Translations around us

The presence of translated text in the life of a university student

Authors

• Leena Salmi University of Turku
• Hanna-Maria Ratinen University of Turku

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61200/mikael.147645

Keywords:

translation of non-fiction, reception of translations, diary studies, reading habits

Abstract

The paper reports on a diary study measuring the proportion of translations read daily. Statistics are available on translated literature and books sold, but less is known about other text genres. The research was conducted in Finland, and the respondents were university students in transla-tion or foreign languages. Data was collected in the years 2007 to 2016 using a diary form in which respondents recorded (electronically or on paper) all texts they read during one single day. They were also asked to specify whether the texts read were translations or not, and how much time they spent on each text or text genre. The diary form also contained a column for comments. The analysed data comprises 366 text diaries. The results show that the average time spent daily using different kinds of texts is 6 hours 46 minutes, and the proportion of translations is 31%.

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