The Real Value of Interpreting

The Real Value of

InterpretingCommunicating pluralingual relationships into the future . . .

Pluralingual: social interaction involving two or more languages

Thinking in Timestreams

American Deaf

Culture(US)

NurembergWar Crimes

Tribunal

EuropeanParliament

(EU)

Sign LanguageCommunity Interpreting

established 1964 (US)

The “IBM Translation System” of Simultaneous Interpreting, 1945

Conference Interpreting [Spoken Language] ~ Research Period 2005-2009

The “Big Bang” Enlargement of the European Parliament

Social Construction of ‘the interpreter’ as a Technology

Neustadt & May 1986

Kline & Pinch 1987Hughes 1987

2 Styles ofSimultaneous Interpretation

COMMUNITY CONFERENCE

UNDER=STANDING! IDENTITY! SPEED!

INFORM-ATION!

Shared Identifications Shared Identifications

Mistakes, MisunderstandingsDanger, Risk, Loss

Interpreters

Interpreters

Interpretees

Interpretees

“Interpreting” “Oral Translating”

Learning from Failure

A Center that Shifts

Breaks down during turntaking between sign and speech (inter-modal,

across two mediums).

Breaks down during voting (too fast) and relay interpreting (too

slow).

“The IBM System”

Doesn’t break down in relay: interpreters are allowed to

“hold time” & ensure understanding.

Interpretation itself is considered “noise”–

the social failure to adapt isnot questioned

Erasure OR preservation of difference depends on the

rate of interpretation deemed socially

acceptable.

Interpreting in the European Parliament

“Normally people do not understand the difference

between interpretation and translation.

Translation remains there; interpretation is to allow people

to communicate.”

www.europarl.europa.eu

Two Orientations to Time

CULTURE

To interpret is to interact in the present

Interpreting is the stuff of ritual

Rituals are the substance of relationships

Relationships sustain society

CONTROL

To translate is to fix a meaning for the future

Translating is the exercise of power

Power reduces relationships to one dimension

Unilateral relations destabilize society

Three Values of Interpreting:

1. Interpreting makes time visible

2. Interpreting makes culture visible

3. Interpreting makes power visible

Potentials of Interpreting:

Interpreting helps us understand that all social interaction is

meaningfulInterpreting creates possibilities

for social

changecultural equality

new economiesreducing violencehuman survival

2 Discourses ofSimultaneous Interpretation

COMMUNITY CONFERENCE

UNDER=STANDING! IDENTITY! SPEED!

INFORM-ATION!

Shared Identifications Shared Identifications

Interpreters

Interpreters

Interpretees

Interpretees

HomolingualismPluralingualism

“Interpreting” “Oral Translating”

Interpreting as Stewardship

Interpreters enable the co-presence of difference and connection: ‘‘mistakes’ & ‘misunderstandings’ are evidence

of pluralingualism (i.e., of social reality) not ‘noise’ but the ‘engine’ interpretee’s utterances are the ‘fuel’

Interpreters cultivate meta-awareness = generally reliable but fallable “closure skills” require making assumptions insisting on speed inhibits innovation

Interpreters as Stewards

Lee & Llewellyn-Jones 2009

Role Space is• Dynamic• Reasoned• Situational• Negotiable

Requires “relational autonomy”~ Witter-Merithew, Johnson & Nicodemus 2010

Participant/InterpreteeParticipant/

Interpretee

Real Interpretingis a communication strategy for

SOCIAL RESILIENCE

develops capacities of listening

requires adaptation and flexibility

a democratic activity

emboldens the local

exercises strategic foresight –

Does humanity choose the homolingual illusion or the pluralingual possibility?

Turner 2007

Holding Time

To see a World in a Grain of Sand,And a Heaven in a Wildflower,Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, and Eternity in an hour.

~ William Blake

TimeIdentityCulture

InformationSocial RealityThe Future& You, Now