Perception of Translator Status among the Students of Humanities and Social Sciences

Sinković, Dorotea. (2018). Perception of Translator Status among the Students of Humanities and Social Sciences. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature. [mentor Pavlović, Nataša].

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Abstract

This paper presents a survey of the perception of translator status among graduate students at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. The study included 126 respondents, who were divided into three groups—students of translation, students of modern languages but not of translation, and non-philology students. The research method used was an online questionnaire consisting of Likert statements and open-ended questions. Following Dam and Zethsen (2008, 2009), the statements were formulated to examine the four categories used to operationalize status—education, visibility, salary and occupational prestige. The primary objectives of the study were to investigate students’ perception toward translation as a profession, as well as to draw conclusions about the influence of study programmes on respondents’ attitudes by analysing possible patterns in their answers. The results indicate that non-philology students perceive translation as an average-status occupation, while there is only a slight difference in the answers provided by students of languages in comparison with translation students, all of whom perceive translation as an occupation of high status. The present study, which belongs to a relatively young field of sociology of translation, not only in Croatia, but worldwide, aims to investigate the role of academic influences in the formation of the perception of translator status. As such, it could serve as a solid point of departure for further research on the topic.

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