Sign interpreter Enders: "Olé Olé Ola gave me a headache"

You will be seen regularly by theater and television audiences, and now also by stadium audiences ...

... which is completely new territory for me.

Of course I know our Hessian teams.

But I have to admit that I'm a typical football watcher who only looks at World and European Championships.

This Saturday the top second division game against FC St. Pauli will take place in Darmstadt.

I have made up my mind to go to a game in the stadium at Böllenfalltor.

I act a little girlishly to say: I'm waiting for warmer weather.

After shooting a ZDF film, I'll soon be working on two plays in Münster and one in Castrop-Rauxel.

I hope for a sunny weekend day in spring for my visit to the Darmstadt stadium.

A sunny day on which you watch yourself on the display board as you translate the iconic club anthem "The sun is shining" into sign language before kick-off ...

... oh God (laughs), then I probably won't be allowed to look at that.

You know that you always find it terrible when you hear or see yourself.

Does that also apply to you as an actress?

In fact, there are moments when I think: That was good now.

But often it is and stays that way: It felt different during production.

What am I doing there?

Why am I talking so weird?

And what am I doing with my mouth?

As an actress, you never really get that feeling.

The Darmstadt club anthem is very catchy, if not quite simple.

Did you have any difficulties translating this into sign language?

Thank goodness there are no names of football players in it, because they would be difficult to translate.

Only the regularly recurring line “Olé Olé Ola” gave me a headache at first.

There are no known gestures for this.

And to spell this would seem strained and weird.

I then asked a deaf soccer fan, a professional and native speaker.

And he explained to me that the deaf don't say Olé, but rather hurray.

In the end, it's a form of cheering - and, well, I cheer a lot in the video clip.

Were there any other tricky parts?

During the first few rounds in the studio, I used to mislead, but that wasn't a problem.

There are some passages in this catchy tune without singing, only with music.

When I usually interpret music for the deaf, I move to indicate whether the music is fast or slow, what the rhythm and feel of the song is.

During the production, I felt a bit stupid dancing alone in a room in front of the camera (laughs).

I then realized: I'm in the stadium now, everyone is looking forward to the game and in a good mood, and that's why it's perfectly okay if I dance around here now.

For example, the line “The ball is round / it has already happened / you will lose / is just a game” is sung very quickly.

Are you translating that literally at that rate?

Sign language is a complete language, but the grammar and word order is very different from spoken German.

That's why you have to change a lot there.

In the end, I sign: “The ball is round / it happened, you lose / don't care / is just a game.” That still has to be adjusted to the rhythm of the song.

How did you come to learn sign language?

That has to do with the tiresome topic in my industry that we are simply far too many actors for the roles and engagements offered in films and in theaters. I made a good living from it for ten years, but I was aware that at some point, especially as a woman of a certain age, it would be more difficult. A kind of unique selling point can't hurt. I came into contact with sign language for the first time in a theater role in Mother Courage, in which I didn't speak but gesticulated a bit. In the text it is often said that the silent Kattrin gives signs to her mother. So I sat down with a sign language interpreter in preparation and only then learned that this is a real job. I started training shortly afterwards.

How difficult is it to learn this language?

With sign language it is not enough that you can somehow order a coffee in a foreign country like a holiday traveler.

You learn a language from scratch.

And one that is completely different, structured much more graphically and in which a lot happens at the same time.

How it works must first get into the head.

Did you get any reactions from deaf people after the Darmstadt stadium campaign?

Yes some.

And luckily only positive ones.

Deaf people are always happy when barriers are broken down for them and they can now theoretically experience and sing along with the Darmstadt 98 anthem in the stadium.

Is there such an offer elsewhere in professional football?

I was brought to the action by an acquaintance who works with blind people.

He is very enthusiastic about football and a Darmstadt fan.

As far as he knows, the lilies are the first association to have created something like this.

At Frankfurter Eintracht, there are deaf fans who, together with an interpreter, follow the home games in the stadium.

It would be nice if the social offers for deaf people spread further.

You have also completed a vocal training.

When will the duet with Alberto Colucci, the inventor of “The Sun Shines”, take place on the lawn of the Darmstadt stadium?

I don't think a lot of people want to hear that.

I took a lot of singing lessons, but I clearly missed the turn to a good singer.

It's enough for acting, but only for a performance in a football stadium if the audience has a certain alcohol level (laughs).