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The impact of culture on interpreter behaviour 221

g. Notify the parties of any medical terms, vocabulary words, or other expressions
which may not have an equivalent either in the English or target languages, thus
allowing speakers to give a simplified explanation of the terms, or to assist
speakers in doing so.
California Healthcare Interpreters Association (2002: 30–31)

Let us consider the case of explicit and implicit information. In low context cul-
tures, a large proportion of the message is encoded explicitly in the words and
structures, whereas in high context cultures, a smaller proportion is verbally en-
coded, with a greater proportion of the meaning needing to be inferred from the
context. In court contexts, it is unacceptable for interpreters to change implicit
language into a more explicit version, for as Wadensjö explains, “It would ob-
viously be a challenge to the court if interpreters were … allowed to clarify an
attorney’s deliberately ambiguous question” (Wadensjö 1998: 75). However, in
many contexts, this issue can give rise to genuine interpreting dilemmas. Sup-
pose a Western company makes a proposal to a Chinese company and receives
the response kaolu kaolu. This literally means ‘I/we (implied) will (implied)
think it over’, but in this context it is generally understood as signifying polite
refusal (Kondo et al. 1997). How should this be interpreted? Rendering it as,
‘we’ll think it over’ could give the wrong impression, and lead the Western rep-
resentative to expect a response later. On the other hand, saying ‘I’m afraid we
cannot agree at this time’ might be too specific, especially if the Chinese com-
pany wanted to be deliberately ambiguous. Clearly, the interpreter’s decisions
on such matters can have a major impact on the interaction.
Similarly, the issue can give rise to major dilemmas in healthcare contexts,
as Kaufert’s (1999) research illustrates. Kaufert researched the experiences of
Aboriginal health interpreters in Canada, and one of the examples he reports is
as follows. A 72-year-old Aboriginal man was admitted to hospital for diag-
nostic evaluation of urinary tract problems. He spoke only Ojibway, and on his
admission, his son acted as interpreter. The next day he was scheduled for a cys-
toscopic examination, and so arrangements were made for a male interpreter to
come to help explain the procedure and get the patient’s signature of consent.
Unfortunately the male interpreter was called away, and the only interpreter
available was a 28-year-old woman. The urologist started his explanation, but
soon became frustrated because he felt the interpreter was hesitating too much
and seemed unable to get his message across. After several unsatisfactory ex-
changes, he drew a sketch of the male urinary system, and eventually the patient
agreed to the procedure, saying that although he didn’t understand everything,
he would sign because he trusted them to do the best for him. Why was the in-
terpreter so hesitant and seemingly incompetent? Kaufert explains it as follows:
After the consent agreement was signed, the interpreter returned to her office and
discussed the encounter with her supervisor. She explained how the direct translation
of the physician’s explanation of the procedure would have forced her to violate fun-