Revisiting the Translator’s Visibility: Does Visibility Bring Rewards?

Abstract

Résumé de l'articleLe 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. ABSTRACTThere 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. MOTS-CLÉS/KEYWORDSvisibilité, capital symbolique, capital social, capital culturel, capital économique visibility, symbolic capital, social capital, cultural capital, e...

Looking through the Lens of Bourdieu: A Corpus-based Study of English Romance Fiction Translation Concerning the Translation Strategies of CSIs

“…In other words, this change in the plot and generic structures of Hamlet was a response to this mode of production. Liu (2013) reported a quantitative analysis of the relationship between translators' visibility and the amount of capital that they receive. The analysis was based on 193 Chinese translators in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao.…”

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, MACHINE TRANSLATION & CYBORG TRANSLATORS: A CLASH OF UTOPIAN AND DYSTOPIAN VISIONS

“…The omnipresence of machine translation (MT) as a consequence of the increasing penetration of AI and deep learning (DL) into contemporary translation industry can be illustrated by the latest, and we would wager to say, alarming statistical figures. According to some studies, nowadays, a staggering 99% of all translations are estimated to be made by machines while the world's most popular translation tool Google Translate translates 143 billion words per day, or more precisely, 20 words a day per person, since its launch back in 2016 (Liu, 2021;Way, 2021). For a long time in translation studies (TS), the translator as a person or as the agent of translation has not been on the receiving end of scholars' attention.…”

Longitudinal Study of Translators in Greater China

“…Papers from this conference were published in two special back-to-back issues of Translation andInterpreting Studies (Rakefet andShlesinger, 2009, 2010). Some scholars have attempted to employ a sociological paradigm and have used empirical research methods to carry out their investigations (see Dam and Korning Zethsen, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014Katan, 2009aKatan, , 2009bKatan, , 2011Liu, 2011Liu, , 2013aLiu, and 2013bSelaSheffy, 2005SelaSheffy, , 2006SelaSheffy, , 2008SelaSheffy, , 2010SelaSheffy, , 2011SelaSheffy, , 2014Wolf, 2006). However, most of the empirical studies rely on a cross-sectional methodology, which takes a snapshot of a population at one specific time.…”

“…In [2009][2010], an empirical study combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches was conducted to investigate the relationship between translators' visibility and their job-related happiness (Liu, 2011(Liu, , 2013a(Liu, , 2013b. In the study, the visibility of translators refers to situations in which translators can directly communicate with clients and end-users.…”

“…In addition, it has statistically been proven that the more visible the translator, the happier they are. Detailed discussions about translators' visibility and their job-related happiness can be found in Meta (Liu, 2013a) and Across Languages and Cultures (Liu, 2013b) respectively.…”