I will be following up on comments made by several Parliament interpreters that the act of interpreting well puts on on the mental borderzone just before schizophrenia. To do the topic justice, of course, I need to be more familiar with schizophrenia itself. Peter posted the link to his blog to the AIR listserv, giving new meaning (for me) to his tag line: "Just trying to stay linear".
Interpreting: July 2005 Archives
Deutsch Gebärdensprache – German Sign Language – DGS
I’m hearing hints and rumors (!) of folks here interested in the Deaf-Interpreter relationship/interaction. It sounds like they are approaching it from different angles than me, but we’re still interested in the same basic thing, or at least in various aspects of the same thing. Making these contacts and having these conversations is completely bonus to the intention of fieldwork here, but it contributes to my thinking, of course. :-)
There are four interpreting schools in Germany and a cadre of other professionals who work with the Deaf community (as in the US). The language underwent similar historical repression and was salvaged by use on the playgrounds and in the dormitories of residential schools. An additional measure here was a wave of sterilization, which seriously reduced a generation of children who could have been raised by Deaf parents.
Today I begin the community interpreting phase of fieldwork. It’s already been radically different than the fieldwork with European Parliament interpreters due to the absence of an overarching institutional structure such as granted me access to the Parliament buildings in Brussels and Strasbourg – where clusters of conference interpreters were readily available. I meet with a Turkish-German court interpreter this afternoon and we’ll go from there. I’ve a few other tentative contacts; I’m hoping that one will simply lead to another. We shall see. :-)
Conference interpreters’ perceptions of community interpreting was one of the questions I investigated with most of the EP interpreters.
I’m more than halfway through Goffman’s Frame Analysis, subtitled “An Essay on the Organization of Experience” (described by Brian as “not an essay, that’s a f*cking tome!”). Robin’s recommendation was right on target. (As was the other text by Deborah Tannen, Framing in Discourse.)
Goffman uses the obvious changes in stage props over time as evidence to “alert us to the expectation that framing does not so much introduce restrictions on what can be meaningful as it … open[s] up variability” (emphasis added, 238). Here I am chafing against the limits when the natural capacity to adjust to all manner of framings and transformations indicates possibility! “Differently put, persons seem to have a very fundamental capacity to accept changes in organizational premises which, once made, render a whole strip of activity different from what it is modeled on and yet somehow meaningful . . .” (238). To wit, teaching “experientially” instead of traditionally, and the capacity of Jeff at UNH to apply communication theory in practice vs the inability of others to recognize the possibility of recasting teaching in an as yet meaningful way. Others (going unnamed to protect the innocent and the guilty) mistrust: “. . . that these systematic differences can be corrected for and kept from disorganizing perception, while at the same time involvement in the story line is maintained” (238). Right? Goffman is saying that the differences between the model and its reorganization are systematic and therefore sensible. “Correcting for” doesn’t indicate “fixing”, rather it indicates the ability to adjust to a different logic without losing one’s perceptive connectivity to the situation and persons in it.
I’m thinking of the degrees of realism and consistency imposed as standards for interpreting practice. In the enactment of interpreting, there seems to be a quite narrow range of acceptability (a tight frame?): EP interpreters and SL interpreters both talk about realism (as measured by the disappearance of the interpreter). To become visible, to appear as one’s own person (or even as the character of the interpreter?), is a violation of consistency, marked in SL interpreting by natural criticism of INTERRUPTING and TAKING OVER.
I don't want to forget that this was the reason a few people mentioned for choosing to come to the Why Bother? workshop. The concept of impartiality is not spoken of in professional sign language interpreter discourse, or - as far as I know - in the Deaf discourse about interpreting. Indeed, the opposite seems to be the case - a distinct preference for partiality through what people talk about as "being an ally".
“Why Bother” didn’t seem to be as attractive a title as “Breaking Role.” We had well over a hundred people attend, but this was nowhere near the amount of people that came two years ago in Chicago. Was the title a turn-off? Did it imply that interpreters shouldn’t “bother” – even to come? Just curious. :-) Nonetheless, our discussion was rich, and the Deaf participants added a lot that we didn’t have in the Breaking Role discussion. The feedback Eileen and I received was similar to that which I’ve received in the past; those who do come continue to affirm the value of continuing this discussion. (At least, these are the folks who give us direct feedback; no doubt (?) there are others who don’t find it helpful or interesting – or aren’t ready? - to tease out the mechanics of communication breakdown between interpreters and the Deaf.)
This was good prep for interviews I hope to do conducting soon with German-Turkish (spoken language) interpreters. So far the only place I know this service is provided is in the courts.
Caroline Thomas’ workshop on legal interpreting is worth attending for the humor alone. :-) I particularly liked WAG – “Wild-Assed Guess.” Her distinction between “street” and “legal” interpreting was instructive, along with the exercise we did on “black hole questions”. (See me grin!) There was a lot of general knowledge embedded throughout the workshop that all interpreters would benefit from, whether or not they ever do legal interpreting or not.
If I'm not mistaken, the consensus was that Angela's invitation was intended as a spur to good behavior...it sure kept me in line all conference long! ;-) (I could have been in worse company; I remember Carolyn flexing her triceps for us at CIT last year...)
She's a good prez, that chick - bringing in non-signing stakeholders to share in the inner workings of RID and bask in the glow of our professional camaraderie. The whole Board received acknowledgement throughout the conference, but I think what many of us are wondering is whether Glenace shaved off that purple hair or not?!
If you didn't attend the business meeting yesterday you missed:
covert communication typed into the meeting from the computer operator;
Mount Rushmore (four past RID Presidents);
regional and state rivalries;
a challenge to beat the Europeans in donations to WASLI, through RID's "A Day's Pay" program;
and customized (albiet unscripted) martini and fan service.
Perhaps other organizations have as much fun and intercollegiality as we do; but I'm not sure!
There was some drama concerning the now-delayed position paper (Standard Practice Paper) on Video Relay Interpreting and Video Relay Service.
It feels like a small miracle, but we're ready for tomorrow's show. :-) There are 22 clips of video in the first part, another dozen in the second part, for 35 minutes total. I've never included so much before. I knew it was going to be time-consuming...but it is all so fascinating! I've had a handful of revelations as Anne's arguments with me finally started to sink in. Let's see, that's only several months later after three re-viewings of our conversation! No wonder I've never been accused of having a quick learning curve! ;-)
Looking for a metaphor.....Eileen uses the notion of a wheel to teach about culture, and we've been discussing the relationship between culture and discourse - how we can distinguish between them, and also separating out dynamics too, even though we know all three are braided together.
will be the site of the first ever World Association of Sign Language Intepreters. It's a gorgeous place, going by internet pictures. The town is situated between Jo-berg and K-town in the Breede River Valley. They make wine.
