Interview Participant Profiles

In order to supplement the exploration of the roles of the interpreter and interpreting in ethnic Chinese immigrant churches, interviews with churchgoers, semi-structured interviews were conducted with pastors, preachers and church interpreters primarily via SKYPE, LINE and Facebook Messenger. Consent forms were administered and signed either in person or via email.

Interview participants comprise members of ethnic Chinese immigrant churches that are loosely affiliated with each other and/or share characteristics of an ethnic Chinese immigrant church:

founded by Chinese-speaking immigrants, lingua franca set as Mandarin Chinese or other dialects, immigrant demographic majority. Four out of the 13 people interviewed are members of bilingual churches in Taiwan. Table 2 on the next page shows the number of interview participants by church, location and their primary role or roles in their respective church:

Code Location Church

R2 New Jersey NJCA Interpreter Immigrant C-E/E-C 10+

R3 New Jersey NJCA Interpreter Immigrant C-E 1 – 2

R4 New Jersey NJ-2 Pastor/Preacher/

R8 Washington WA-1 Interpreter Immigrant C-E 5+

R9 California CA-1 Pastor/Preacher/

Interpreter Immigrant E-C/C-E 10+

T1 Taipei, TW TPE-1 Pastor/Preacher/

Interpreter Taiwanese E-C/C-E 10+

T2 Taipei, TW TPE-1 Interpreter Taiwanese C-E 5+

T3 Taipei, TW TPE-1 Member/Other Taiwanese N/A N/A

T4* Kaohsiung, churches. All preacher or pastor respondents have had prior experience interpreting as well.

However, interview questions drew predominantly from their experiences and perspectives as pastor or preacher. Respondent R1 has been attending NJCA since its founding in 1983 in New Jersey, USA. Over the years, R1 has taken on various service roles in the church community, which include preaching, interpreting and youth pastoring, which entails assisting in the creation of programs geared towards the English-speaking second-generation in the church (i.e. the youth group). R1 is a member of the founding generation at NJCA and experienced first-hand all the changes and transitions the church has gone through, including the development of an interpreting ministry for the English-speaking members of the church.

Respondent R4 has a similar background with respondent R1 in that R4 was also part of the founding generation of his church NJ-2 in the early 1980’s. R4’s main role in church NJ-2 is that of pastor and preacher. R4 also has considerable experience interpreting in the pulpit as well, most notably at large-scale church conferences where speakers preach in English to a predominantly Chinese-speaking audience. R4 also oversees the English ministry at NJ-2 which meets once or twice a month in joint interpreter-mediated sessions with the Chinese ministry.

Respondent R9 serves mainly as the pastor of church CA-1, an ethnic Chinese immigrant church in California. R9 explains that church CA-1 was originally a part of another larger church in California which initially catered to only Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese-speaking congregants. Curious enough, the need for interpreting in this larger church initially arose to meet language gaps between the two Chinese dialects rather than with English. However, CA-1 eventually branched off due in part to the rise of the English-speaking generation. Currently, CA-1 congregants comprise mainly English-speaking and Mandarin Chinese-speaking congregants with Cantonese speakers in the minority. CA-1 still maintains close ties with its origin church.

Respondents T1 and T4 are both pastors at Chinese-English bilingual churches in Taiwan.

The former is situated in Taipei while the latter is situated in Kaohsiung. Respondent T1 is the pastor of TPE-1, an English-speaking branch of a larger Chinese-speaking “mother church” in Taipei. T1 explains that church TPE-1 started off seven or so years ago as an English-speaking church which aimed to cater to the needs of English-speakers residing in Taipei but has since grown into an internationally minded congregation, offering both English-only and bilingual interpreter-mediated services to both foreigners and locals alike.

Respondent T4 is a pastor of Chinese-English bilingual ministry at a local Taiwanese church KH-1 situated in the southern city of Kaohsiung. Church KH-1 was founded in the late 1970’s as a branch church of another local Taiwanese church which had a mission to reach out to different communities by “planting” churches in various locales. It was not until 2011 that the Chinese-English bilingual ministry was created with respondent T4 at the helm. The bilingual ministry set its central goal on providing a spiritual enclave for foreigners and English-speakers in the area. Services in the bilingual ministry are mediated by interpreters.

3.5.2 Church Interpreters

A total of six church interpreters were interviewed (i.e. R2, R3, R6, R7, R8, T2). Church interpreter respondents R2 and R3 are both from church NJCA. Despite being Chinese native speakers and immigrants in the United States, both interpreters R2 and R3 predominantly handle Chinese-to-English interpreting. Church interpreter R2 is the senior interpreter out of the two with over 15 years of church interpreting experience at NJCA. Church interpreter R3 is a relatively new member of church NJCA, having joined the church within the last two years.

Church interpreters R6, R7 and R8 are all members of church WA-1 in the State of Washington. Respondents R6 and R7 are members of the church’s English-speaking generation while respondent R8 is a Chinese native-speaker who emigrated from Taiwan to the USA at a young age. Church interpreter T2 is an English-Chinese bilingual Taiwanese citizen who provides interpreting for church sermons and conferences at church TPE-1 located in Taipei City. Interpreter T2 has been interpreting at TPE-1 for at least five or so years.

3.5.3 Church Members

Respondents R5 and T3 are both members of churches that hold interpreted-mediated services. Respondent R5 is an English-speaking member of non-Chinese descent who attends

conducts church services and meetings via Chinese and with an interpreter. Respondent T3 is a foreigner living and working Taiwan, and is a member of church TPE-1, the aforementioned bilingual church in Taipei.