To explore the professional image represented by the conference interpreting community in Taiwan, texts in the corpus were divided into two categories: insiders’
general representations and commentaries by insiders and outsiders on Vincent Chao’s interpretation (Diriker, 2009). Content analysis was performed to examine the professional image represented by insiders.
The operating definitions of insiders and outsiders are loosely based on that of Diriker’s study. In this study, insiders include conference interpreters, translators, and also non-interpreters who have studied T&I for their bachelor’s or master’s degrees, while outsiders are non-interpreters that have never received T&I training (mainly news media in this case). It was for two reasons that the operating definitions of insiders are less strict. Firstly, few practicing conference interpreters reacted to the
‘Mr. Interpreter – Vincent Chao’ phenomenon publicly. To enrich the corpus and analyze insiders’ reactions to outsiders’ commentaries, conference interpreters,
1 After the content analysis, C37 was excluded because the author’s background could not be confirmed and its content was lowly relevant to professional image of conference interpreters. The numbers assigned to others texts still remain unchanged, which explains why the 47th text was
translators, and those who have studied T&I for their bachelor’s or master’s degrees were counted as insiders. Secondly, the operating definitions may be supported by existing studies. Instructors in T&I programs or departments are chiefly T&I practitioners. Thus, it may be safe to say that T&I instructors could provide
comprehensive information and high-quality training for students. Angelelli (2010) suggested, students who have studied in translation and interpretation programs at high-school level “may or may not consider pursuing studies in translation or
interpreting, but at least they will become more educated consumers of T&I services”
(p. 242), not to mention students that have studied T&I at university or
graduate-school level. Translators are also seen as insiders in this study because they are in the same industry (T&I) with conference interpreters, and as Viaggio (1992, p.1) suggested, “both translators and interpreters specialise at mediating in interlingual communication,” and that “is a bond stronger than the differences between oral and written communication rending them apart” . In this light, though non-interpreters with T&I training do not pursue conference interpreting as a career, they are definitely equipped with adequate knowledge about T&I, and could be considered insiders.
According to the operating definitions, there are 15 texts by insiders and 40 texts by outsiders in this study. All general representations of conference interpreters in this study are by conference interpreters, while among the commentaries on Vincent
Chao’s interpretation, 40 texts were by outsiders, and 7 texts by insiders (conference interpreters and translators). All 40 texts by outsiders were in Appendix III, with their titles and news sources. In addition to the original numbers assigned, an ‘O’ was added to each text (“O” as in “outsiders”), and new numbers were added in
chronological order. For instance, the earliest text was labeled “O1-C1”, and the latest
“O40-C48”.
All 15 texts by insiders were put in Appendix IV with their titles,
authors/interviewees, and qualifications. New codes were also labeled to insiders’
texts. In addition to the original codes, “I” (as in “insiders”) and new numbers were added to texts in the order as follows: commentaries on Vincent Chao’s interpretation were numbered in chronological order and listed before general representations of interpreters. For example, the earliest text was notated as “I1-C1”, and the latest
“I16-G8”.
Authors’/interviewees’ qualifications, if specified in the texts, were collected.
When not specified in the texts, Google search engine and organizations which the insiders work for were used to collect the information about their careers.
Qualifications include being a conference interpreter, a translator, an instructor of T&I programs, or those with a master’s degree in T&I. Years of work experience were noted in parentheses if available.
The initial coding process includes three steps, and is a combination of data-driven and theory-driven approaches (Boyatzis, 1998). The first step is a
data-driven approach. In other words, the codes were inductively generated from the data itself. Texts were read repeatedly, and the first impressions were recorded as codes. For example, when a commentary compliments on Vincent Chao’s charming voice, the commentary was assigned the code “beautiful voice.” In this step, the codes are basically first impressions after reading, and are not limited by any prior research.
At this stage, it was observed that codes could be divided into two groups:
interpreting quality criteria and professional image. With this in mind, the researcher took the second step to further integrate codes.
The second step is similar to Boyatzis’ theory-driven approach (1998). The codes generated in the first step were overabundant and lacked organization. To integrate codes, prior studies were consulted. To organize codes related to interpreting quality, the researcher referred to the quality criteria proposed in Lee (2015), AIIC (2012), Pöchhacker & Zwischenberger (2010), and Bühler (1986); for those about
professional image, AIIC (2012), Fan (2012), and Hung (2005) were consulted. To better illustrate the process, take the code “pleasant voice” as an example. When
“pleasant voice” was found in Bühler’s (1986) as one of the interpreting quality criteria, the codes generated in the first step were reviewed again. Overlapping codes
including “beautiful voice” and “charming voice” were found and integrated into
“pleasant voice.” This process was repeated every time a useful code was found in prior studies. The varieties of codes thus decreased moderately in the second step.
To facilitate comparisons between texts, the third step was to further integrate the codes. After the second step, some codes still overlapped slightly. For example,
“pleasant voice” might overlap with “lively intonation and stress” because “lively intonation and stress” might be one of the key elements of “pleasant voice.” As overlapping codes should be avoided, codes were categorized yet again. For example,
“pleasant voice”, “lively intonation and stress”, “fluency of delivery”, and “native accent”, were integrated into “delivery.” Through repeated reviewing, nine themes finally emerged from the coding analysis: accuracy, an interesting and challenging job, delivery, interpreting skills, knowledge, personal traits, professionalism, and roles in communication.
The researcher acknowledged that the coding is subjective, and, therefore, after discussion with another researcher, the last two steps were repeated again to make sure the codes were all suitable. First, the texts were re-examined with fresh eyes (a three-month wait after the first round of coding process) to produce codes in a theory-driven manner. Second, the researcher further integrated the codes and then following themes emerged: basics of conference interpreting, linguistic skills,
knowledge, interpreting skills, accuracy, delivery, roles in communication, job satisfaction, and personal traits. These themes helped the researcher explore the professional image represented in all the texts collected. The results of the analysis and discussions of the emerged themes will be presented in the following chapter.
Chapter Four: Results and Discussion
Numerous themes emerged from the data via coding. Chapter Four covers the analyses of self-representations by insiders and perceptions of outsiders. As defined in 3.2, insiders include conference interpreters, translators, and non-interpreters who have majored in T&I for their bachelor’s or master’s degrees, while outsiders are non-interpreters that have not received T&I training. To facilitate discussion, the data is categorized as follows: insiders-general, outsiders-Chao, and insiders-Chao.
Insiders-general refers to the general representations by C-E conference interpreters in Taiwan, outsiders-Chao news media’s commentaries on Vincent Chao’s interpretation, and insiders-Chao the T&I community’s reactions to outsiders’ commentaries or to Vincent Chao’s interpretation.
Firstly, the research starts by analyzing the representations by insiders-general in 4.1 to obtain a holistic and comprehensive view on the professional image established by C-E professional conference interpreters in Taiwan. Secondly, how outsiders-Chao perceived interpreters come into focus to reflect the context in which insider-Chao represented themselves. Finally, reactions from insiders-Chao were analyzed to reveal the professional image of C-E conference interpreters represented by insiders in Taiwan.