Walking along the same path, or going in different directions? A comparison between the perceptions of translators and clients of translator professionalism in Asia

ABSTRACT

Translator professionalism is seldom studied in an empirical way in Asia, not to mention the similarities and differences in the perception of the topic as exhibited by practitioners versus clients. The present study examines translator professionalism as a multidimensional term covering practitioners’ language competency, translation skills, ethics, attitudes, and behaviour in and outside the workplace setting. It compares the viewpoints of 425 practitioners and 72 clients in Asia. Data suggest that both parties have a rather positive attitude towards the professional status of translators although significant divergent viewpoints were found on whether the occupation is vital to society; whether becoming a translator requires a high degree of expertise and knowledge; and whether translators can exercise their own judgment in their jobs. However, both practitioners and clients have similar opinions on translators’ proactive behaviour at work. Moreover, they attach great importance to translators’ adherence to the principles of ethical practice. The findings not only contribute to research on the client-translator relationship but also provide translation teachers and students with knowledge of the latest development of translator professionalism as well as current and upcoming challenges in the industry.

KEYWORDS:

• client-translator relationship
• translator professionalism
• translation pedagogy
• sociology of translation

Note

1. This paper is derived from a large-scale empirical study which employed a two-phase mixed-methods approach to examining the way practitioners and clients in Asia perceive translator professionalism. A sequential explanatory design (Creswell and Creswell 2017) was used. The first phase involved two questionnaire-based investigations: one drew upon information gathered from 72 Asian clients (Liu 2019) and another set gathered from 425 Asian translators (Liu 2021). Specifically, this paper aims to compare the viewpoints of the two parties. The reasons and rationale are given in this paper. The second phase involved follow-up interviews to shed light on the findings and reasons behind the participants’ responses to the questionnaire. The results of the qualitative analysis will be published.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to express gratitude to the anonymous reviewers and the journal editor for their valuable comments. The author extends heartfelt thanks to the translators and clients who took part in this research. Without their participation and sharing, this research would not have appeared in its present form.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially supported by a research grant [GRF 18604416] from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and partially supported by two internal research grants [RG16/2015-2016R] and [RG106/2014-2015] from The Education University of Hong Kong [Ethics approval number: 2014-2015-0215].