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Chapter 6. Interpreting with “human sympathy”

Missionaries in uniform during the Pacific War and occupation of Japan
  • Kayoko Takeda
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Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting
This chapter is in the book Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting

Abstract

Utilizing language skills and cultural knowledge obtained through their time proselytizing or by virtue of growing up in Japan, a number of repatriated Christian missionaries and their children took part in the Allied war effort during the Pacific War (1941–1945) and the postwar occupation of Japan (1945–1952), including as interpreters and trainers of interpreters for military intelligence. By examining what language-related activities these missionary-connected Americans and Canadians engaged in and how they viewed their own participation in the defeat and occupation of communities among which they had recently lived and worked, this chapter adds to the discussion of roles missionaries play as linguistic mediators, informants, and advisors in colonization, trade, diplomacy, and conflict.

Abstract

Utilizing language skills and cultural knowledge obtained through their time proselytizing or by virtue of growing up in Japan, a number of repatriated Christian missionaries and their children took part in the Allied war effort during the Pacific War (1941–1945) and the postwar occupation of Japan (1945–1952), including as interpreters and trainers of interpreters for military intelligence. By examining what language-related activities these missionary-connected Americans and Canadians engaged in and how they viewed their own participation in the defeat and occupation of communities among which they had recently lived and worked, this chapter adds to the discussion of roles missionaries play as linguistic mediators, informants, and advisors in colonization, trade, diplomacy, and conflict.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Voices from around the world 1
  4. Chapter 2. Indigenous interpreters on trial in the Spanish Empire 25
  5. Chapter 3. Interpreters of Mapudungun and the Chilean State during the 1880–1930 period 53
  6. Chapter 4. An overview of the role of interpreters during the Portuguese expansion through Africa (1415–1600) 81
  7. Chapter 5. Mediating a complex cultural matrix 120
  8. Chapter 6. Interpreting with “human sympathy” 145
  9. Chapter 7. The colonized in conflict 171
  10. Chapter 8. Interpreters of mission 193
  11. Chapter 9. Domesticating dragomans 212
  12. Chapter 10. The interpreter as “anti-hero” 238
  13. Chapter 11. When the armies went back home 268
  14. Chapter 12. Conclusion 288
  15. Biographical notes 296
  16. Place index 300
  17. Name index 302
  18. Language index 305
  19. Subject index 306
  20. Image index 309
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.159.06tak

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Voices from around the world 1
  4. Chapter 2. Indigenous interpreters on trial in the Spanish Empire 25
  5. Chapter 3. Interpreters of Mapudungun and the Chilean State during the 1880–1930 period 53
  6. Chapter 4. An overview of the role of interpreters during the Portuguese expansion through Africa (1415–1600) 81
  7. Chapter 5. Mediating a complex cultural matrix 120
  8. Chapter 6. Interpreting with “human sympathy” 145
  9. Chapter 7. The colonized in conflict 171
  10. Chapter 8. Interpreters of mission 193
  11. Chapter 9. Domesticating dragomans 212
  12. Chapter 10. The interpreter as “anti-hero” 238
  13. Chapter 11. When the armies went back home 268
  14. Chapter 12. Conclusion 288
  15. Biographical notes 296
  16. Place index 300
  17. Name index 302
  18. Language index 305
  19. Subject index 306
  20. Image index 309
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