Page 202 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

Techniques for Cultural Adjustments 187

understanding his employee’s concerns, asks, “What do you think
would be a good plan for the future? Should I call in an interpreter
every time there is such a change?” The worker, happy to be in
charge of his own communication needs, responds, “No, that’s
not necessary. I just need someone to sit down with me and show
me on a calendar when I will get paid.”

2. “Surprise!”
Before an administrative hearing, the interpreter and the Deaf
client are seated in the waiting room. The Deaf client briefs the
interpreter on the issues he is planning to bring up at the inter-
view, giving him the context and some of the major events rel-
evant to this case. When the administrative official takes them
into the conference room, she prefaces the hearing with a list of
three topics to which discussion will be limited. The interpreter,
on being informed of these topics, is surprised that none of them
includes the issues the Deaf client had mentioned in the waiting
room. In interpreting the statement about the three topics, the
interpreter emphasizes the point that these and only these topics
will be discussed, adding several phrases that stress that discus-
sion of other topics will not be allowed. The Deaf client responds,
“Wait, do you mean that I cannot bring up any other issues? I
want to talk about X, Y, and Z.” The administrative officer kindly
asks to hear the client’s concerns and then the two of them work
out a way to satisfy the client’s needs without ever “formally”
beginning the hearing.

3. “My, how you’ve changed”
At a meeting between a Deaf client and her social security worker,
the Deaf client’s opening remark to her worker is, “WOW YOU
FAT NOW!” The relay interpreter, in this case, asks the Deaf client,
“Do you mean that she looks different from the last time you saw
her?” The client nods emphatically. The relay interpreter puts the
woman’s comment as, “I’ve noticed that there’s a change in your
appearance,” intending to convey the caring attitude that was
under the surface of the client’s first comment. It also leaves it up
to the hearing worker to elaborate on the comment or let it go.

4. “It all started when…”
At a doctor’s appointment, the interpreter is aware of a familiar
pattern: the doctor asks the opening question expecting to get a

08 MINDESS PMKR 187 10/18/04, 12:02 PM