Page 244 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

222 Helen Spencer-Oatey and Jianyu Xing

damental cultural prohibitions against references to urinary and reproductive anat-
omy in cross-gender communication. She added that her reluctance in this case was
strongly influenced by the patient’s age and by his status as a respected elder. The Di-
rector of the Aboriginal Services Program told her that professional medical inter-
preters must translate stigmatized concepts objectively and accurately. The inter-
preter agreed, but said that the elder would not have understood that her role as an
interpreter had given her the privilege of using words which he saw as disrespectful
in a conversation between a male elder and a young woman. The program Director
conceded the validity of her point and agreed that the interview should have been de-
layed until a male interpreter was available.
Kaufert (1999: 415–417)

2.2. Interpreter as message clarifier
An interpreter may need to intervene during an interpreting session in order to
clarify a message. This can arise in the following ways:

– the interpreter has not fully understood the concept she/he is being asked to
interpret and needs to ask for clarification;
– the interpreter realizes that the client or practitioner has misunderstood (or
failed to understand) the message, even though the interpreter was correct;
– the interpreter needs to alert one of the principal interlocutors that a missed
inference has occurred, or that a different inference has been drawn.

Cultural factors can often play a major role in such circumstances, as the fol-
lowing examples given by the Northern Ireland Health and Social Services In-
terpreting Service (2004) illustrate:

Different meaning inferred:
A Health Visitor in attempting to determine a date of birth may ask to see a passport.
Yet such a request to some clients could imply that their status was being questioned,
so an interpreter may intervene by explaining to the client why the request is being
made and suggesting that any form containing a date of birth will do, this can then be
reported back to the Health Visitor.
Inferred but not stated and knowledge assumed:
A GP may offer a hospital referral to a patient for minor surgery. The patient may be
resistant as they are not sure if they can afford to pay for this yet may not say so from
embarrassment. The GP may have assumed that the patient is aware such treatment is
free. An Interpreter could prompt this by stating there may be confusion over the
issue and asking for clarification.
Northern Ireland Health and Social Services Interpreting Service (2004)
Interpreters need to be actively on the look-out for such clarification needs, and
whether they (decide to) intervene or not clearly impacts on the way in which
the discourse develops.