Page 101 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

86 Reading Between the Signs

moat which protects them yet makes it difficult to interact with
the majority of people in their land. They can see the other people
in their kingdom and exchange a few gestures with them but can-
not engage in a deep exchange of thoughts and feelings. If some-
one stands outside the moat, however, showing an interest in learn-
ing sign language, the drawbridge is let down and the new signers
are welcomed to the castle (although perhaps only to its public
rooms, its inner chambers being reserved for longtime residents).

Where Do Interpreters Fit?
All of us “nonnative” signers began our journey into the Deaf world
as welcomed visitors when we first learned sign language. The
welcomed-visitor status may change, however, when one becomes
an interpreter, meaning when one gets paid for the sign language
abilities gained through interaction with the Deaf community.
Interpreters are “half-breeds” somewhere in the middle,
between Deaf and Hearing…. Their status is somewhat
problematic and suspect…. In some ways interpreters
are closer to the core of the Community: in language,
customs and ease at being together. Yet interpreters, by
virtue of their privileged status within the majority cul-
ture, their access to mainstream jobs and outside infor-
mation coupled with their inside information, are to
some extent too powerful. (Smith 1996, 27–28)
Interpreters, it seems, do not fit easily into the categories of
insider or outsider. There are mixed feelings about them. On the
one hand, they are appreciated for being able to sign and making
accessible many areas of life which were hitherto impenetrable
for many Deaf people. On the other hand, as hearing Americans,
interpreters often do not follow the cultural conventions of Deaf
culture.
Interpreters…maintain a cool impersonal “professional”
relationship. They “DRAW-A-LINE-BETWEEN-US.” They
are overly concerned with “role” in the abstract, the
rules and codes of conduct prescribed by their profes-
sion rather than “HAVING-HEART,” an understanding
of the “role” within the current context (which includes
people’s feelings), in other words, the Deaf definition
of the role. (111–12)

05 MINDESS PMKR 86 10/18/04, 12:00 PM