Specialist Translator Wanted. A survey of the translator’s world

This chapter provides questionnaire survey results regarding the Translators’ World, and contributes to Federica Scarpa’s three research pillars or fundamental assumptions framing her volume, Research and Professional Practice in Specialized Translation (2000). The 3 areas are: reflecting on what translators do, enhancing the status of the translator, and finally investigating the ‘weight’ a specialization in translation has in the professional market compared to those who are specialists in the domain to be translated. The chapter combines the results of two surveys, focusing mainly on unpublished results of a 2015-2016 survey involving 626 translators and interpreters investigating the working practices and perceptions of their world. The second survey also focused on the extent that ‘specialisation’ impinged on their life, and in particular the extent that a translator or interpreter is rewarded in the marketplace. The results show that the reward system is perceived as iniquitous by translators who generally feel undervalued for their years of training. However, there is a group who do feel rewarded both in terms of status and pay. The cross correlation suggests strongly that this positive result is through their clear mastery of soft knowledge (culture, for example) and soft skills, such as teamworking, negotiating and being “business minded”, and which then opens the road to being valued for their domain and translation specializations. Scarpa, F. (2020). Research and Professional Practice in Specialised Translation. London: Palgrave.