Making the Dream Work: Teaming Intimacy for Interpreters in Freelance Settings

Abstract

Intimacy is a quality of a relationship, and includes trust, open self-disclosure, emotional closeness, and reciprocity (Timmerman, 1991). It is measurable only by the perceptions of members of the relationship. This concept, considered in terms of the Choice-Constraint Approach to Studying Similarity in Intimacy (Mollenhorst, Völurker, & Flap, 2008), has important implications for teaming freelance interpreters who must work together. Intimacy has also been linked to self-efficacy and sense of community theories, which are used as frameworks in this paper. The goal of this research is to identify perceptions which impact teaming intimacy and discuss the importance of intimacy for teaming freelance interpreters. Data was collected on my perceptions of intimacy, using a Likert scale to gauge personal trust, professional trust, open self-disclosure, emotional closeness, and reciprocity, based on Timmerman’s (1991) concept of intimacy. My own perceptions about basic, general characteristics about teams was also noted and journal entries collected post-job were analyzed to look for patterns of emotion-based words and whether those related to teaming intimacy

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