Page 238 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

Cultural Sensitivity Shouldn’t End at Five O’Clock 223

the interpreter I had last week,” “You stood in the wrong place,”
“You used the wrong sign”? Probably we rush out of the room,
hide in our cars, and cry.
We have already discussed the sandwich approach to giving
criticism in American hearing culture. I suspect, however, that there
is more going on in these situations than merely failing to intro-
duce a criticism with a positive comment. We must take a look
inside and ask ourselves what we are really trying to elicit with
our questions. If we are honest with ourselves, I believe we will
often admit that what we really want is reassurance, compliments,
and even a short diagnostic evaluation.
The vast majority of our Deaf consumers are not trained in
the specific vocabulary and techniques of doing diagnostic evalu-
ations of sign language interpreters. (Even experienced interpreter
trainers often go through weeks of intensive training to attain such
skills.) When we ask “Was that okay?” we might get the response,
“Yeah, I understood you,” which is the Deaf consumer’s basic
criterion for making a judgment. Such an answer, however, might
not feel satisfactory to us.
Suppose we get a more detailed response from the Deaf con-
sumer that points out several weaknesses. We may feel hurt or
insulted or that we ought to give up the field altogether. We need
to remember, however, that even though it might have stung, criti-
cism in this case can be taken as a compliment, because it means
that the Deaf person cares enough to want us to improve and stay
involved with the Deaf community.
One way to get what we are asking for is to ask a specific
question such as “Was my spelling clear today?” But the best al-
ternative might be to continue to attend workshops or depend on
other interpreters for feedback, because we must remember that
the Deaf person is focusing on his or her transactions. Is it really
fair to expect someone who is going through a tax audit or a ton-
sillectomy to pay attention to our use of classifiers or nonmanual
markers?

Community Involvement

One effective way to counter the negative image of the interpreter
as someone who appears to be only interested in making money
from the Deaf community is to support the Deaf community by
becoming involved to some degree. It is also essential to our pro-

09 MINDESS PMKR 223 10/18/04, 12:03 PM