Page 70 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

Selected Topics in Intercultural Communication 55

with a businessperson in a polychronic culture, he or she will prob-
ably become upset when the business counterpart’s brother “in-
trudes,” the phone rings, the secretary comes in with another
matter, and the businessperson deals with all of these occurrences
simultaneously. The American literally wants one-on-one atten-
tion and feels discounted, or even insulted, if he or she doesn’t
get it.
This difference is also apparent in business meetings, where
the monochronic members want to follow the agenda strictly as it
was planned. The polychronic members may feel that doing so is
too rigid and leaves no room for personal interactions, which are
really more important than agendas anyway. In the Deaf commu-
nity, “Groups move towards goals rather than complete checklists
and move on. The process, the mutual feeling and perception of
progress is more important than the completion of specific tasks
or outward signs of ‘progress’” (Smith 1996, 192). As Hall states
in The Dance of Life, “Polychronic people are so deeply immersed
in each other’s business that they feel a compulsion to keep in
touch. Any stray scrap of a story is gathered in and stored away.
Their involvement in people is the very core of their existence”
(1983, 50). For Deaf people who depend upon communication
with each other for so much of their information about the world,
the polychronic description also seems to fit. Being involved in
others’ lives takes time—time to share the news and time to lis-
ten. When interpreters do not include this “human time” to chat
after the work part of the assignment is over, they may be charac-
terized as rude hearing people who continually glance at their
watches and then rush off without even a good-bye.
Because we cannot always predict exactly how long things
will take, our monochronic time system has some unforeseen
consequences. Time runs out before things are finished; money
runs out before a research project is completed; the allotted ap-
pointment time runs out before we finish describing our com-
plaints to the doctor. For freelance sign language interpreters, this
is a particularly relevant dilemma. In order to make a living, we
must often schedule several appointments back-to-back and so
are constantly trying to predict the impossible: how long a “rou-
tine checkup” or a deposition will last. Even when we are not
responsible for the erroneous prognostication, we are stuck in the
middle. Our excuse as we run out the door, “They told me this
would only last till three and I have another assignment at four,”

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