Page 190 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

The Interpreter’s Role and Responsibilities 175

hurriedly, “Vista College in Berkeley,” while signing both the ques-
tion and the answer. The Deaf person then jumped in and ex-
pressed her opinion: “Sure, Vista is good, but the real way to learn
ASL is to associate with Deaf people.” The Deaf woman went on
to describe her church, where there are both Deaf and hearing
members, and it soon became obvious that the nurse had a strong
religious background as well. The two of them became involved
in a great discussion which never would have occurred if I had
only whispered “Vista College in Berkeley,” without signing.
“Off the Point” Questions. How many of us can honestly say
that we have never done the following: The lecturer finishes his or
her presentation and inquires of the audience, “Any questions?”
We sign the previous invitation while seeming to cast our glance
around the room, making sure, however, to avoid eye contact with
a certain Deaf person whom we know to be notorious for asking
irrelevant questions.
Why do we do that? If we are honest with ourselves, I think,
we may admit that we feel embarrassed at being the deliverer of
an unrelated question or remark. I know I have been guilty of this
audist behavior and recently observed myself doing a fancy varia-
tion on it. Knowing that a hearing audience member’s comment
was coming to an end in a question-and-answer period, I signed
the closing statement v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, stretching it out so that
when the speaker asked, “Any other questions?” my lag time was
such that there was already another comment from the floor to
interpret before the Deaf person I wanted to ignore could raise his
hand. I was simultaneously amazed at my ingenuity and appalled
when I realized what pains I had gone to, simply to avoid voicing
what I presumed would be an inappropriate comment.
In some cases our Deaf consumers may need to receive feed-
back from the lecturer or other participants regarding their irrel-
evant questions. At other times, we may see the poor timing as
based on a cultural difference and feel it is within our province to
pick a more appropriate time in which to present the comment,
or decide to phrase it in such a way as to make it sound more
appropriate. Sometimes a question from a Deaf participant, for
example, “sounds” off the point only because it lacks a short in-
troductory phrase that would either connect it to the previous com-
ment or explain that the questioner would like to address a new
topic. Since these would fall into the category of cultural rhetoric,
the interpreter should make the necessary adjustments.

07 MINDESS PMKR 175 10/18/04, 12:02 PM