Mother Father Deaf by Paul Preston

Author:Paul Preston [Preston, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9780674252868
Google: 1Rz9DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 1998-07-21T05:33:02+00:00

Interpreting

Whether in a department store or during a church service, it is a sight most people take note of: a small child interpreting for her deaf parent. Interpreting is perhaps the one feature most associated with hearing children of deaf parents. As has been described, actual interpreting responsibilities vary greatly among hearing children of deaf parents. Yet the focus on who interprets and with what frequency overlooks a more fundamental conceptual issue. Questions such as “Did you interpret for your parents?” or “How often did you interpret?” presume a uniform understanding of the term “interpreting”—one that is defined only as translating from one language to another. Informants’ narratives, however, reveal a much broader range of activities that are subsumed under the rubric of “interpreting.” What does “interpreting” mean?

Interpreting entails conceptually organizing what is being said as well as putting oneself in the place of the speaker and the listener. G. Herbert Mead (1934) emphasized the dual importance of children’s play in learning social roles: the acquisition of specific roles themselves, and the acquisition of the skill to shift roles. Like Mead, Adorno (1950) also focused on taking the role of the other, which he hypothesized was absent in persons fixated at the earlier projective level. Hastorf and Bender (1952) distinguished ethnocentrics as “projectors” and egalitarians as “emphathizers.” Adorno found ethnocentric persons deficient in insight (a consistent self-evaluation with an outside criterion). These findings reflect the informants’ consistent self-evaluation, which stressed that their family experiences developed and encouraged their ability to empathize with others.

Methods and styles of interpreting evolved within the context of informants’ families. In the previous chapter we saw the myriad methods of communication that existed in informants’ families: various forms of sign language, speech, lipreading, and pantomime, as well as combinations of these methods. This diversity demonstrates that even on a pragmatic level, the actual languages used in interpreting varied from home to home. Interpreting contexts varied as well. Several informants reported they interpreted only in certain situations: business rather than social, or emergencies rather than casual interactions. Styles of interpreting also varied—from one that is more simultaneous (translating at the same time as someone is speaking or signing) to one that has been humorously labeled “stand-and-pray.”1 Languages, methods, contexts, and styles each color the experience of “interpreting.”

When informants were asked to describe their interpreting activities, a number of inconsistencies emerged. Several informants wavered when I asked them whether or not they had interpreted at home. A few felt that interpreting was reserved for those who were fluent in American Sign Language. Informants did not always recognize their use of other forms of communicating (such as lipreading or home signs) as “interpreting.” Roberta expressed this disparity:

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