Page 72 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

Selected Topics in Intercultural Communication 57

Of course, teaming with another interpreter demands com-
munication about preferences before the assignment begins. My
point is that there is something deeper at work here, because,
from my observations, the interpreters who reject the strict ad-
herence to the twenty-minute rule are most often those who grew
up in Deaf households, where time may be less rigidly compart-
mentalized. And where did we come up with this sacred twenty-
minute rule anyway? As far as I can gather, there has been only
one study, which was done by a Deaf woman named Barbara
Babbini Brasel at the University of Northern Illinois about fifteen
years ago, which ascertained scientifically that interpreters’ accu-
racy begins to drop off after approximately twenty minutes. When
this research was presented to the Registry of Interpreters for the
Deaf, it seems that the membership began to revere this number.
As we will see later, hearing Americans routinely put their faith in
such numerical data.

Past versus Future Orientation
Yet another way to compare time among cultures is through the
continuum of past, present, and future orientation. Past-oriented
cultures such as those of Iran, India, and most nations of Asia are
connected to their history, respect their ancestors, keep traditions,
and look back with reverence on a “golden age.” Future-oriented
cultures, of which the United States is a good example, are more
focused on change and progress. According to Edward C. Stewart
and Milton J. Bennett in American Cultural Patterns (1991), people
with a past or present orientation may assume a fatalistic outlook
toward the future and be upset by aggressive attempts to struc-
ture the unknowable.
In some ways American Deaf culture can be considered a past-
oriented culture. It treasures its sign language and cherishes those
Deaf pioneers who fought for basic rights for their fellow Deaf
citizens. One of the most significant of these is the right to a good
education for all Deaf children. In this context, one could say that
Deaf culture looks back on a “golden age” in the last century when
more than twenty state schools for the Deaf were founded by
Deaf people. Nine of the schools had Deaf principals or superin-
tendents, and sign language was the language of instruction in all
of these schools. There were also many more Deaf teachers dur-
ing this “golden age” than there are today. At its height in 1858,

03 MINDESS PMKR 57 10/18/04, 11:23 AM