Forest Diplomats: The Role of Interpreters in Indian-White Relations on the Early American Frontier
Articles » Scholarly, peer reviewed
Author/Creator
Yasuhide Kawashima
American Indian Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 1, Winter, 1989, pp. 1-14
Description
Investigates the importance of interpreters during early Indigenous-white relations. A translator was a difficult position due to the numerous variations of the Indigenous linguistic groups. The best translators also needed to not only know the languages but also have an understanding of Indigenous cultures and traditions due to the symbolic nature of Indigenous speeches.