Meet sign language practitioner Siphumelele Fortune Madlala

Sign language practitioner

Recently we spoke with Founder and CEO of Forch Communications, Siphumelele Fortune Madlala.

Fortune is a language practitioner specializing in South African Sign Language (SASL), Project manager and coodinator

She tells Careers24 how she came into her line of work. “I was employed as a Diamond analyst and, that’s when I was introduced into the Deaf community”, she says.

“I then studied sign language at Wits University, I started off with a beginner’s level, intermediate and advanced. Each level normally takes a year. Thereafter I perused to study a course on sign language interpreting. Also, I successfully achieved (NQF Level 5) Professional Development for language practitioners from Wits University.”

Fortune has been in the industry for over 10 years and tells us what she is still passionate about in her job. “I provide access to communication and I make a difference by bridging the communication gap between the deaf community and hearing community. I enjoy what I do, and I am constantly learning new things because I work in various settings.”

She says she has also initiated community and schools’ projects which she loves because she gets to interact and learn new things. “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know. Assisting aspiring signers who want to become interpreters is also what I enjoy because it fulfills me to see the growth of this profession by having qualified and professional interpreters because there is a great need for that.

The establishment of Forch communications gave a lot of people job opportunities which plays a role in closing the unemployment gap, we work with professional sign language interpreters.