“It’s not just words, it’s the feeling, the passion, the emotions”: an ethnography of affect in interpreters’ practices in contemporary Japan

This article explores the discursive mediation of affect in the professional practice of interpreting in contemporary Japan. It argues that affective practices, applied to the observation of interpreters' bodily and discursive performances, show that the fabricated distinction between reason and emotion present in the professional discourse of interpreting is misaligned with the reality of interpreters’ everyday engagement. By drawing upon affect theory and practice theory, the article offers a sensory ethnography of Japanese interpreters, showing that by negotiating their ethical position as “neutral” professionals, interpreters expertly manage affects between the parties involved in the interaction, giving a discursive, political, and cultural nature to emotions. The article shows that the reality of reason and emotion enmeshing in everyday cultural life requires the interpreter to suture the practice’s artificial division back together, using their affective professional skills of feeling with the world, which ultimately positively impact users and ensure successful communication services.