Background Checks

While we do not know the motives of the fake sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, we know that someone dropped the ball on verifying his expertise:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/interpreter-for-deaf-at-mandela-memorial-service-was-a-fake-advocates-for-deaf-say/2013/12/11/fc35cc12-628e-11e3-aa81-e1dab1360323_story.html

This is indeed an extraordinary and odd case. However, with translation and interpretation people can misrepresent their abilities without even knowing; they think that being bilingual means being trained in interpretation and/or translation. It does not. Always do a background check on your translator or interpreter, whether through verifying their credentials or asking to see samples of previous work!