A social profile of the translator in Slovenia

1
A social profile of the translator in Slovenia

• David Limon
• Department of Translation
• University of Ljubljana

2
How many translators are there in Slovenia?

• DZTPS 434 members
• DSKP 201 members
• Est. total 1200 translators
• Survey 87 participants
• (excluding graduates of Department of Translation)

3
Gender balance

• Female 90
• Male 10

4
Age profile
5
Previous employment (47)
6
Current employment (11)

• university teacher 6
• school teacher 1
• editor 2
• computing 1

7
Status
8
Education
9
University degree
10
Educational options (pre-1998)

• prevajalska smer within degree programme
  (1986/87 English 1990/91 for
  German)
• 1982 postgrad. specialisation English/Slovene
  scientific and technical translation

11
Department of Translation

• founded 1998/99 (Tempus project)
• 4-year degree programme
• translation or interpreting
• Slovene plus 2 foreign languages
• English German (40) German English (20)
  English French (20)
• English Italian (20)
• 700 students to date
• 66 graduates since 2002/03
• expect 50-60 per year

12
Attitudes to the department

• 95 saw it as a positive factor, although
• 30 thought that competition from new graduates
  would make it harder for existing translators to
  get work
• 43 thought that translation fees would fall as a
  result of the influx of young translators

13
The study of translation

• 43 thought translation should only be studied at
  postgraduate level
• 48 at degree level (plus postgraduate)
• 48 interested in doing a masters or doctorate
  in translation
• 67 had been on a training course or seminar in
  the past two years

14
Mother tongue
15
Languages studied
16
Source languages (into Slovene)
17
First foreign language
18
Target languages (from Slovene)
19
Translation into non-mother tongue

• 24 translate mainly into NMT
• 53 translate more into NMT than into Slovene
• Only 7 translate exclusively into Slovene

20
Studied abroad?
21
Worked abroad?

• Yes 20
• No 80

22
Translation fields
23
General position of the translator

• Over the last few years, the general position of
  the translator has
• improved 35
• got worse 40
• stayed the same 10
• been mixed 6
• dont know / no comment 9

24
Commissioners attitudes

• My employer / clients value my work
• always 25
• often 49
• sometimes 26
• never 0

25
Translation fees

• Over the last few years, the real price of
  translation has
• risen 8
• fallen 48
• stayed about the same 39
• dont know / no comment 5

26
Legal status

• Is the current legal status of translators in
  Slovenia satisfactory?
• Yes 9
• No 77
• Dont know/No comment 14

27
Worries and concerns
28
Positive factors