Page 198 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

The Interpreter’s Role and Responsibilities 183

people go on and on and never get to the point,” “Doctors are so
rude they never let me finish my explanation”).
Naturally it is a different story if a hearing person whom we
are interpreting for is interested in Deaf culture and is eager to
know more about it. In our normal workday, however, this is a
rare event. Mostly we work with doctors, Social Security Adminis-
tration case workers, and job supervisors, all of whom just want
to get this meeting over with as quickly as possible and get on
with the rest of their work. When communication breaks down
because of differences in cultural styles, everyone involved be-
comes annoyed. And what happens? The participants do not
achieve their original intentions or an understanding of the real
meaning behind their communication.
As we have established, the appropriate way to converse var-
ies considerably in different cultures. A Japanese/English inter-
preter who is interpreting between an American and a Japanese
businessman will make the appropriate adjustments for polite-
ness so that no one will feel insulted. There is a complex system
of honorifics in the Japanese language that expresses the correct
level of politeness and respect between different ages, sexes, and
social positions. An American is not expected to know about the
use of honorifics in Japanese, let alone the suitable term to use to
address his Japanese counterpart. It is the interpreter’s job to make
the necessary addition or adjustment to ensure that the American
does not provoke his host, when absolutely no insult was intended.
In the opposite direction, the interpreter in her English transla-
tion may leave out a certain term of respect used by the Japanese
businessman because to literally translate the term would “sound
funny” in American English, where we are used to a more infor-
mal conversational style. The interpreter who is aware of such
cultural differences between English and Japanese will do her job
so that the communication seems as natural as possible between
her two consumers, so that each speaker’s true intentions are
imparted. Shouldn’t we do the same? Isn’t the point of our job as
bicultural mediators to ensure that consumers can convey the in-
tent and real meaning of their utterances without cultural differ-
ences getting in the way?
In this chapter we have examined the role and responsibilities
of sign language interpreters from many angles. It is clear that our
task is too complex to be summed up by a simple model. Not only
do we have to concern ourselves with two different languages,

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