Smooth operators: interpreting as

rapport management

Dr Rachel Mapson

rmapson@qmu.ac.uk

The bases of rapport management

(Spencer-Oatey 2000/2008)

behavioural expectations

face sensitivities

interactional

goals

Linguistic politeness

“language associated with smooth communication” (Ide 1989: 22)

The mechanics of smoothing

Pragmalinguistics Sociopragmatics

(Thomas 1983, Leech 1983)

The challenge of smoothing

• all languages ‘do’ politeness differently

• knowledge about how we do it is usually tacit

• interpreters may be prone to overlooking this element of interaction

Interpreting im/politeness & rapport

• interpreters’ power and influence

• toning down of FTAs

• prioritising content or intent

• conscious decision making

(eg Berk-Seligson 1990, Hale 2001, Mason and Stewart 2001, Hoza 2001, 2007,

Angermeyer 2005, Nakane 2008, Savvalidou 2011, Major 2013)

My research

Aim: to explore how interpreters understand and convey im/politeness when working from BSL into English

8 highly experienced BSL/English interpreters• 4 from Deaf family backgrounds (L1 BSL)

• 4 from non-Deaf family backgrounds (L2 BSL)

series of 3 semi-structured group discussions plus feedback sessions:

• open questions

• video clips used as stimulus (requests and apologies)

7 dynamic influences

I’m conscious of what hearing

people say and don’t say that

registers with me as being what, on

a scale of politeness, where are

they right now? And reflect that.

And likewise, with Deaf people, on

a scale of politeness where are they

right now? It’s an integral part of

my work

Environment

You can go into

certain places and

you can go ‘oh, I

need to be extra

polite here’ or ‘I can

just be a bit more

informal here’

I was in a room full

of plumbers all

swearing their heads

off. You have to

know how to fit in to

every situation when

you’re an interpreter,

don’t you

Consequence

She reflects all his

vileness because it is

so important in what’s

happening in his life.

Because if people didn’t

know how vile he was,

then they would make

very different decisions

about his family

situation

I don’t want the

hearing person to

go away thinking

‘are all Deaf people

really quite rude

and vulgar?’

Un/sophistication

I'm thinking about the Deaf people that I

come into regular contact with. They're

not competent sign language users […] if

there's going to be politeness stuff, I'm

definitely adding it because of the

context. It's got nothing to do with the

people

Self-preservation

I think it’s interesting, about that time

when you feel you are being tarred with

the same brush. How sophisticated is

the hearing person’s use of interpreters

to understand that everything you’re

doing isn’t you? To how much you think

‘they might think it’s me?’ So I’ll hedge a

bit, or moderate it, and mediate

Intention

I like to go into a room imagining that the

intent of the person going in there is to find

out about their medication condition, and

therefore they’re not going in there to be

antagonistic, or to be rude, although on

occasion people do

In/visibility

you can only pull it back to a

certain point

Familiarity

…knowing what they

want you to do, or

how to behave, and

how you fit in

…knowing that you’re

doing something that’s

absolutely right

3 dynamic strategy types

As an interpreter you can’t really be given a set of strategies

really, can you? It’s something you have to learn, as you go

along

Reflect

✔✔✔✔

• appropriate

• bilingual/bicultural

• visibility

• consequence

✘✘✘✘

• less appropriate

• inexperience

• discomfort

• information focus

Smooth

adding tempering

intonation 3rd person

Comment

introductions

clarification

explanation

Model

Smooth operators

“Politic behaviour normally goes

unnoticed, rudeness is conspicuous”(Kasper 1990: 208)

Thank you!

rmapson@qmu.ac.uk

ReferencesAngermeyer, Philipp (2005) ‘Who is ‘you’? Polite forms of address and ambiguous participant roles in court interpreting’,

Target 17 (2): 203 226

Berk-Seligson, Susan (1990) The Bilingual Courtroom: Court Interpreters in the Judicial Process, Chicago: University of

Chicago Press

Hale, Sandra (2001) ‘How are Courtroom Questions Interpreted?’ in Ian Mason (ed) Triadic Exchanges: studies in

dialogue interpreting, Manchester: St Jerome Publishing, 21-50

Ide, Sachiko (1989) ‘Formal forms and discernment: two neglected aspects of universals of linguistic politeness’,

Multilingua 8 (2/3): 223-248

Kasper, Gabriele (1990) ‘Linguistic politeness: Current research issues’, Journal of Pragmatics 14 (2): 193-218

Hoza, Jack (2001) The Mitigation of Face Threatening Acts in Interpreted Interaction: Requests and Rejections in

American Sign Language and English, Boston, MA: Boston University doctoral dissertation

Hoza, Jack (2007) It’s Not What Sign, it’s How You Sign it: Politeness in American Sign Language, Washington DC:

Gallaudet University Press

Leech, Geoffrey (1983) Principles of Pragmatics, Volume 1 (9), London: Longman

Mason, Ian and Miranda Stewart (2001) ’Interactional Pragmatics, Face and the Dialogue Interpreter’, in Ian Mason

(ed) Triadic Exchanges: Studies in Dialogue Interpreting, Manchester: St Jerome Publishing, 51-70

Major, George. (2013). Not just ‘how the doctor talks’: Healthcare interpreting as relational practice (Unpublished

doctoral dissertation). Macquarie University, Australia.

Nakane, Ikuko (2008) Politeness and Gender in Interpreted Police Interviews, Monash University Linguistics Papers 6

(1): 29-40

Savvalidou, Flora (2011) ‘Interpreting Im/politeness Strategies in a Media Political Setting’ in Lorraine Leeson, Svenja

Wurm and Miriam Vermeerbergen (eds) Signed Language Interpreting: Preparation, Practice and Performance,

Manchester: St Jerome Publishing, 87-109

Spencer-Oatey, Helen (2000/2008) (ed) Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, London:

Continuum

Thomas, Jenny (1983) ‘Cross-cultural pragmatic failure’, Applied Linguistics 4 (2): 91-112