Cyclone Marcia ‘Sign Guy’ reveals what it’s like to be an interpreter

HE’S been the storm inside the storm, and now the Sign Guy has opened up about his life as a sign language interpreter.

HE’S been the storm inside the storm, and now the Sign Guy has opened up about what it means to be a Auslan interpreter.

Mark Cave became a hit on social media this week for his sign language facial expressions during Cyclone Marcia press conferences.

Viewers praised him as “hypnotic, mesmerising and poetic”.

For Mr Cave, it’s all part of the job.

“Not many people know Auslan, Australian Sign Language, is a real language just like French or Mandarin,” the 30-year-old said.

“A lot of people think it’s making faces, but it’s actually got a syntactic or grammatical meaning behind it.”

Auslan is the Australian version of sign language for the deaf community.

This hasn’t been the first time Mr Cave has been involved in a major event — he interpreted for US President Barack Obama at the G20 last year.

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INTERPRETER A HIT: Marcia interpreter ‘mesmerising’

The “Sign Guy” as he has come to be known, revealed he grew up with deaf parents, so learning the language was second nature.

“I was fortunate enough to have deaf parents, so I was brought up with the language,” he said. “I went and I studied and became accredited to become a professional level interpreter.”

Cyclone Marcia hits Qld

Mr Cave works for Deaf Services Queensland, interpreting for people who are deaf or with a mental illness.

Through his work, the Sign Guy was able to interpret Barack Obama’s UQ Speech at the G20 last year, which he said was a really good experience.

Mark Cave in action during Cyclone Marcia.