Inside Iranian Freelance Simultaneous Conference Interpreters’ Experience: A thematic Analysis of Narratives

Abstract

Although several studies have examined translators' and interpreters' experience in various contexts, relatively few studies have attempted to explore the freelance simultaneous conference interpreters' experience in the Iranian context. In this country, the increasing number of international conferences is creating a demand for quality conference interpretation. In this study, we used qualitative analysis of narratives to delve into the experience of eight freelance simultaneous conference interpreters in Iran to realize their perception of their job and the impact of contextual factors on the quality of their experience as well as that of interpretation. Three themes, namely job-finding experience, on-the-job-experience, and the locus of the problems were extracted from eleven sub-themes. Overall, the narratives characterized interpreting in Iran as a non-professional occupation that amounts to an ad hoc event, language brokering, and ability-oriented task. The findings can raise some critical considerations for stakeholders involved in the field of translation and interpretation studies as well as practitioners.

Haken conference interpreters in Japan: Exploring status through the sociology of work and of professions

“…For instance, interpreters’ status rests upon “language proficiency” (as part of expertise), but differently, across the Middle-East and East Asia. In Iran (Fakharzadeh & Kazemi, 2020) and Turkey (Akçayoğlu & Ömer, 2020), local stakeholders consider that foreign-language speakers can interpret, and do not accord special recognition to interpreters. In contrast, in Japan (see Giustini, 2019), language proficiency is a pivotal demonstration of interpreter expertise in the local market, together with interpreting skills; in South Korea (see Cho, 2017; Lee, 2017), language skills and bilingualism are similarly idolised by both interpreters and clients as a fundamental status signal.…”