Page 234 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

Cultural Sensitivity Shouldn’t End at Five O’Clock 219

tionally upset and worried about the upcoming appointment or
may be relating to you as the hearing professional who keeps
business in a separate compartment from social interaction. In
the end, therefore, you will need to use your sensitivity and take
your cues from the Deaf consumer.

Lunchtime
Suppose you and your team interpreter have just worked strenu-
ously for three or four hours; your arms are tired and your brain is
mush. Finally, it’s time for the lunch break at your all-day assign-
ment! All you want to do is fill your stomach, empty your head,
and perhaps catch up on what’s happening with your team
interpreter’s love life. So what do you do when the Deaf person
you’ve been interpreting for inquires, “Mind if I join you two for
lunch?”
There are several factors to keep in mind in deciding how to
respond. First, are you being paid for the lunch hour? In a job that
goes from nine to five, for example, where we get paid for eight
hours of work, we might consider the lunch hour to be part of the
job and not our free time. Second, are we interpreters the only
people who sign at this event? If there are other Deaf participants
or others who can sign, it might be easier to decline the invita-
tion, knowing that the person who asked us can find someone
else with whom to converse during lunch. If there are no others
who can sign, we may feel we must make a small declaration of
our allegiance. In this situation, do we feel more a part of the Deaf
world because of our ability to sign and accept the responsibilities
that entails? Or do we identify more with the hearing world and
thereby assert our individual right to take a break from signing?
In some cases, no decision on our part will be required. Some-
times, the Deaf person prefers to eat alone in order to rest his or
her eyes and prepare for the next session or says thoughtfully,
“You two go ahead and chat [without signing] and have a good
lunch. See you back at one o’clock.” Other times it is clear that
this will be a working lunch for the whole group, and you and
your team must juggle eating and signing. It is a nice bonus when
you and your team interpreter are sensitive enough to each other’s
needs to be able to work this out smoothly. For example, my team-
mate knows that I am always starving at noon, so he lets me have
the first turn at eating while he interprets. I know he really likes to
enjoy his coffee and dessert, so I take over and let him finish his

09 MINDESS PMKR 219 10/18/04, 12:03 PM