The Status of the Translation Profession in the European Union , livre ebook

190

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English

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2013

Écrit par
Anthony Pym , Claudio Sfreddo , Andy L. J. Chan , François Grin

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Anthem Press

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190

pages

English

Ebooks

2013

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Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

Anthem Press

Date de parution

01 septembre 2013

EAN13

9780857281388

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

Based on thorough and extensive research and written by a team of eminent scholars in the field, this book examines in detail traditional status signals in the translation profession

Based on thorough and extensive research, this book examines in detail traditional status signals in the translation profession. It provides case studies of eight European and non-European countries, with further chapters on sociological and economic modelling, and goes on to identify a number of policy options and make recommendations on rectifying problem areas.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION; 1. METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES 1.1. What Do We Mean by Status? 1.2. What Do We Mean by “Signalling” and “Asymmetric Information”? 1.3. What Do We Mean by “Certification”, “Accreditation”, and “Authorisation”? 1.4. Data-Gathering Methodology; 2. RESULTS 2.1. What is the Status of Translators in Official Categorisations? 2.2. What is the Relative Status of Educational Qualifications and Training? 2.3. The Status of Translators of Official Documents 2.4. The Role of Translator Associations; 3. CASE STUDIES 3.1. Germany 3.2. Romania 3.3. Slovenia 3.4. United Kingdom 3.5. Spain 3.6. United States 3.7. Canada 3.8. Australia; 4. SOCIOLOGICAL MODELLING 4.1. Models of Professionalisation 4.2. The Changing Role of Translator Associations 4.3. A Majority of Women – So What? 4.4. A Profession of Part-Timers and Freelancers? 4.5. The Role of Employer Groups 4.6. Comparison between Translators and Computer Engineers as Emerging Professions; 5. ECONOMIC MODELLING 5.1. Information on Rates of Pay 5.2. Estimations of Earning Equations 5.3. Asymmetric Information, Signalling, and Equilibrium on the Market for Translations; 6. POLICY OPTIONS FOR ENHANCED SIGNALLING 6.1. Free Market or Controlled Entry? 6.2. One Signal or Many? 6.3. Signalling as a Commodity or a Service? 6.4. Modes of Possible Intervention; 7. Recommendations; APPENDIX A. Translator Associations: Years of Foundation and Numbers of Members; APPENDIX B. Why There Are About 333,000 Professional Translators and Interpreters in the World; APPENDIX C. Online Translator–Client Contact Services: New Modes of Signalling Status; APPENDIX D. Types and Use of Economic Perspectives on Translation; APPENDIX E. Equilibrium on the Translation Market; NOTES; REFERENCES; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; NOTES ON THE RESEARCH TEAM

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Publié par

Anthem Press

Date de parution

01 septembre 2013

EAN13

9780857281388

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

The Status of the Translation Profession in the European Union

Anthem European Studies

TheAnthem European Studiesseries publishes rigorous and thorough works of scholarship and research on the subjects of European culture, history and politics. This series investigates Europe in its entirety, from European integration and public policy to European history, literature and culture. The series aims to broaden informed discussion and debate on European affairs by publishing texts with great intellectual resonance for both scholars and students.

Related Series The Anthem-European Union Series Anthem Studies in European Ideas and Identities Anthem Series on Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies Anthem Irish Studies

The Status of the Translation Profession in the European Union

Anthony Pym, François Grin, Claudio Sfreddo and Andy L. J. Chan

Supplementary website: http://isg.urv.es/publicity/isg/projects/2011_DGT/tst.html

Disclaimer: This report was funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation. It nevertheless reﬂects the views of the authors only, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for the nature of use of the information contained herein.

Anthem Press An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company www.anthempress.com

This edition ﬁrst published in UK and USA 2013 by ANTHEM PRESS 75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK and 244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA

Source: European Commission, DG Translation, © European Union, 2013

The information and views set out in this book are those of the authors and do not necessarily reﬂect those of the European Commission.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

British Library CataloguinginPublication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data The status of the translation profession in the European Union / Anthony Pym, François Grin, Claudio Sfreddo and Andy L. J. Chan. pages cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-85728-126-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Translating services–European Union countries. 2. Translating and interpreting–European Union countries. I. Pym, Anthony, 1956– II. Grin, François. III. Sfreddo, Claudio. IV. Chan, Andy L. J. P306.8.E85S73 2013 418’.02094–dc23 2013027443

ISBN-13: 978 0 85728 126 5 (Hbk) ISBN-10: 0 85728 126 7 (Hbk)

European Union

EU ISBN: 978-92-79-28067-2 European Union catalogue number: HC-31-13-398-EN-C Digital object identiﬁer (DOI): 10.2782/64819

This title is also available as an ebook.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

TEN

1. METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES 1.1. What Do We Mean by Status? 1.2. What Do We Mean by “Signalling” and “Asymmetric Information”? 1.3. What Do We Mean by “Certiﬁcation”, “Accreditation”, and “Authorisation”? 1.4. Data-Gathering Methodology

2. RESULTS 2.1. What is the Status of Translators in Ofﬁcial Categorisations? 2.2. What is the Relative Status of Educational Qualiﬁcations and Training? 2.3. The Status of Translators of Ofﬁcial Documents 2.4. The Role of Translator Associations

3. CASE STUDIES 3.1. Germany 3.2. Romania 3.3. Slovenia 3.4. United Kingdom 3.5. Spain 3.6. United States 3.7. Canada 3.8. Australia

4. SOCIOLOGICAL MODELLING 4.1. Models of Professionalisation 4.2. The Changing Role of Translator Associations 4.3. A Majority of Women – So What? 4.4. A Profession of Part-Timers and Freelancers? 4.5. The Role of Employer Groups 4.6. Comparison between Translators and Computer Engineers as Emerging Professions

vii 1 1 5

5 6 9 9

11 15 24 33 33 38 42 45 49 53 59 62 69 69 74 75 76 80

THE STATUS OF THE TRANSLATION PROFESSION

5. ECONOMIC MODELLING 5.1. Information on Rates of Pay 5.2. Estimations of Earning Equations 5.3. Asymmetric Information, Signalling, and Equilibrium on the Market for Translations

6. POLICY OPTIONS FOR ENHANCED SIGNALLING 6.1. Free Market or Controlled Entry? 6.2. One Signal or Many? 6.3. Signalling as a Commodity or a Service? 6.4. Modes of Possible Intervention 7. RECOMMENDATIONS APPENDIX A. Translator Associations: Years of Foundation and Numbers of Members APPENDIX B. Why There Are About 333,000 Professional Translators and Interpreters in the World APPENDIX C. Online Translator–Client Contact Services: New Modes of Signalling Status APPENDIX D. Types and Use of Economic Perspectives on Translation APPENDIX E. Equilibrium on the Translation Market

NOTES REFERENCES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS NOTES ON THE RESEARCH TEAM

89 89 92

102 109 109 110 111 112 121

123

132

136 139 150

153 169 177 181

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The status of translators is not to be confused with how well anyone translates. It concerns theperceptiontranslator’s value – what peopleof a thinka particular translator can do, and how well or badly the translator is assumed to do it.

Seen as such, the question of status is extremely important because, almost by deﬁnition, someone who needs a translator cannot judge objectively how well that translator performs. Translations are among the products and services, perhaps along with used cars and legal services, where the buyer does not have direct knowledge of what they are buying – they have to rely on what people say, or on what the translator looks like, or on the translator’s academic qualiﬁcations, or their membership of professional associations, or their ofﬁcial certiﬁcation. That is, status is created by a set of social signals, which come in many shapes and sizes. Without those signals, the users of translations would be involved in an endless process of trial-and-error, as can indeed happen when buying a used car or trusting a lawyer.

These days the question of status is of particular importance because, with a website and business model, virtually anyone can start certifying translators. It is not excessively hard to supply novice translators with the external trappings of a profession: an ofﬁcial stamp, a place in an ofﬁcial-looking list, perhaps letterhead paper or a corporate email address. In this report we give examples of how this is being done and how the process of status creation is entering a new online sphere. As some simple economic modelling will show, in a world where everyone can signal status, there is no longer any relative status to signal.

The bulk of this study then considers the more traditional signals of status. How much weight is put on academic qualiﬁcations? To what extent does membership of a professional association count? What happens in the ﬁeld of sworn or authorised translation? What professional certiﬁcation systems are in place? Which ones have a clear market value?

Our general ﬁnding is that most of the traditional status signals are failing, and that there is a general need for strengthened certiﬁcation systems. At the same time, each country has a different approach to status, as does each segment of the profession, so there are many nuances to describe, and numerous stories to tell.

Chapter 1

METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES

1.1. What Do We Mean by Status? The signalling of qualiﬁcations can be seen in the following recent developments, cited here as mere examples:

1 – The Global Translation Institute is managed by Adriana Tassini from an ofﬁce in Portland, Oregon (although it seems not to be registered with the Portland Revenue Bureau, which does not list it at the address given). It sponsors a Certiﬁed 2 Translation Professional (CTP) Designation Program , managed by Adriana Tassini with a telephone number in Massachusetts. It links to free information on 3 the translation industry and how to become a translator , all of which comprises some 40 short online articles by Adriana Tassini. Adriana Tassini describes herself as a “Harvard University Alumni Member with a background in international relations and translation work in São Paulo, Brazil and Boston, Massachusetts (USA)”. She names no completed degrees. Her declared training team comprises 12 people, none of them with any formal training in translation. To become a Certiﬁed Translation Professional, you pay US$227 per language pair, study the learning materials (none of which is language-speciﬁc) and sit the online exam. It is not clear to what extent the exam tests language skills, but the programme offers certiﬁcation in 22 language pairs, of which the training faculty are presented as being experts in ﬁve. 4 – The International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters was founded in Buenos Aires in 2009. It accepts members who 1) have a degree or diploma from “a recognized institution”, or 2) have at least four years’ experience as a translator or interpreter. No list of “recognized institutions” is offered. You can become a member for US$60 a year, which entitles you to use the association’s logo and an email address with the association’s domain, and beneﬁt from discounts on industry publications, and inclusion in the association’s online directory. The association lists its “Honorary members” as including Noam Chomsky, who has no professional training in translation but nevertheless retains considerable academic standing.

Such cases indicate how status can be given to translators. It seems that virtually anyone can pay US$227 to gain certiﬁcation as a Translation Professional.A practising translator with four years’ experience can become a member of the International Association and gain the other trappings of status: a logo, a professional

2 THE STATUS OF THE TRANSLATION PROFESSION email address, a public listing, and some apparent academic backing. Of course, you may not be able to translate very well, but neither of these organisations appears to be testing that. Status, as seen in these examples, is not competence, expertise, the ability to render a service, the exercise of visibility or power, or a question of fair recompense. Status is here taken to be the set of social signals that create, ﬁrst, thepresumptionof some kind of expertise, and second, thepresumed valueof that expertise. In an ideal world, we would be able to test the objective expertise of all translators, then rank and reward them accordingly. In the world we live in, however, most employers and users of translations have to rely on the various signals of status. They do so individually, when assessing the value of a particular translator, and also socially, when making assumptions about the relative value of translators as a professional 5 group. From the perspective of the individual translator, status is something that must be acquired, in addition to actual translation skills. You should be able to translate, but you also need some way of signalling your skills to your clients or employers. In this sense, a degree or a certiﬁcation becomes a commodity, something that can be bought, something that you need in order to set up shop as a professional translator. It should perhaps not be surprising to ﬁnd “Certiﬁcation” listed alongside Computer Aided Translation tools and a Database of Agencies as one of the things a translator might want to purchase online (Figure 1). From the collective perspective, status concerns the various signals that rank a social group or profession with respect to others. This concerns several related kinds of value, beyond questions of objective competence or expertise:

–Trustworthiness: Since translating always concerns communication with another culture, and thus with people we do not know so well, the translators themselves are always open to mistrust: since they presumably speak the language of the other side, and they purport to know the culture of the other side, they could always be working in the interests of the other side. This millennial problem is partly handled by claims to ﬁdelity or its technocratic surrogate equivalence: translators will always signal their loyalty to the cause of their client. In particularly closed cultures, trustworthiness is only properly signalled by the translator being born into one social group rather than the other, or even by the translator belonging to a family of hereditary professional translators (as in the case of theOranda tsujiin Japan). In constitutionally regulated societies, translators may come from external or hybrid positions but might require authorisation by educational or judicial institutions. The translator’s trustworthiness is thus ultimately signalled not by their birth, nor by their claims to neutral expertise, but by their having been accepted by state institutions. –Professional exclusionsome translators are to be trusted, then there must be: If others who are somehow less trustworthy. A profession is partly a discourse of concepts and values that signal precisely this exclusion: some translators are to be considered “professional”, and others are not. This exclusion is particularly

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