Page 203 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

188 Reading Between the Signs

short introduction to the patient’s current concerns and is thrown
off when the Deaf patient launches into a detailed chronological
narration. So when the doctor says, “And what brings you here
today?” the interpreter conveys a request for the patient to spe-
cifically relate what’s wrong now. Nevertheless, the patient begins
his comments, “Five years ago....” The interpreter realizes that
the need to supply the context must be very important to the
patient and begins voicing, “Doctor, I need to explain a few things
first to give you some background. Five years ago....”
5. “Hint, hint”
During a discussion between an official of the Department of Motor
Vehicles and a Deaf man about how he could win back a sus-
pended license, it seems to the interpreter that the official is hint-
ing that of two possible courses of action, it might be more advan-
tageous for the Deaf man not to follow the officially sanctioned
procedure but to follow another course of action instead. As a
DMV employee, however, the woman might not feel comfortable
overtly advocating such an alternative. The interpreter realizes
that in order to convey the underlying message to the client she
will have to be more explicit. So she checks out her hunch with
the DMV official by asking, “Are you saying that...?” Getting an
affirmative murmur in response, the interpreter describes the two
options to the client and states explicitly why the alternate course
of action would be faster and cheaper. Then the Deaf man asks
the DMV official, “Do you mean that it would be better for me
to...?” The DMV official nods, smiling.
Let us look back at these five scenarios and analyze what took
place. I believe that in each case the participants’ intentions were
accurately conveyed. Not only did the interpreters not take over,
but by their skillful handling of the situations and elimination of
cultural red herrings, they allowed the participants themselves to
control their transactions. Without getting derailed by culturally
different ways of communicating, each discussion came to a sat-
isfactory conclusion. (This is not to say that successful cultural
adjustment means that all participants must leave every meeting
totally satisfied. Sometimes if we do our job well, the participants
come to see just how different their opinions and goals really are.)
Awareness and anticipation seem to be key ingredients in reci-
pes for successful interpretation. In each scenario the interpreter
demonstrated an awareness of the cultural factors and anticipated

08 MINDESS PMKR 188 10/18/04, 12:02 PM