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58 Interpreting in the Work-Related Social Setting: How Not to Trump Your Partner’s Ace 4 Patricia Clark and Karen L. Finch While standing near the coffee urn to interpret for an upper level administrator at a university breakfast meeting, the area became too crowded, and whoosh! Another administrator with whom the deaf administrator was talking suddenly had coffee all over her beautifully appointed pink satin and silk suit! Now, understand, no one touched her, but the setting was such that people were very close and hands were moving, and the rest is history. Believe it or not, this disaster is not the worst thing that can happen within a work-related social setting. It is often believed that social settings are the best place to let new interpreters try their wings because these settings are not as structured or complex and involve only one-on-one interaction over which the interpreter will have more control. The interpreter can chat and eat and drink and not worry about much in such a setting because the demands are few. The reality is quite a different story. In the corporate and academic cultures where deaf professionals work with designated interpreters, the demand for effective navigation of the work-related social event is critical to the deaf professional’s success. To provide some understanding of the dynamics involved in the work-related social setting with a designated interpreter and other interpreters, we will address the factors that make this type of social setting complex. The primary objective in these settings should be to preserve and present the voice of the deaf professional, and to do so, we will approach the topic with the following in mind: voice; a definition for the workrelated social event; the roles, functions and agendas seen at social events; the use of register; and false assumptions about social events. Voice Before we go any further, let us discuss a basic concept that informs this entire chapter, the issue of voice. Padden and Humphries, in their book, Inside Deaf Culture (2005), provide a definition for voice, comment on the necessity for the Deaf voice to be heard, and state that it has not always been heard historically: “Voice” has dual meaning, most obviously as the modality of expression in spoken language, but also as being heard. Without voice, one is mute and inexpressive, and crucially not heard. . . . The problem of voice facing Deaf people at the time [late 1800s] was how to be heard on their own terms. (58) This challenge still faces the Deaf professional today, that the Deaf voice be not only expressed but also received with gravity equal to that of other voices within our society. Today, the Deaf professional’s voice is often the most challenging to preserve and to present. Even for the designated interpreter who is very familiar with both the culture and context within which the Deaf professional works and the language used within that context, preservation and presentation of voice is a challenge. For the interpreter who is unfamiliar with the Deaf professional’s culture , context, and language, the task can be daunting. The work-related social event is an easy place for the Deaf professional’s voice to be lost amid the variability of settings and the prevalent misunderstanding on the part of interpreters and referral agencies with respect to the importance of these events. Scenario: Anniversary Dinner To provide a framework from which to discuss voice and the factors involved in work-related social interpreting, we describe in detail the following Anniversary Dinner Scenario to illustrate these factors as they are discussed. Background Information Two university departments located in separate universities (we will call them UA and U-B) each have research laboratories that were in collaboration. Each of these laboratories was headed by a deaf professor (DPA and DPB), each of whom had a designated interpreter (DIA and DIB) who were hired by the respective universities to work with the professor daily during teaching, administrative, and research endeavors. The department staff members from U-A, after many years of successful and fruitful work, held a formal dinner party to celebrate their history and accomplishments. Members of the collaborating laboratory at U-B were invited to join them. All together, about 150 participants attended the event, seven of whom were deaf. The Interpreters DIA and DIB were asked to interpret for this event. Both interpreters were highly skilled and experienced interpreters. DIA was from a deaf family and brought...

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