Interpreting: February 2005 Archives

Briankle assigned us a terrific book: Stealing the Mona Lisa: What Art Stops Us From Seeing, by Darian Leader. (Another pro and a con critique are posted here, scroll down.)

I'm interested in the way Leader describes the difference between looking and seeing. One may look and not see. Simply, this is perceptually similar to hearing but not listening, however Leader is really dealing with consciousness and what it means to know that one is being looked at without ever knowing for sure what (who?) is being seen.

Anne Potter and I will present soon, at the internet conference Supporting Deaf People Online, about a hypothesis we've been developing over the last three years. Our paper, The Interpreter and INTERRUPTING: Cultural and Group Dynamics, introduces some distinctions that we think are important, but we might be the only ones who think so! So, the discussion at this conference will really be a "test" of the hypothesis. Do others agree or disagree? Is this conversation worthwhile and useful?

Hypothesis: There is a pattern in the way interpreters and Deaf people talk about interruptions that shows a bias toward INTERRUPTING as an outcome of cultural difference, instead of as a typical feature of intercultural interaction.

~ David sends this gem along:

Interview with Carol Padden and Tom Humphries.

They've got a new book out, and their old one is still a classic, Deaf in America. Tom is credited with coining the term, audism, to describe systemic discrimination and prejudice against deaf people.

David Kreuger sent this article, Deaf patients challenge hospital interpreter system, to the DeafVermont list.

Problems with the video relay interpreting have lead to community organizing and a legal challenge. Some hospitals using VRI have been reluctant or refused to hire live interpreters when needed.

Article By PAMELA WOOD, Staff Writer for The Capital, Annapolis, MD

I'm still crossing my fingers for the second half of the funding, but it's kinda looking like a "go". :-) The abstract posted on the Anthropology webpage has an outdated title but the gist of the study is the same. (It's a downloadable pdf, not a link.) I've got housing arranged in Brussels, my roundtrip ticket is purchased, and if I can just get the final permission to get into "the booth" at the European Parliament all will be golden. (Oh, did I mention hoping I get that grant?) THEN it will be ... isn't there some rare metal more precious than gold?