IW 127: InterpreTips: One Role to Rule Them All

Role, role, role, what is role?

We debate, discuss, argue, manipulate, sneer and roll our eyes at the topic of the Interpreter's Role. Knowing what our role is helps us define the principles by which we make professional and ethical decisions as an interpreter.

I now discuss the possibility that we no longer need to debate it. We can move on. We have a role right in front of us and we have the tools to analyze it now. What are you waiting for? Roll up, roll up, roll up, our role is here!

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Transcript

IW 127: InterpreTips: On Role to Rule Them All

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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 to interpretersworkshop.com.

00:00:28 

Let's start talking... interpreting.

[ROCK INTRO MUSIC ENDS]

00:00:34

And now the quotes of the day, the first one by English zoologist Jane Goodall.

00:00:43

“Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.”

00:00:51

So, if we substitute the word individual for interpreter.

00:00:55

We matter. We make a difference, and we have a role to play. The interpreter is important for many reasons. Our role matters immensely in a discourse between people who use different languages. But what is our role?

00:01:15

Ohh not this again. All we ever do is talk about this and come back to this topic about role. I think we need to one last time, but first here's the second quote by English actor Michael Caine.

00:01:33

“First of all, I choose the great roles and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones and if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent.” Huh. That sounds a little bit more like an interpreter at times, does it not? We're not in it for the money, but we definitely need to pay the rent.

00:01:54

We have wonderful assignments that we love and then there are those that are OK… ehhh they're alright.

00:02:02

Then there are those that we don't want to do, but we do anyway because we need to do it. It's part of Our Calling, our passion, and it does pay the rent or the mortgage or, you know, the food bill. But what are these great roles? What are the mediocre roles? Yes, the role models over and over again.

00:02:24

We tried to discover what it is we do, our role. And that role, that whole discussion came about because we had to talk about ethics and morality. What's right, what's wrong?

00:02:39

So, let's continue the conversation in today's episode. Let's get started.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:02:50

Today I'd like to take us back through the centuries, OK, decades of the discussions about what are the interpreter’s roles? What is our role? Do we change our roles? Are we a robot?

00:03:06

Are we a helper? Are we a machine? Are we a window between worlds?

00:03:12

What are we? What is our role? How do we define what is an interpreter's role? We're still discussing it. We're still talking about it. I think we already have the answer and we've just been trying to get too analytical, maybe too academic, too complicated.

00:03:33

Too opinionated. I think it's time to accept that our professional identity is sign language interpreter or just interpreter. What more do we need? So, we used to think of ourselves as the helper? No, we never did. No one ever said I'm a helper, did they? If they did, it really wouldn't help anything, would it? Let's think about this for a minute. We started trying to get the picture, the image of what we do, what our role is. 

00:04:07

Well, have we ever thought about what the people in the conversation they're doing, do they think of their roles? “Ohh, wait a minute. I'm the speaker. In this moment. I'm. That's my role. I'm the speaker. No, no, no, no. I'm the listener. No, wait. Now I'm the speaker.”

00:04:21

Do they think about it that way?

00:04:23

No, they never do.

00:04:25

Now they might think of it as I am the presenter, they are the audience. But they never think about their role in a conversation or a dialogue. As an interpreter, we really think about it because we have to think of all the views. We think, well, let's see. Ethics say I shouldn't do this, or morally I shouldn't do that.

00:04:45

Well then what is my role? And so, we started questioning ourselves about all of that. If we can just define our role, it will help us answer the questions about ethics and morals decision-making, the interpreting process…

00:05:01

Whether I work for this client or am I being paid by this client and therefore I should follow what they say? I'm now their temporary employee or… Wow, I think we've gone in circles too many times so many times that it's spiraling out of control. We keep coming round and round and round, back to this same topic and even this podcast, this episode will only be heard by a few 100 people, maybe a thousand.

00:05:29

And even then, the topic will keep going in circles, so what's the point? Well, the point is maybe we'll have a few more people changing their minds. A few more people realizing that we need to stop talking about it and accept the fact that we have a role. We've been blinded by it all this time.

00:05:50

And that is… wait for it… Our role is interpreter or if you wish sign language interpreter, that's it. That's all we are. But I think it's enough.

00:06:03

And I think we have a couple of theories out there, a couple of models and processes, concepts that help us work through this to realize we are our best role. We are the interpreter. One of them that really took this idea to heart and analyzed it…

00:06:25

…is the concept of Role Space.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:06:32

Role Space by Robert G Lee and Peter Llewellyn Jones. This concept shows us that we are an interpreter and in the interpreter role we do many shifts, and turns, and twists, dynamically using our role, changing what we do in the process.

00:06:54

We're not changing who we are. We're not changing our role. We are still the same person, the same role, the same interpreter. We're not changing. Ohh, I'm now a helper and I'm mentally thinking of only helping. Ohh! now I'm a communication facilitator. I'm only thinking about… No! 

00:07:11

While we are awesome at our jobs, while we are amazing and great and talented, it doesn't mean we change our roles all the time. We have one role and that is interpreter.

00:07:25

And the interpreter has the ability, the flexibility, the capability, the reasonability of modifying our behavior, our conduct, our social skills and even the interpreting process as needed to fit the situation. We adapt on the fly, which means quickly.

00:07:46

When we are needed to adapt.

00:07:49

And we should. We should not be rigid and be a robot in our role, our role should be dynamic because the discourse is dynamic. When they change, we change. Remember, we're not supposed to do harm, do no harm.

00:08:09

Do not make the situation worse by our actions; do not cause a problem through our actions because of our belief or our opinion.

00:08:22

We are to act in a way that is striving for the intention, the goal of each participant. This means that at any given moment, we are on the hearing side and helping achieve their goals, and we're switching to the deaf side to help them achieve their goals through communication, by interpreting what they need at that moment for that intention.

00:08:49

But that's the interpreter role. We're not helping now and helping then. We are interpreting what they want. We're interpreting their needs, their goals, because that's what they are expressing.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:09:02

Wow. This is some deep philosophical ramblings. I mean, thoughts, why don't you go grab yourself another coffee? And while you're at it, click on the links in the show notes and Buy Me A Coffee too. See what I did there? Thank you for supporting the show.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:09:19

The Role Space talks about how we work on the hearing side, or we work on the deaf side, or our own side. Being a human talking for ourselves, telling someone what we need in that situation, asking for a break, talking about I need clarification, taking a drink of water. All of those things. I'm creating the space I'm being myself.

00:09:48

I'm working to support the Deaf’s goals. I'm working to protect the goals of the hearing or to support the goals of the hearing. It's all about how they communicate this and as they are communicating it, I am adapting. I am changing to meet their goals.

00:10:09

Now, what are all these things that I'm adapting to that I'm changing to, huh?

00:10:15

All of these things that cause me to adapt my interpreting role can be called, wait for it… demands.

00:10:26

That's right, Dean and Pollard's application of the Demand Control Theory to our profession.

00:10:33

So, every time there is a demand, I adapt to it. Either I choose not to. So, I'm saying I'm going to be completely neutral and impartial in this moment. OK, so my space of my role is more neutral, impartial, or if I can control it by adding a little bit of expansion of cultural expansion or cultural advice for the hearing or for the Deaf I'm now shifting my space towards that side or that side, so my role as sign language interpreter is just shifting my point of view.

00:11:16

All the world is a stage.

00:11:19

Well, I tend to think of it as every interpreting job is a new stage and when the curtain opens, I'm standing in a certain spot.

00:11:30

But as the other actors say their lines, I have to move for reasons, for demands because I can control what I'm doing. I can shift how I'm working to adapt to the dynamic changes between the different actors, and use the different props that are available for me, the resources that are there… my controls.

00:11:58

All of these demands, the environmental demands, the linguistic demands, the interpersonal, the intrapersonal demands all of those affect how my role can change. They demand something of me. I react in many different ways.

00:12:19

Now some of you may say that I'm just talking about the same thing in a different way. True, I'm not talking about robot, helper, communication facilitator... and many more.

00:12:34

Mainly because it is all the same thing. I could just as easily name them something else.

00:12:41

I could say I'm the supporter whenever I'm helping one side or the other, I could say I'm supporting them. I'm, I'm a supporter now or there's the role of mediator. I could just say I'm a translator. Haha!

00:12:57

No, let's not go to that topic. I'm just a really fast translator. Maybe. Yeah, we could just say I'm the man in black.

00:13:06

I think it's time for us just to accept who we are. I identify as a sign language interpreter.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:13:19

So now that we know the sign language interpreter, if that's how we identify, then let's just look at our decision making based on the demands, based on the Role Space.

00:13:34

We have all of this space to navigate and improvise in. It's not scripted for us. The dialogs change, the goals can change. It's a night of improv.

00:13:49

And we need to change with it. We improvise everything at the spur of the moment. What better label do we have than sign language interpreter?

00:14:03

We are very unique in what we do.

00:14:06

Spoken language interpreters are very, very similar to us.

00:14:11

But they act and behave differently than we do during the job. They have different tools at their disposal, different methods than we do. As a sign language interpreter, the improvisation makes it a little hard for us to define who we are, but I think we need to embrace that improvisation.

00:14:32

Just as we say, the discourse is dynamic, the equivalence is dynamic.

00:14:37

The interpreting role is dynamic. It needs space to adapt to. It needs space to move within, and that space is the context, the situation, the setting, the people, the languages, the cultures involved. And when we're teaming, we are the Dynamic Duo.

00:14:59

(I had to put that in there somewhere. For those of you who don't know, that would be Batman and Robin. But anyway, moving on, some people wouldn't like that, but they would Marvel at such an accusation.)

00:15:12

(Yeah, never mind.) OK, so let's come full circle. We've talked about helper, robot, communication facilitator, and so many more. It's time to accept our identity as sign language interpreter. That is our role. That is our space. Once we accept that then we can understand the Code of Ethics for sign language interpreters.

00:15:38

It doesn't say the Code of Ethics for helpers. The Code of Ethics for Robots, the Code of ethics... (Wait a minute. That would be something different, wouldn't it? And I will talk to Elon Musk about that one.) Anyway, the Code of Ethics for allies. It's Code of Ethics for sign language interpreters. Maybe that will help us understand that a little bit better.

00:15:59

And once we get past all the details of discussing what is the most important ethical principles, I think we can get past it and start talking about what is the ultimate ethical principle, do no harm, respect.

00:16:17

Well, if you respect someone, you're going to keep their personal lives confidential. If you respect someone you would not intentionally cause harm. If you respect them, you wouldn't discriminate against them. Is it respect? I think that's another topic for another episode.

00:16:37

Ohh wait, I have one on respect already.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC STARTS]

00:16:44

Well, I hope this has given you some rambling thoughts about ethics. No wait, not ethics. What was it again? Yes, the role of the interpreter, which is kind of redundant now after this talk, the interpreter role, the role is the sign language interpreter, that's who we are. That's who I am. And I'm sticking by it until maybe the next episode that I talk about roles. Otherwise, let's keep it in this space.

00:17:17

The role of sign language interpreter is sign language interpreter.

00:17:20

So, the next time someone asks you, “What is our role as sign language interpreter?” and you just say, “Yes.” and they'll be like, “What?” And they'll, they'll say, “Wait, what? No… sign language interpreter? What's the role?” “Yes. Yes, it is.” Give them their space, whatever they demand.

00:17:41

For they can control it. OK, I'll stop. I promise. So, keep calm and keep Role-ing with the interpretation.

00:17:51

I'll see you next week. Take care now.

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC ENDS AT 00:18:31]