IW 96: InterpreTips: Your Friendly Neighborhood Default Interpreter

"Interpreter sense" is real! It tingles in the presence of spoken and signed nonsense!

OK, maybe such a tingling is exactly true. You tell me. But in this episode, I'll tell you how I compare a designated sign language interpreter, a default interpreter, and a comfortable interpreter (when you have a client you see often). Should they be separated? Are the codes of conduct different for each? How do we tell?

Think deeply about this topic, it may just be you!

Transcript

IW 96: InterpreTips: Your Friendly Neighborhood Default Interpreter

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[ROCK INTRO MUSIC STARTS] 

00:00:02 Tim (Only Tim is speaking in this episode.)

Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Wherever you are, this is the Interpreter's Workshop podcast. I'm Tim Curry, your host. Here we talk everything sign language interpreting the ins, the outs, the ups, the downs, the sideways of interpreting. If you're a student, a new interpreter, experienced interpreter, this is the place for you. If you want to know more, go tointerpretersworkshop.com

00:00:28

Let's start talking... interpreting.

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00:00:34

And now the quote of the day by Confucius.

00:00:40

“To see what is right and not do it, is a lack of courage.”

00:00:46

Today's episode continues the conversation about the designated interpreter.

00:00:53

Today we talk about the “default” interpreter.

00:00:57

What we normally do when we have an assignment one time with one client, but rarely see that client again.

00:01:07

How does that compare to “designated interpreter” and can we mix the two? Hmm. Let's get started.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:01:21

It was a typical day I had just entered the doctor's office waiting room and it looked rather crowded. I found an empty seat, but before I sat down, I looked around the room looking for the client.

00:01:34

I didn't know this particular client, but I knew that they were going to meet me there at the waiting room, but I used my interpreter powers to look around the room to pick out that one deaf person. And when that didn't help, I sat down.

00:01:50

A few moments later, I'm hearing the chatter throughout the room. Many people are saying, “boy, it's taking a long time.” Other people are saying, “I have somewhere to be” and “it's already 20 minutes late from my appointment”.

00:02:05

And I also over here nurses talking as they're walking by saying, “We are really swamped today. I hope we can get through the whole list”. And when the client does arrive, there aren't any other seats. I stand up to give them my seat, but we stand and chat.

00:02:24

And the topic does come up that it's rather busy and it's a full waiting room and I add that many people here have been waiting for over 20 minutes from their appointment time and many are complaining about the long wait. Even the nurses said…

00:02:40

So, I give that information and I'm just a one-time interpreter for that assignment, right? I'm not his designated interpreter.

00:02:49

Was I right?

00:02:51

Well, let's think about how a designated interpreter compares to the default interpreter.

00:02:58

In this situation, the default interpreter has a goal. What is the goal?

00:03:04

There are many goals in every situation, usually for an interpreting situation we are trying to meet the goals of each speaker while we are interpreting their message.

00:03:17

But in the waiting room of a doctor's office, what is the goal? There is some small talk, not always. Sometimes everyone's just sitting in their “sickness”, waiting.

00:03:29

But everyone's goal there is to see the doctor.

00:03:34

Find out what's wrong. Find out new information about their illness and get it cured to have a good solution. A good result in the end, and then get on with their day. I know this. No one says that's what the goal is there, but we all are doing that when we go to the doctor.

00:03:54

We want to see the doctor as quickly as possible, find out new information as quickly as possible and get back to living our lives.

00:04:04

So, with that goal in mind, my decision to tell the client what I had observed and overheard helps him with this goal.

00:04:15

It also allows him to understand one when you're meeting with the doctor, they may be really quick, short answers.

00:04:25

When I say later in the interpretation, “Hey, he's getting a little irritated, he just needs the facts. Your story is a little bit long”. All of those types of things he will remember. Ah, they are full and they're behind. They're trying to go fast.

00:04:42

So I'm following the goal of those situations as well as the goal of the medical personnel because they're in a hurry trying to treat as many people as they can in the time they have. So, what is the goal of a designated interpreter again? Hmm, to meet the goals of that situation.

00:05:03

Remember, in the last episode, the story about the small talk mingling at a conference, “networking” was the goal. Getting to know one another, make those connections. That was the goal.

00:05:18

So, working together with the client, we meet those goals not just as a designated interpreter, but as an interpreter.

00:05:30

So, the first thing we have to consider when we're interpreting is the goal. The goal of that individual and the goal of that situation. They should be tied together, but not always. So, when we make a decision, is it working towards that goal or against that goal?

00:05:50

Interpreting takes mutual consent, mutual understanding, and mutual understanding of our expectations. That allows for a designated interpreter to have that look to understand that look, or that particular sign, or that particular gesture that has so much depth of meaning for the interpreter and the client. The deaf client in this case.

00:06:18

But as an interpreter, quote, default interpreter, unquote. We also have to have an understanding of expectations for everyone in that situation. We have to understand that there is mutual consent that as an interpreter, I will be responsible for this, this, this.

00:06:39

For making decisions to make the communication smooth, to make it clear, and to flow according to the goals. It is understood that I will make a decision based on what's happening in the environment.

00:06:54

What sounds, what tension that we feel as a hearing person in that situation as a default interpreter. We have the responsibility to make decisions and to give information that we see, that we hear, that pushes everything toward the goals.

00:07:18

It doesn't mean that we are the ones achieving those goals or we are the reason for people achieving those goals, but we are not hindering, harming the path to the goals that they have.

00:07:33

The main difference is as a designated interpreter, we have a full mutual understanding and consent and expectations of how to behave, how to conduct ourselves in our practice as an interpreter in those situations.

00:07:52

But as a default interpreter, it isn't always understood, but some of the aspects such as giving information that we see that we hear, that we know will help them achieve their goals, we can give, but we give them in a different way. We don't give them with that look, or that gesture that's common between us because we don't have that.

00:08:20

But we are still working towards the goals, so we're still doing some of the same things and making some of the same decisions as a designated interpreter, but in a slightly different way, a less explicit way.

00:08:37

Some would say that a designated interpreter is being flexible on their ethical conduct or in their ethical behaviors.

00:08:47

Hmm, let's think about that for a moment. Ethical behaviors versus flexible ethical behaviors.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:08:56

A big thank you to everyone who shares this podcast with a colleague and friend. If you want to support the show even more, check out the show notes for links to buy me a coffee because it's very embarrassing to fall asleep during an interview. Thank you. Let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:09:14

Hmmm ethical behavior.

00:09:17

Flexible ethical behavior, flex-ethical behavior, flexi-ethical? hmm. Does that exist?

00:09:26

I would say from a legalistic standpoint…

00:09:30

No.

00:09:32

You either are following ethical views or not?

00:09:38

Flexibility is not about ethics.

00:09:43

Flexibility about our behaviors means flexibility in the decisions we're making, because the ethics means what's right, what's wrong, including what's morally right, and what's morally wrong.

00:09:59

Hmm.

00:10:00

How do we know?

00:10:02

In our work as an interpreter, we try never to show or imply bad ethics. Plus, never to do anything morally wrong. Doing the right thing, even when others are not seeing us do it, we still stand by it. We change our decisions to match the situation to match the situation’s goals, we change our responsibility accordingly as well.

00:10:30

But we still stay within the bounds of ethics, within morals. We don't break confidentiality except when it has to do with reaching the goals or when it means we have to break something morally wrong. If we have to do something morally wrong or something unethical…

00:10:50

That is against the rules, whether it's societies, rules, rules against humanity, or rules against the situation…

00:10:58

That's when we don't do it. But the flexibility comes around when we think of decisions that have to do with the interpreting process, the interpreting convention that we have created in our profession, which has to do with whether or not we should have autonomy.

00:11:19

Whether or not the interpreter has agency, and the ability to make decisions about what is and what is not interpreted. In the past, we thought if the Deaf are not here or if the hearing is not here, we don't interpret it for them later.

00:11:38

But breaking that standard is not unethical or ethical. It is merely taking the abstract idea of well, if an interpreter wasn't here, they wouldn't hear it, or if the interpreter wasn't here, they wouldn't see it. Therefore, I shouldn't interpret it or tell the information.

00:11:59

But that's just a thinking game. It is just a game, a philosophical riddle to make us think about… “Well, seriously, we are interpreters, and that means if we're not there, then that information would not be shared. So therefore, I should not share it.” Well, that's a little picky, isn't it?

00:12:20

I did get the information and its information that could help one or the other make a decision to reach the goal. It's also about from my example, it's part of the waiting room’s goal and mission is to find out how long you're going to be there, learn a little bit of the atmosphere of the day, all of that. That is part of the schema of that situation. 

00:12:46

As a designated interpreter, we become knowledgeable of all the delicate details in that situation in that environment, in that workplace power struggle. And that makes it all the more important that we do show flexibility in our decisions and our standards and conventions of interpreting. But it also means we should remember that philosophy whenever we are the quote default interpreter.

00:13:19

Because while we stay within the bounds of ethics and morals, we are allowed to have some flexibility in our decision making when we can see or feel there is mutual consent, mutual expectations for that scenario.

00:13:40

It’s called human interaction, respect for one another.

00:13:43

Now, how do we handle all of this designated interpreter ways of practice and default interpreter ways of practice when you have a client (or a consumer, whichever you want to call it) that you see on a regular basis every week, every few days over a long period of time.

00:14:07

What happens then? It's not one workplace, it's not one environment.

00:14:14

How do you handle that?

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:14:16

Thank you to all the hundreds of people following this podcast. If you want to hear from interpreters around the world and get the latest episodes, follow the podcast in your app. Just check out some of the links in the show notes to help you with that. Thank you. Now let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:14:33

We've all had a client that we've worked with on a regular basis over the years. Even we've become close if not even friends where we do things outside of the interpreting scenario. We do have inside jokes, we have mutual signs or looks.

00:14:53

Yes, the look.

00:14:55

Which means various things for us, but those are not moments where we are the designated interpreter necessarily according to the definition. We are not in a workplace, we are not in an organization where we come in and work for that person during their work hours or during their project time, but rather we work with them throughout daily life situations.

00:15:25

They tend to trust us, and we trust them. We know our languages well and our ways of communication well and it just works.

00:15:35

Does that make us at a designated interpreter? Does that make us for that situation, for that person? What does?

00:15:43

What? What do we call that?? Do we need to label it?

00:15:47

Maybe not. It's kind of like when you work with the team in interpreting…

00:15:52

That you just click. You just match so well that everything seems to work well. Everything seems to go so smoothly that it doesn't even feel like work.

00:16:06

It almost feels like you're not working as an interpreter, but as a friend in a situation, and you're always on their side, etcetera. And is that wrong? Should we not be working with them anymore because we've always been told that you really shouldn't interpret for your family and close friends?

00:16:26

Because there are biases inherent in such a relationship. But does that necessarily mean that the interpreting is bad? Does it necessarily mean that you will not make sure that the goals of everyone in the conversation in the dialogue are met?

00:16:43

So, it is similar to a designated interpreter in that you have that look, you know.

00:16:51

Almost what the person is going to say before they say it, especially when they get the common questions. You know what they mean just by the way they look when they're signing a certain phrase. Even for the hearing clients that we work with regularly, we know how they think, how they work, how they communicate, what phrases they use, and how they use them, and when they use them.

00:17:17

It's a nice feeling to be comfortable in a job in that one moment when you're interpreting because it flows so well, but sometimes it feels a little wrong that it's going so well because you think maybe I shouldn't be interpreting for this person. I know so much already. We are close.

00:17:40

I think we need to know when to draw the line. If we see that it is interfering with the interpreting process. If we see that we are not helping but we're hindering, or we are enabling some types of behaviors, we need to drop out.

00:18:00

Drop out of that situation in a friendly way or work less in that situation. Give yourselves a break, but if you don't see the problems, discuss it with those people.

00:18:15

If they don't see the problems, they don't have a bias, but they have a mutual understanding of yes, when we are in the situation, you are the interpreter. We have a little bit more flexibility as far as how we communicate, because we trust each other, and we know how we communicate. We know the languages that we use, the cultural aspects that we both put in helps us understand what the meanings really are.

00:18:44

And that's why it makes everyone comfortable.

00:18:47

I don't think we should be afraid of that.

00:18:49

In most of our communities the deaf community is small.

00:18:55

The interpreting community is small as well. I know that I prefer to have certain interpreters myself for my own situations.

00:19:07

It's a comfortable feeling of trust.

00:19:11

And that mutual consent of the responsibilities and the understanding of who has what responsibility.

00:19:20

And who has what power that are the places that we cannot step over. That is where we need to have that mutual understanding. Do I have power in this situation to this limit or to this limit of power?

00:19:38

When we know those, it becomes easier, easier for us, easier for all clients.

00:19:45

We become more mature, mature as an interpreter and as a person and as a professional, and that's what we should be doing is maturing as professionals developing our skills, developing our understandings of consent of power-sharing, the responsibilities of mutual expectations.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC STARTS]

00:20:13

So, we have a designated interpreter, the default interpreter, and the comfortable interpreter. The ongoing situations that we regula-ar-reg- hibby-dy-hib-di-deh, yes, that's hard to say in English. Those ongoing situations that we regularly handle. That become comfortable. They all have something in common.

00:20:37

The interpreter. The interpreter handles those situations differently, and yet similarly.

00:20:46

We all look for the goals of the situation, the goals of the individuals, and we try to meet those goals and within that we're remembering that we're all human, that we all have ethical boundaries, moral boundaries, and flexibility.

00:21:05

And on top of it all, a good attitude. What's a good attitude? Well, as our good friend Robert G Lee said, “I know it when I see it”, and that's called maturity.

00:21:20

So, I hope this gave you some things to think about these last two episodes.

00:21:25

Until next time…

00:21:27

Keep calm. Keep maturing as an interpreter. I'll see you next week. Take care now.

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC ENDS AT 00:22:11]