Page 214 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

Techniques for Cultural Adjustments 199

Our Responsibility to Educate
The comment has been made that if we do all of this subtle cul-
tural adjustment, the participants will leave the meeting thinking
that their own communication strategies were successful. Although
it is not clearly defined, part of our job as interpreters is also to
educate our consumers.
Therefore, it is sometimes appropriate, after the situation, for
us to give our Deaf or hearing consumers information about what
cultural adjustments we just made, the cultural expectations that
prompted us to do so, and what they themselves might do differ-
ently the next time around. There is no general rule. In each situ-
ation you must judge which consumers would have the time to
listen, would be interested, would understand, and might benefit
from your explanations. In my own work, I would say that, unfor-
tunately, most people are too busy or are too involved with their
own lives to be open to such discussion. Nevertheless, sometimes
it is worth a try, particularly if the two participants intend to have
an ongoing relationship or series of meetings. You might begin
your discussion with the hearing consumer by reminding him or
her about your requests for clarification. “Do you remember how
I asked you for examples several times during the interview? Well,
in ASL….”
The Deaf person may also be interested in a short explana-
tion of hearing cultural expectations. We might explain that hear-
ing doctors usually want to be in control of the interview and
therefore prefer short answers, which they can follow up with more
questions, or that in hearing job interviews one is supposed to be
very positive and try to sell one’s skills.
Let us now revisit some of the scenarios from chapter 6 and
apply the techniques discussed above.

Medical Scenarios

Scenario 1
Hearing Doctor: Hi. How are you?
Deaf Patient: Well, that first pill you gave me last year was
awful, made me itch all over, then the blue one made my head-
ache worse, and this one made me feel dizzy in the morning....

08 MINDESS PMKR 199 10/18/04, 12:02 PM