Idealism or cynicism?

A statistical comparison of Finnish translation students’ and professional translators’ perceptions of translator status

Authors

• Minna Ruokonen University of Eastern Finland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61200/mikael.129369

Keywords:

status, prestige, translator students, professional translators, statistical analysis

Abstract

This article compares how Finnish translation students (n=277) and professional translators (n=450) perceive translator status or prestige and specific factors connected to status (visibility, power/influence and expertise; Dam & Zethsen, e.g. 2008), and whether the perceptions are affected by work experience and translators’ specialisation (business, audio-visual or literary translation). The data come from surveys partly replicating Danish translator surveys by Dam and Zethsen (e.g. 2011). A statistical analysis indicates that the students’ and translators’ views are close to each other and similar to previous research; in some items, there is no difference between the students and those translators with a maximum of five years of work experience. When statistical differences emerge, the translator respondents’ perceptions are mostly more positive. Possible explanations for this include the translators’ sense of their own work being appreciated (Ruokonen & Mäkisalo 2018). The results also suggest that links between status perceptions and length of work experience could be explored further.