Page 68 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

Selected Topics in Intercultural Communication 53

Possible Stage 4: This is awful! I am terribly late. I am sure
everyone is angry with me. How can I ever make it up to them? I
will put myself at their mercy and beg their forgiveness.
In the United States we are at stage 1 from 0 to about 5 min-
utes, stage 2 from 5 to 10 minutes, and stage 3 from 10 to 15
minutes. After 15 minutes, there is an optional switch to stage 4
depending on the circumstances. In Germany, stage 1 is shorter,
perhaps only until 2 minutes after the appointed time. Then all
the stages get moved up accordingly. In Latin America and Arab
countries, however, stage 1 may last as long as 20 minutes and
stage 2 may last 45 minutes. Obviously, this is fertile ground for
intercultural conflict.
Americans seem to be particularly obsessed with time, view-
ing it as a commodity. We see it as something precious that we
can save, waste, buy, spend, find, lose, make, pass, take, spare,
run out of, and kill. Not every culture shares this perspective.

Deaf and Hearing Differences Related to Time
Many subcultures in the United States refer to their own variant of
the accepted time system half-jokingly as Black Standard Time or
Jewish Standard Time, and so on. But they are only half-joking,
because there really are differences in behavior and attitude to-
ward time in different cultures. This category would include DST,
or Deaf Standard Time, as well. Perhaps all of these “standard
time” references are only glorified excuses for being late. Or, to
their credit, some subcultures may recognize that in their group
punctuality is not always next to godliness.
Besides arriving at events late, another element of Deaf time
is staying late at gatherings such as parties. In Deaf-only parties,
this behavior goes unremarked upon because it is expected. In a
mixed party of Deaf and hearing, people often joke that the party
really gets started after all the hearing people go home (early). If
there is an event at a public location such as a theater, it often
happens that the Deaf people in attendance must be shooed out
at closing time, and they sometimes continue the conversation
on the front steps outside the theater. At a restaurant, a group of
Deaf patrons may be deep in conversation as the restaurant staff
stacks the chairs upside down on the tables and turns off the lights.
If Deaf people are involved in a discussion, cutting it off arbitrarily
because the clock says it’s getting late is almost unheard-of. These
moments of face-to-face communication with fellow Deaf people

03 MINDESS PMKR 53 10/18/04, 11:23 AM