Résumés
Abstract
There has been a huge revival of interest in the role of translators and their visibility. Some Translation Studies scholars have mobilized French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s theorical concepts of field, habitus and capital to carry out empirical research studies in an attempt to understand how translators or interpreters perceive their roles and what kind of capital they pursue. This article presents part of the findings from a large empirical study in which quantitative and qualitative approaches are combined in an attempt to carry out a thorough investigation of translators’ visibility, understood as the capacity to communicate directly with clients and/or end-users. The present article reports on the quantitative analysis of the relationship between translator’s visibility and the amount of capital that they say they receive. The analysis is based on 193 Chinese translators in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao. The findings suggest that visibility is rewarding in terms of social exchanges and learning experience, but not in terms of pay and prestige. In addition, the analysis shows that some social variables including sex, level of education, region that the translator lives in, the translator’s major field of study and the time spent on translation are not related to visibility or capital received. Meanwhile, the appearance of the translator’s name on translations is significantly related to the capital received.
Keywords:
- visibility,
- symbolic capital,
- social capital,
- cultural capital,
- economic capital
Résumé
Le rôle et la visibilité du traducteur font l’objet d’un intérêt renouvelé. Certains traductologues ont mobilisé les concepts théoriques de champ, d’habitus et de capital du sociologue français Pierre Bourdieu pour effectuer des recherches empiriques visant à comprendre comment les traducteurs ou les interprètes perçoivent leur rôle et le type de capital auquel ils aspirent. Le présent article fait état de résultats obtenus dans le cadre d’une étude associant des approches quantitatives et qualitatives pour cerner le plus possible la visibilité des traducteurs, entendue comme la capacité de communiquer directement avec les clients et/ou les utilisateurs finaux. Ce texte rend compte de l’analyse quantitative de la relation entre la visibilité du traducteur et le capital qu’ils affirment obtenir. L’analyse a été effectuée auprès de 193 traducteurs chinois en Chine, à Hong Kong, Taiwan et Macau. Les résultats indiquent que la visibilité est valorisante en termes d’échanges sociaux et d’expériences d’apprentissage, mais pas en termes de rémunération ni de prestige. En outre, l’analyse montre que certaines variables sociales telles que le sexe, le niveau d’études, le domicile, la spécialisation et l’expérience professionnelle du traducteur ne sont pas liées à la visibilité ni au capital accumulé, tandis que l’apparition du nom de traducteur sur les traductions est en rapport très étroit avec le capital reçu.
Mots-clés :
- visibilité,
- capital symbolique,
- capital social,
- capital culturel,
- capital économique
Parties annexes
Bibliography
- Angelelli, Claudia (2001): Deconstructing the Invisible Interpreter: A Critical Study of the Interpersonal Role of the Interpreter in a Cross-Cultural/ Linguistic Communicative Event. PhD thesis, unpublished. California: Stanford University.
- Angelelli, Claudia (2004): Revisiting the Interpreter’s Role: A Study of Conference, Court, And Medial Interpreters in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
- Bassnett, Susan (2002): Translation Studies. London: Routledge.
- Bourdieu, Pierre (1977): Outline of a Theory of Practice. (Translated by Richard Nice) New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Dam, Helle V. and KorningZethsen, Karen (2008): Translator Status: A Study of Danish Company Translators. The Translator. 14(1):71-96.
- Dam, Helle V. and KorningZethsen, Karen (2009): A study on factors affecting the perception of translator status. Journal of Specialized Translation. 12:2-36.
- Gouadec, Daniel (2007): Translation as a Profession. Philadelphia/Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
- Hermans, Johan and José Lambert (2006): From translation markets to language management: The implications of translation services In: Dirk Delabastita, Lieven D’hulst, Reine Meylaerts, eds. Functional Approaches to Culture and Translation: Selected Papers by José Lambert. Philadelphia/Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 147-162.
- Kiraly, Donald C. (2003): From instruction to collaborative construction. In: Brian James Baer and Geoffrey S. Koby, eds. Beyond the Ivory Tower. Rethinking Translation Pedagogy. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 3-28.
- Leech, Wendy (2005): The Translator’s Visibility: An Investigation into Public Perceptions of the Translator and How to Raise the Translator’s Status in Society. MSC thesis, unpublished. London: Imperial College, The University of London.
- Liu, Fung-Ming Christy (2011): A Quantitative and Qualitative Inquiry into Translators’ Visibility and Job-related Happiness: The Case of Greater China. PhD thesis, unpublished. Tarragona: Universitat Rovira i Virgili.
- Liu, Fung-Ming Christy (2013): A Quantitative Enquiry into the Translator’s Job-related Happiness: Does Visibility Correlate with Happiness? Across Languages and Cultures. 14(1):123-147.
- Risku, Hanna (2004): Migrating from translation to technical communication and usability In: Gyde Hansen, Kirsten Malmkjaer and Daniel Gile, eds. Claims, Changes and Challenges in Translation Studies. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 181-195.
- Sela-Sheffy, Rakefet (2006) The Pursuit of Symbolic Capital by a Semi-Professional Group: The Case of Literary Translators in Israel. In: Michaela Wolf, ed. Übersetzen – Translating – Traduire: Towards a “Social Turn”? Münster/Hamburg/Berlin/Wien/London: LIT Verlag, 243-252.
- Simeoni, Daniel (1998): The Pivotal Status of the Translator’s Habitus. Target. 10(1):1-39.
- Sofer, Morry (2006): The Translator’s Handbook. Rockville: Schreiber Publishing.
- Venuti, Lawrence (1995): The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London/New York: Routledge.
- Warr, Peter (2007): Work, Happiness, and Unhappiness. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Wilss, Wolfram (1999): Translation and Interpreting in the 20th century: Focus on German. Philadelphia/Amsterdam: John Benjamins.