ABSTRACT
Common sense tells us that it matters intensely what can be spoken—in terms of the self being able to recognize its thoughts and feelings, and to share its experience with others. Initially, the client is likely to feel at a disadvantage at the strangeness of the situation. The interpreter’s contact with the client through their common language can feel enviably direct to the therapist. The therapist needs to avoid acting from his own need to feel secure and confident, rather than from the crosscurrents of positive and negative feeling in the room, which are likely to carry anxiety. The therapist will often feel greatly inadequate, being separated from the client by language, culture, and life experience. More personal expression of thoughts and feelings is preserved in the language of homeland. Negative or ambivalent feelings about the new language are unlikely to be spoken about in the consulting room unless by the therapist, but need to be appreciated.
