Sign Language Interpreting ·.·t Related Titles of Interest Learning American Sign Language Tom Humphries and Carol Padden ISBN: 0-13-528571-2 Video to Accompany Learning American Sign Language Tom Humphries and Carol Padden ISBN: 0-13-528969-6 Learning American Sign Language Book and Video Package Tom Humphries and Carol Padden ISBN: 0-13-529801-6 Literacy and Deafness: The Development of Reading, Writing, and Literate Thought Peter V. Paul ISBN:0-205-17576-7 Best Practices in Educational Interpreting Brenda Chafin Seal ISBN: 0-205-26311-9 For more information or to purchase a book, please calll-800-278-3525. D SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETING Exploring Its Art and Science David A. Stewart Michigan State University Jerome D. Schein Professor Emeritus, New York University Brenda E. Cartwright Lansing Community College Allyn and Bacon Boston • London • Toronto • Sydney • Tokyo • Singapore We offer this book to the twenty-first-century stakeholders who will build, tend, and use the bridges over the communication gaps between those who communicate in sign language and those who do not. In keeping with our philosophy, we have worked to develop a text that will serve deaf people, nondeaf people, interpreters, and the general public. All of them share, to some degree, in the · consequences of this vital enterprise. Executive editor: Stephen D. Dragin Series editorial assistant: Elizabeth McGuire Manufacturing buyer: David Suspanic Copyright© 1998 by Allyn & Bacon A Viacom Company Needham Heights, MA 02194 Internet: www.abacon.com America Online: keyword: College Online All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stewart, David Alan Sign language interpreting : exploring its art and science I David A. Stewart, Jerome D. Schein, Brenda E. Cartwright p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-205-27540-0 1. American Sign Language. 2. Speech. 3. Language and culture. 4. Psycholinguistics. 5. Sociolinguistics. I. Schein, Jerome Daniel. IT. Cartwright, Brenda E. ITI. Title. HV2474.S68 1998 362.4'283-dc21 97-38135 CIP Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 02 01 D CONTENTS Preface ix About the Authors xiii 1 Introduction 1 Our Philosophy 2 Terminology 5 Some Professional Issues 5 Organization of the Book 9 2 From Favor to Profession: The History of Interpreting 12 When and Where Did Interpreting Originate? 12 The Professionalization of Interpreting 13 Interpreting with Deaf Participants 13 Interpreter Organizations 16 Social and Legal Milestones 20 Preparation of Interpreters 26 Interpreting in Other Countries 28 Nurturing the Interpreting Profession 29 3 Models of Interpreting 31 The Cognitive Model of Interpreting 31 Models versus Theories 3 3 The Interactive Model of Interpreting 34 v vi Contents Other Models of Interpreting 42 Sign Language and Other Forms of Interpreting 53 Conclusions 55 4 Physical Factors 59 The Auditory Field 59 The Visual Field 60 Personal Factors 67 Managing the Environment 71 5 Psychological Factors 74 The Psychology of the Interpreter 74 Psychology of Deaf Participants 82 Psychology of Nondeaf Participants 90 Psychology of Interpreting Interactions 91 Psychological Research 93 Summary 97 6 Varieties of Settings 98 Variations in Form and Participants 98 Variations in Settings 70 7 Summary 124 7 Language and Culture 126 Respecting Other Cultures 127 Using New Signs 72 8 Cultural Misinterpretations 129 Language as Power 73 1 The Interpreter's Responsibilities 132 Cultural Mediation 73 3 American Sign Language 134 English-Based Sign Systems 137 The Interpreter's Linguistic Tools 137 Summary 141 8 The Business of Interpreting 143 Supply and Demand 143 Projecting Demand 146 Other Demands 14 9 Negative Influences on Demand 14 9 The Supply 75 0 Remuneration 152 Trends in Fees 154 Contents vii Marketing Interpreter Services 15 6 Consumer Education 15 7 Certification and Licensure 158 Malpractice 161 Cost-Benefit Analyses 162 An Innovative Marketing Plan 162 Summary 163 9 Ethics 166 The RID Code of Ethics 166 Breaking the Code 183 Uncharted Ethics 185 Summary 187 10 Educational Interpreting 189 Educational Placement before and after P.L. 94-142 189 The Role of Educational Interpreters 191 Educational Levels 795 Communication Decisions 200 Working Conditions 205 Supply and Demand 21 0 Legal Aspects 211 The Research Basis 212 Summary 214 11 The Future 216 Demand 216 Remote Interpreting 218 Alternatives to Sign Language Interpreting 21 9 Supply 221 Research 222 Trends in Educational Interpreting 223 Interpreter Demographics 224 Participant Characteristics 224 Ethics 225 The Coming Consensus 226 Appendixes A Interpreter and Transliterator Certifications 227 B Ethically Challenging Scenarios 232 viii Contents C Encounters with Reality: A Collection of Sign Language Interpreter Stories 238 References and Bibliography 243 Index 265 D PREFACE A gulf of silence separates deaf people from those who try to communicate orally with them. Deaf people cannot hear conversational speech and most nondeaf people speak, thus creating an impasse when they meet. The gulf be tween them is widened because people who lost their hearing early in life or who were born deaf communicate in sign language, and most nondeaf peo ple do not know sign language. To bridge the ensuing gap, sign language in terpreters intervene; sjgning what is spoken and speaking what is signed. Simple as that solution may sound, the theory and practice of sign language interpreting involve complex communication processes requiring skilled pro fessionals to execute optimally. The recent emergence of sign language interpreting as a profession, more clearly than any other single event, signifies the vast change in the public's at titudes toward people who are deaf. At least in part, the growth of interpret ing services over the past three decades reflects the willingness of North American societies to include in all of their activities people ·who depend on signed communication. Practitioners and entrepreneurs-educators, psy chologists, rehabilitators, storekeepers, doctors, politicians, lawyers, theatri cal producers, and more-have discovered the value of interpreted communication, whether to serve their clients better or to attract customers. Equally important, deaf people themselves have come to expect, even to de mand, the inclusion sign language interpreting affords them. We recognize the revolution that has taken place and that continues to evolve in the lives of deaf people. Changes in policies and practices affecting deaf people have been recent and revolutionary, as will be documented in the chapters that follow. Although we give particular attention to interpreting in ix