Page 18 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

Introduction 3

world has ways in which it appears strange or wrong to others. By
studying the characteristics of world cultures, therefore, we will
see that Deaf culture shares many features of Japanese, Chinese,
Israeli, French, and other cultures.
In order to successfully function as bicultural mediators, not
only must we be familiar with the elements of Deaf culture, but
we must also pay equal if not greater attention to the other half of
the bilingual-bicultural seesaw, American hearing, or mainstream,
culture. Perhaps we have taken a class or workshop in Deaf cul-
ture, but how many of us have made a study of our own American
culture? One’s own cultural characteristics are hard to see because
we are so accustomed to them; like our skin, they are a part of us.
You may feel that you are already sensitive to the distinctions
between Deaf and hearing cultures because you have been fasci-
nated with them for many years. Those sign language interpret-
*
ers who learned ASL (American Sign Language) as a first lan-
guage in Deaf families have been dealing with their dual identity
all their lives. Those of us who were not born into Deaf families
and learned ASL later, by choice, probably did so because at some
level we were aware that, as Edward T. Hall says in The Silent
Language, “One of the most effective ways to learn about oneself
is by taking seriously the cultures of others. It forces you to pay
attention to those details of life which differentiate them from
you” (Hall 1959, 32).

My Story

We all have our own stories of what drew us to the intersection of
the Deaf and hearing worlds. I found sign language through the-
ater. I was in my early twenties and trying to make it as an actress
in the then-burgeoning experimental theater movement in Los
Angeles. One night during the intermission of a mime show, I saw
a couple of audience members signing and was intrigued. Later,
after I went to a performance of NTD (the National Theater of the
Deaf) and witnessed the expressiveness of sign language, I de-
cided to study it to enlarge my acting repertoire. I was directed to
CSUN (California State University, Northridge), where I was lucky
to have as my first teacher Lou Fant, the undisputed master of our

* Definitions for this and other special terms and acronyms can be found in
the Glossary of Terms on pages 231–33.

01 MINDESS PMKR 3 10/18/04, 11:21 AM