This workshop, featuring Dr Eileen Forestal, Dr Stephanie Jo Kent, and Cynthia Napier, M.Ed., will be presented at the Conference of Interpreter Trainers in Portland, Oregon.
What would interpreting be like if we embraced and valued interruptions rather than judging them as negative disruptions to flow? Conversation analysis yields specific insights about the dynamics of turn-taking (when the same language is used by all) and also about when, how, and by whom repairs can be initiated (also based on interaction in the same language). In this dialogue between two Deaf and one Hearing interpreter-researcher/practitioners, these functionalist analyses in the homolingual (same language) mode are combined with a critical analysis of power from the field of translation studies. Lawrence Venuti’s concept of foreignization(from cultural studies) is introduced as an opposite paradigm to the popular linguistic paradigm of fluency. The implications of exploring problems of flow from another paradigm are suggested as a productive path for improving the quality of interpreting for everyone.