ABSTRACT
After analysing, in Chapter 3, the multiple and complex sources of understanding problems, we will now turn to the problems themselves. More precisely, we will try to analyse how, in the course of interaction, problems with understanding are perceived and interpreted by the minority participant and how they are indicated to the majority speaker. This does not mean that we are adopting a one-sided perspective, which would be contrary to the notion of understanding as an active, cooperative, joint activity we developed in Chapter 2. But one must admit that, in most interethnic encounters, the efforts are unevenly distributed among the participants (Clark & Schaeffer 1989). Sometimes, it is the majority locutor who feels responsible for establishing understanding, sometimes it is the minority interactants who are expected to work to understand the majority locutor and give indications of the problems they experience in understanding the majority participant's utterances. So, although we do not conceive of interaction in terms of a simple model of action-reaction but rather as a collective construct in which both partners get involved and share responsibility (see Chapter 6), nevertheless we are aware of the very risky position minority participants occupy. Experience shows that they are the ones who are going to suffer more from the consequences of nonunderstanding. Therefore, the way they handle or are forced to handle the situation is often decisive. That is why the main focus of this chapter will be on the minority participant's point of view and contribution.
