's not sign language, it's just an emotional dance with some sign language words, that's all," she asked a rhetorical question.

Among other organizations that could have been contacted for help, Liferova named the All-Ukrainian Association of Sign Language Interpreters and People with Disabilities, the UTOH, and educational institutions that train interpreters.

In her opinion, there was nothing wrong with Kateryna Zabotkina creating her little show, but her invitation to the National Selection made no sense because of the lack of information for those who aren't able to hear. The only role she played was to create a beautiful picture, which the interpreter did wonderfully. For Zabotkina's work to be called professional, she lacked preparation for the show, which, according to Liferova, was not there.

"People write to me a lot - there were also incomprehensible words that she would not have translated during the live broadcast. Then why didn't she prepare? We and the actors always prepare. There was a project called Territory of Christmas with singer Anzhelika Rudnytska. A deaf actress took part in it, who translated "Shchedryk" and other songs, and I translated them," said Maryna Liferova.