臺灣會議口譯專業化初探研究: 利害關係人對資格認證之觀點

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(1)CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION. 1.1 Research Background Conference interpreter is still a novel profession that is struggling to become a full-fledged profession recognized by the general public. The present conference interpreting market in Taiwan is rather small and the potential clients and the public may not be familiar with the job description of the conference interpreters. The common misconceptions are interpreting is an effortless activity that can be done by any bilinguals and that interpreters are machines that do code-switching automatically from one language to another (Seleskovitch, 1978; Tseng, 1992). Also, some clients think it is easy to evaluate the quality of the interpreting services they are receiving (Kurz, 2001; Moser, 1995; Ru, 1996). Literature says that conference interpreting is actively involved in the professionalization process. Professionalization is not a smooth transition but rather a process involving conflicts and power struggles at each stage. Occupations struggling to become a full fledged occupation will have to depend not only on the resilience of practitioners but also adopt methods and entry barriers to overcome the challenges and eventually gain professional status as a full-fledged profession. How far into the professionalization process is conference interpreting and what challenges does it face? Is accreditation a feasible approach to facilitate future development? Over the years, although the conference interpreters have gained, to a certain degree, client trust and professional status, the working condition and payment have not seen a significant improvement. As a part of the national development plan, in December 2007 the Ministry of Education held the first Translation and Interpretation Proficiency Test (hereafter referred to as the MOE test) to establish an interpreter accreditation system and improve the professional image of interpreters ( Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, 2007). 1.

(2) There has been heated discussion as to the necessity of a government accreditation for interpreters as an entry barrier to facilitate professionalization. Many support the idea of an accreditation system think an accreditation system will establish professional standards, ensure interpreting quality and improve interpreter professional status. The ones oppose to the idea express doubts in the credibility of an accreditation test. They say the nature of conference interpreting made it impossible to be accredited (GIO, 2004; Tseng, 2005). The purpose of this study is to first identify the present situation, expectation and challenges of the conference interpreting profession and the missing element that will facilitate the future professionalization process. And then it can be further determined if government accreditation is the solution to the challenges identified at the present moment and produce the upward mobility the conference interpreting profession needs to move on to the next stage of professionalization. 1.2 Research Scope and Research Questions Interpreting covers a wide range of activities such as sign language interpreting, court interpreting, escort interpreting, community interpreting, medical interpreting, and conference interpreting (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007). However, this study will only look at conference interpreting and the professionalization process it is going through. There are several schools of professionalization theories. Trait theorists believe that an occupation must acquire the traits or functions of a true profession in order to be recognized as one. The power theorists see an occupation struggle to gain monopoly in the market and establish its authority to set rules for the entire industry. Scholars support the procedure view focus on the stages an occupation must go through in order to reach the final stage and obtain the title of a full-fledged profession. This study aims to find out how an occupation can become a profession, not to merely define the term profession. Therefore, this study will adopt the procedural point of view..

(3) According to procedure theorists, at later stages of professionalization, professions create entry barriers to control admission and ensure market dominance. This study will focus on four mechanisms that are most popular: reputation, membership of a professional association, certification and licensure. Reputation only has limited influence in controlling admission. Interpretation association failed to establish its presence and gain authority in the conference interpreting industry in the past decade. Certification and licensure have stronger holds on the market as opposed to the other two. Therefore, this study will examine the role certification or licensure plays in the professionalization of conference interpreters and find out if they answer to the challenges identified by the groups involved in conference interpreting activities. To this end, this study employs the qualitative interview approach. Hoping that by gathering the observations and views from different groups of conference interpreting activities, it will be possible to discover a feasible tool to facilitate the professionalization process of the conference interpreting profession and may also benefit the interpreting industry as a whole. The questions this study attempts to address are as follows: first, what is a good conference interpreter? Second, what are the current situation and expectation perceived by different groups related to conference interpreting? Third, what are the challenges the groups related to conference interpreting face? Fourth, how can conference interpreters establish their professional image and gain the title of true professionals in their struggle towards the final stage of professionalization? Fifth, can a government accreditation solve the challenges identified by the different groups and promote the professionalization process? And last, the study means to find out the participants’ view on the MOE test to see if it achieved the goals proposed by government accreditation and satisfy the needs of the current participants of conference interpreting activities.. 3.

(4) 1.3 Research Framework The research process of this study is presented below in Table 1.1 Table 1.1 Research Framework. Identify the Questions. Literature Review. Examine the characteristic and situation of the present interpreter profession and market condition. Identify the challenges it needs to meet in order to become a fullfledged profession..     .  Data Collection and Analysis.  .  Findings   Conclusions and Recommendations. Source: compiled by this study. . The Definition of Profession Professionalization theories The Nature of Interpreting Profession Identify the challenges the conference interpreting face. The strategy adopted to promote the interpreter professionalization.. Identifying the active participants of the conference interpreting industry Interview question formation Interview the active participants to gather information. The current market condition, observation and expectation identified in the result. Data analysis Find out if government accreditation services as an effective approach to promote the status of the interpreter profession. Recommendations.

(5) 1.4 Organization The overall structure of this study takes the form of six chapters, including this introductory chapter. Chapter Two reviews literature on the definition of profession, the theories of professionalization, the corresponding mechanisms adopted to facilitate the development, and the current situation of the conference interpreting profession. The research questions are identified in Chapter Two and will be further examined in Chapter Four and Five. Chapter Three presents the qualitative research method employed in this study and the results will be presented in Chapter Four and then compared and analyzed in Chapter Five. Finally, Chapter Six includes a brief summary of the study, define the limitations of the study and propose implications in the findings that can be used for future research in the area.. 5.

(6) CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW. This chapter begins with an overview of professions and professionalization, including definition, importance and challenges that accompany the process. The next section presents the challenges that arise during professionalization and the solutions to them. The last part will first give an introduction to the interpreter profession, including how far down the professionalization process it is and present approaches adopted by the conference interpreting profession to continue moving upward the social ladder. 2.1 Profession In recent decades, the human race has seen the growing trend of information explosion and knowledge expansion. The scope and depth of human understanding about the physical, social, and biological world grow not only in dimension, but also in depth (Price, 1963). To accommodate this change and establish social order and system in the increasing chaotic world where knowledge becomes increasingly specialized, specialists who only possess greater knowledge in one specific subject area emerged (Marc & Sukkoo, 2004). Later these specialists formed groups which today known as professions. 2.1.1 The Definition of Profession According to Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989, a profession is an occupation, vocation or career where specialized knowledge of a participant, field, or science is applied. Greenwood (1957) holds that the professions possess systematic theory and professional authority, being sanctioned by the community, being governed by an ethical code, and exhibit professional culture. Slocum (1966) and Pavalko (1971) take a similar approach, adding on public trust and confidence and lengthy formal training to the features enumerated by Greenwood. Olgiati et al. (1998) claims that professions perform tasks in “ birth, survival, physical and.

(7) emotional health, dispute resolution and law-based social order, finance and credit information, educational attainment and socialization, physical constructs and the built environment, military engagement, peace-keeping and security, entertainment and leisure, religion and our negotiations with the next world.” Professionals are practitioners who take up the profession. They share a sense of common experience, understanding and expertise, ways of perceiving problems and possible solutions (Durkheim 1992, as cited in Evetts 2003). It is normally believed that professionals acquire a more advanced level of training and education, earn higher wages, and generally possess greater status in society (Marc & Sukkoo, 2004). Professionals not only presume to tell the rest of the society what is good and right, but also determine the ways of thinking about problems and solutions which fall in their domain (Dingwall & Lewis, 1983; Hughes, 1958). In the definition given by International Labour Organization (ILO) (2007), professionals increase the existing stock of knowledge, apply scientific or artistic concepts and theories. They also teach these knowledge, concept and theories in a systematic manner, or engage in activities combining the three. Three components lie at the core of professional work: service, knowledge and autonomy. In other words, professionals provide professional service to the society or to different groups within the society based on a body of specialized systematic knowledge that has been acquired through formal and extended training without the intervention or evaluation by the government or layman (Kimball, 1992). 2.1.2 The Importance of Profession In the rapidly developing global economy and international markets where social order is essential, profession is a distinctive form of decentralized occupational control which is important in civil society (Durkheim, 1992). Although the official establishment of a profession requires the recognition of the legal system, the functioning of the profession is actually independent to government control (Saks, 1995). “In a way, professions might be one aspect of a state founded on 7.

(8) liberal principles, one way of regulating certain spheres of economic life without developing an oppressive central bureaucracy” (Evetts, 2003). To the society, the existence of profession provides a stable force in the trades where knowledge is highly specialized and professional advise can decrease the risk of failure in the trade. Although presumably the public and layman have no power over the professionals’ ways of conducting their work, the public perception of an occupation's professionalism are likely to affect how much respect consumers have for the providers' expertise, and how legitimate consumers feel to negotiate prices (Thakor & Kumar, 2000). In other words, whatever the traits or functions there be, a profession cannot enjoy true autonomy and prestige until the society recognizes it as a true profession. This will bring us to the process of professionalization, which we will discuss in the later sections. 2.2 Professionalization Before going into details of professionalization, here will first give a definition to the terms job and occupation that will be used through out the chapters. A job is a set of tasks and duties performed, or meant to be performed, by one person, including for an employer or in self- employment (ISCO-08, 2007). An occupation is defined as a set of jobs characterized by highly similar tasks and duties involved. A person may be associated with an occupation through the main job currently held (ISCO-08, 2007). An occupation does not just suddenly show its presence in the market as a full-fledged profession. Usually it takes some time and collective effort for an occupation to gain the status of a full-fledged profession. Profession is a product of civil society. Section 2.1 has reviewed the characteristics or traits of a full-fledged profession. This section presents four different schools of thoughts defining the concept that occupations become full–fledged professions through the process of professionalization..

(9) 2.2.1 Trait Theory Trait theorists believe profession is a social phenomenon in a sense that occupations need to obtain certain characteristics to be accepted as true professions (Winter, 1988). They assume there is an ideal definition acceptable to all the practitioners and the public that can be used to determine if an aspiring occupation is ready to obtain the title of a true profession. Carter and others (1990) provide a list of attributes to profession, including theoretical knowledge, autonomy, service mission, ethical code, public sanction, the establishment of professional association, formal training, accreditation, sense of community and singular occupational choice. Professionalization is therefore defined as a process by which occupations seek to more closely resemble a full-fledged profession by self-consciously taking on these characteristics of a profession (Hudson, 1990). Semiprofessions or emerging professions refers to occupational groups that have achieved some of the characteristics of a profession but to a lesser degree. (Hudson, 1990) 2.2.2 The functionalist View Functionalists believe that professionals are employed for their unique knowledge-intensive problem solving capacity which is deemed functionally important to the society. In order to offer satisfactory solutions that cater to individual client’s demand and accomplish valuable results, professionals express cognitive rationality and exercise good judgment base on esoteric expertise (Mats Alvesson, 2001). The esoteric expertise of an occupation includes complex skills and expert knowledge usually and obtained through formal higher educational (Mats Alvesson, 2001; Hill & Neeley, 1988). As the complexity of the professional skills increases and the expert knowledge grows more specialized, the potential candidates able to acquire the ability or invest in the prolonged education diminishes. When the supply of the labour market reduces and the demand continues to exist, professionals who are able to perform these important functions are naturally rewarded with autonomy, high earnings and prestige (Cullen, 1985; Goode, 1969). In addition to these rewards, the high complexity of professional tasks also means non9.

(10) practitioners have a more difficult time judging the quality of the professional performance; thus various forms of regulating mechanisms such as training requirements, state licensure, registration, etc are seen as necessary in order to protect the vulnerable layman from unqualified practitioners. Similarly, the formation of the professional ethical codes in professional groups are also meant to protect the rights of the public, earn public trust and maintain high quality occupational practice (Cullen, 1985). 2.2.3 The Power Approach Power theorists see the professions as bastions of privilege, finding much of their justification in their ability to protect the profession's turf against transgression by outsiders (Larson, 1977). Once an occupation assumes a dominant position in a division of labor, it gains control over the determination of the substance of work and obtains professional status characterized by the monopoly of competence legitimized by officially sanctioned expertise, and of credibility with the public (Wilding, 1982; Larson, 1977). In other words, occupations cannot be simply classified as professions based on any set of deterministic criteria; instead, occupations constantly seek to improve their image in the struggle for control of markets (Freidson, 1970; Larson, 1977). There are two major types of market control: internal control and external control. Internal control includes control over the expert skills and specialized body of knowledge, which means professions have the authority to define the content of the expertise and initiate standardization. Standardization is achieved through training and research. Standardization of expert skills and knowledge helps to consolidate a profession. Members sharing the same training have a sense of unity for the profession (Larson, 1977). In addition, professions also control admission or entry into the profession. One of the ways is to implement an entry barrier through accreditation. This can be viewed as a type of quality control. A profession must maintain reputation by guaranteeing to the public and the government that the professionals can perform their service to a rather high standard.

(11) (Cullen, 1985). Professional codes of ethics can also be considered as organizational tools in pursuit of professional autonomy and monopolization (Berlant, 1975; Wilding, 1982). No government could or would grant the professions the powers and freedom they enjoy without guarantees about their use (Wilding, 1982). In short, professionals are required to be worthy of public trust, to maintain confidentiality and conceal such guilty knowledge by not exploiting it for evil purposes. In return professionals are rewarded with authority, privileged rewards and higher status (Evetts, 2003). The external control over the market includes control over the job description, and the general working condition such as remuneration and working condition.. Functionalist, trait and power schools tend to emphasize the final result of professionalization. They use a set of criteria to determine if an occupation has reached the status of a full-fledged profession. However, they do not address the transitions occupations go through in order to obtain the title of a full-fledged profession. The procedure view, on the other hand, focuses on the evolving process of professionalization. 2.2.4 The Procedure View H.L Wilensky says that the process of professionalization of full-fledge profession does share many basic characteristics and evolving procedure. Five different stages are identified by Wilensky ( 1964). First, practitioners begin to view an occupation as a full time occupation. Next, educaional institutions are formed to provode formal training for the occupation. These formally trained practitioners will then form consensus and work collectively to form a professional association. The professional association supports and fights for the rights of practitioners within the occupation, and wield its influence to gain legal support in order to protect the profession’s prestige and ensure work ethic of professionals. When the profession has established its legal status and gained dominance, the profesional association will insitute an ethical code to strngthen internal 11.

(12) control, protect clients’ rights and provide high quality service ( as cited in Hong, 2004). Tseng (1992) also identifies four phases of professionalization that occupational groups would go through if they are to struggle to become a profession. The first phase is characterized by market disorder, and fierce competition among the practitioners of an occupation. Practitioners in the market cannot keep outsiders from entering practice. Recipients of the service either have very little understanding of what practitioners do or very little confidence in the services they receive. Hence, distrust and misunderstanding permeate the market. What matters more to clients, in the absence of quality control, is usually price. Whoever demands the lowest fees gets the job. Therefore, advertising and price-cutting are commonplace in the market. The rights of the clients are normally not protected, and malpractice as a result frequently occurs. Clients who demand quality services are usually troubled by the fact that they do not know where to get qualified practitioners for services. As the demand for services rises, training institutions emerge, providing the market with foramlly trained practitioners. These graduates of educational institutions share the same nurturing, method, cultivation and vision for the market. As time goes by, they will eventually become dissatisfied with the status quo and reach the consensus that the occupation should be more organized to protect clients from malpractice and themselves from outsiders’ hostile competition. Thus begins phase two-- the consolidation of the profession and the development of a consensus about practitioners' aspirations. Training institutions adapt to the increased demands for quality services and support the future emergence of the professional association as a mean of enhancing the prestige of their graduates. In the third phase, with the support of a professional association, professionals can really work collectively with their colleagues to exert their influence over the job description of the profession and the behaviour of the professionals, control admission into the professional circle and appeal to clients and the public for recognition of the profession. The power and achievments of the.

(13) professional association strengthen the commitment of members to the course they are pursuing. At this point, the professional associaton then formulate a code of ethics to exert internal control in order to earn public trust ( Tseng, 1992). When the occupation proceeds to the fourth stage, the professional association has better control over admission to the profession. Members admitted through control of admittion are more likely to be of one accord since they have all gone through the same admission procedure. It is hard to say that if this is the last stage of professionlaization and professions will no longer evolve, but professions at this stage do enjoy the highest status among all occupations.. No matter what the motive behind professionalization is, all four theories agreed on the characteristics of a full-fledged profession: it provides professional services based on esoteric knowledge obtained through standardized and prolonged training. In addition, it takes some time and collective effort for an occupation to gain the status of a true profession. To gain a more in-depth understanding of the status quo of the interpreting profession, it is important to first identify the challenges proposed in the procedure view. Different challenges arise during each phase and have to be adressed before the profession move on to the next phase of professionalization and eventually becomes a full-fledged profession. The professional market at its initial stage is characterized by a sense of insecurity, pricecutting competition and the absence of quality control of the services. Elements such as public trust and professional code of ethics are almost non-existent (Tseng, 1992). On the occupational practitioners’ side, they have no means to distinguish themselves from other workers in the field and protect themselves from vicious competition. As for the clients, they do not know how to recruit qualified interpreters, thereby enabling unqualified interpreters to survive the market, provided they can maintain good relations with the clients. The is because professionals provide services rich in credence arrtibuts. 13.

(14) Credence attributes or the experience attributes have been identified in marketing literature as the hallmark of professional service. Namely, consumers have difficulty evaluating professional service at any point in time when the need for it arises. They have no better choice but to trust the service provider for delivering or having delivered the desired benefits since they do not possess adequate knowledge or expertise to evaluate or judge (Lovelock, 2001). As a matter of fact, clients are significantly dependent on the professionals to define the problem and provide advice when employing professional services (Hill & Neeley, 1988). Information asymmetry refers to the professionals’ advantage of possessing insiders’ information when clients’ suffer from ignorance while employing professional services. Information asymmetries would inevitably originate when credence rich services or experience goods come onto the market. Since the clients have little chance in identifying the “ lemon” before or even after the purchase of professional services (Van Loo & Rocco, 2006) but may still feel the negative impacts of low quality service, if the professionals do not prevent the negative impacts by restricting unqualified practitioners into the market, in time adverse selection may take place. When that happens, low-quality professionals will drive good professionals out of the market and a low price–low quality situation will thus born (Akerlof, 1970). Since most people are ignorant of professional services and often they are unsure if they have to use one (Bloom, 1984), professions must successfully convince the clients of the uniqueness and extremely complicated nature of professional services. In other words, they must first establish a strong demand and then earn clients trust before they can be perceived as a true profession. Visionaries struggel to promote their status and improve market condition by adopting professionalization strategies. One of the stragtegies employed is professional association. These professional associations regulate their own practice by determining standards of entry and by developing a code of ethics; furthermore, they often possess regulatory powers of professional licensing that are delegated to representatives of the professions themselves by Local and state.

(15) governments (Marc & Sukkoo, 2004). 2.3 Professionalization Stragtegies In the previous sections, it is established that consumers have lesser understanding of the nature of the works performed by the experts and are in need of a trust building mechanism. As we can see, all the issues identified eventually comes down to the absense of a sytematic knowledge, clear occupational job description, professional culture, and ethical code which can hold the practitioners in a occupation together. This brings out the research question of this study: What should be done to solve these challenges in the professionalization process? and how ? Three types of strageties that can be adopted at variuos stages are discussed in this section. They are standards, associations, and entry control. In a market full of uncertainty and confusion, standardization is a necessary initial step to differentiate “ professional products” (i.e. the expertise) from “ competing products”. With a clear set of criteria laid down, consumers can easily identify professional service and assign proper value. Furthermore, it decreases risks involved in recruiting a service which is unfamiliar to them (Larson, 1977). The formation of standards as a screening indicator and guidance can significantly lower the risks brought on by information asymmetry. This would safeguard clients’ rights and improve the clients’ ability to assess service quality. The indicator helps the client to distinguish between “good” and “bad” service providers by simple indicators of qualitative services and professional level (Perrot, 1992). In addition, standardization of expertise helps to consolidate a profession, because if the members share the same basic knowledge and understanding, it is easier for them to have a sense of unity for the profession. Internally, the standards serve as a guide for insiders. Externally, they shape the way the public view the profession. In short, without clear standards, clients would have nothing to refer to when employing professional services and again resort to use price instead of quality as a deciding factor (Tseng, 1992). 15.

(16) To establish useful indicators, practitioners of an occupational group need first to form consensus as to the job description and professional standards that need to be met (Tseng, 1992). Although the standardization is based on esoteric knowledge which layman has neither access to nor the ability to comprehend, as service product providers, the professionals still need to increase the visibility of the profession, gain public trust and respect (Thakor & Kumar, 2000). Therefore, it is important to implement a mechanism by which the professionals can make themselves understood and known to the public. The mechanism should be effective in protecting clients’ rights and able to encourage the professionals to perform professionally and up to standards. With clear professional standards formed, the next step would be to gain market control. An occupation adopts a certain number of entry barriers seeking to control market admission, to regulate, influence, and create norms and professional standards by which the market can operate (Gallouj, 1997). Once an occupation achieves the goal, it gains market dominance and becomes a full-fledged profession. Now that we have identified the initial steps that need to be taken, the following section will take a look at the mechanisms or approaches that can be adopted. There are many different types of entry barriers to reduce information asymmetry, such as reputation, membership, certification and licensure. Market entry barriers play an important role in the process of obtaining market control. Entry barriers or regulating mechanisms are needed not only to protect the public from unqualified practitioners, but also, to give “ an occupation more prestige and enhance the standing of people in that occupation in the eye of the public.” They also lead to increased business or can be use to justify better remuneration (Conklin, 1984). In terms of power to bar market entry, licensure is the strongest, next would be certification. After that comes membership of a professional association and the weakest form is reputation. (see Table 2.1).

(17) Table 2.1 Comparisons of Entry Barriers Type of Regulating Mechanism Reputation. Recipient of Regulation Individual Individual. Membership. Individuals or Accreditation association Certification Licensure. Individual Individual. Regulating Body. Mandatory or Restrictive Voluntary Powers. None Professional Association. Voluntary Mandatory to Enter the Professional Association but not the profession Agency/ political Mandatory or body voluntary Agency/ political Voluntary body Political body Mandatory. Weak Not Very Strong. The strongest or Strong Strong The Strongest. Source: compiled by this study. The next sections will go into more details of reputation, membership of a professional association, certification and licensure. 2.3.1 Reputation Reputation appears to be a method of compensating for market inadequacies or failures. Clients can partially compensate for their lack of information in the market by referring to reputations gained by service providers (De Bandt, 1995). A fine reputation indicates that although the customers are still under the influence of information asymmetry, they can rely on reputed firms for quality control. Reputation is an implicit promise that the party involved will not act opportunistically in the case of an unforeseen event. From the perspective of the service provider, reputation is significant, as it is the basis for attracting new clients. Built up over a long period of time, reputation acts as an implicit contract, and is reinforced by the seller’s desire to develop repeat business and customer loyalty (Stock & Zinszer, 1987). The more firmly the reputation of a supplier is established, the more transaction costs will 17.

(18) be reduced. Thus the establishment and maintenance of a good reputation is a very important (Hölmstrom & Tirole, 1989). 2.3.2 Membership of a Professional Association Membership of a professional association develops reified institutional boundaries (Abbott, 1988). It focuses on the production of standardized practices and codes of conduct and ethics (Macdonald, 1984). Tseng (1992) thinks that the emergence of the professional association symbolizes the forming of common value and the beginning of an exclusive market approach to protect the practintioners within the professional group. In other words, the emerging profession starts to convince the clientele of its professionalism and the public to accept its definition of the professional content of work and demanded working conditions, achieve legislative recognition and set up entry barriers to control admission and eventually achieve monopoly as a full-fledged profession. Membership can exist with or without the presence of other regulating systems. They do not conflict with one other in nature but have respective limits and achievements. At times, in the absence of a unified licensure or certification program that apply to all candidates who wish to work in the market, the membership of a powerful association or organization would to some extent, wield similar influence. Before going into detail of certification and licensure, we will first clarify three terms representing distinctive mechanisms which attempt to regulate the measurement of competencies: accreditation, certification, and licensure. Originally, certification is the process by which an authority recognizes the competence of individual practitioners within a certain professional group; accreditation is the process by which an organizations, institution or special program that issue credentials or certify third parties are themselves formally recognized by the standards bodies for meeting certain predetermined qualifications; licensure is the process by which individual professionals are recognized by the.

(19) government for obtaining mandatory legal requirements (Galbraith & Gilley, 1985). Accreditation focuses upon evaluating groups or insitutions whereas certification and licensure have as their primmary purpose to measure the competency of individual practitioners. Both accreditation and certification are voluntary processes, which means institutions can function without accreditation and individuals can practice in their profession with out a certificate. Licensure is mandatory and any individual are phorbited to practice without a license (Bratton & Hildebrand, 1980). Accreditation, certification and licensure are often used interchangeably; although they differ in methodology, target regulating population, and the purpose of regulation (Galbraith & Gilley, 1985). In this study, the term accreditation will be used generally to refer to accreditation, certification or licensure, whereas the certification and licensure will be used in the original sense. After the initial definition on the terms that will be used in the later sections, this section will take a more detailed look into certification and licensure. 2.3.3 Certification Certification is a voluntary process, by which a professional association or competent authority measures the competences of individuals. Unlike licensure, certification has no legal power to restrict new comers from entering the market, but serves as an extra credit that proves professional ability (Galbraith & Gilley, 1985). The primary purpose of professional certification is to separate individual practitioners who are considered competent and those who are not, so as to increase or assure professional competency and thus increasing quality standards within the profession or industry concerned (Leavens, 1984 as cited in Galbraith & Gilly, 1985; Galbraith & Gilley, 1985; Giacobbe & Segal, 1994). Certification identifies competencies that are important and unique to a profession (Bratton and Hildebrand, 1980) and services as a feedback mechanism for academic curricular design (Vuss, 1984). In other words, professional certification implies standardization of a profession, which as a 19.

(20) result leads to the establishment of credibility, reputation and professional image for practitioners (Galbraith & Gilley, 1985; McDaniel & Solano-Mendez, 1993). 2.3.4 Licensure Occupational licensing is defined as a process where entry into an occupation requires a permission of the government. The practitioners are required to demonstrate a minimum degree of competency up to professional standards in order to become licensed professionals (Kleiner, 2000). The entry costs of occupational licensing are generally high. Many years of schooling are often required, as are tests that are often difficult to pass. Moreover, in the case of licensed professions, the clients have the ability to choose a professional service based on the perceived quality and service price demanded but no ability to choose an unlicensed practitioner to perform the task (Kleiner, 2006). Occupational licensing restricts the supply of labour into the occupation and thereby drives up the price of labour as well as of the service rendered (Rottenberg, 1980). Licensing also creates greater incentives for individuals to invest in more occupation-specific training. Licensed professional are able to recoup the full returns on their investment by demanding a higher remuneration if they do not need to face competition from low-quality substitutes who ask for a much lower price for their services (Akerlof, 1970; Shapiro, 1986). In addition, the competency of the practitioners improves due to prolonged and comprehensive training, enabling practitioners to provide high quality services. As the quality of services received by the consumers improves, consumer uncertainty over the quality of the licensed service diminishes. As a result, clients will come to trust the output of the professionals licensed and are more willing to engage their services (Kleiner, 2006; Arrow, 1971; Maurizi, 1974). Moreover, it is argued that in some cases, poor quality services are not just matters between employer and employee (Kleiner, 2000). For example, an ill qualified doctor may make a false diagnose and cause a widespread epidemic. In this sense, requiring practitioners to be trained at the.

(21) minimum level downsizes the risk of negative social impact, which translates to safeguarding the life and property of the general public. Therefore, although price and wage will rise as the result of restricting the number of practitioners entering the market, clients would still prefer to hire licensed professionals for the reduction of the risk of a highly negative outcome. This is called loss aversion (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). Furthermore, aside from protecting the safety and welfare of the clients, occupational licensing also lays the foundation for creating monopolies that inhibit market competition (Council of State Government, 1952). A recurring issue for the public, policymakers, and economists has been deciding how government regulation of occupations impacts who works and how the work should be conducted. Usually such regulations require some demonstration of a minimum degree of competency to service the public of the professionals, and they specify a means to address negligence by service providers. Overall, these requirements are intended to have beneficial effects for consumers by increasing the quality of service. Individuals in these regulated occupations gain standardized work requirements and an increased demand for their services (Kleiner, 2006). 2.3.5 Comparison of Entry Barriers In comparison, reputation is not a very effective advertising method for it needs to be established over a long period of time. As for certification and licensing, restricted entrance such as licensing would result in the rise in quality and price. The rise in price shall affect costumers who cannot afford such price and leave costumers less room for choice (Kleiner, 2006). This in turn leads to imbalance and gives the suppliers too much power. Therefore, not all occupations should be licensed. Certification should be able to satisfy market demand and, to a certain level, promote professional status if the tasks performed by the practitioners do not involve potential social impact that can be highly negative (Kleiner, 2006).. 21.

(22) The previous sections cover the general definition of profession and professionalization. Interpreter is a relatively new profession gathering upward mobility, aiming to become a fullfledged profesion. The next section gives a brief description to the nature of interpreters as a novice profession and and what interpreters face in professionalization. 2.4 The Nature of the Interpreter Profession Interpreters facilitate necessary cross-cultural communication in today’s society by converting one language into another, or in the case of sign-language interpreters, between spoken communication and sign language. They excel in at least two languages and render language conversion for the participants in the subjects discussed (Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics, 1992). Interpreters are required to pay attention carefully, understand what is communicated in both languages, and express thoughts and ideas clearly and completely. Strong research and analytical skills, mental dexterity, and an exceptional memory also are important characteristics of a successful interpreter. Interpreters may not completely specialize in a particular field or industry, quite on the contrary, they may focus on more than one area of expertise and is capable of performing tasks in different interpreting mode (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007). The act of interpreting involves three stages: comprehension, conversion and delivery (Ginori & Scimone, 1995). Interpreting requires complete understanding of the source language and public speaking skills in the target language in order to render accurate, fluent, comprehensible target language output. The interpretation must remain faithful to the original at all times in terms of register, tone, intent, and style. No amount of Information should be arbitrarily added or omitted (Dubslaff & Martinsen, 2005). Interpreting performances are influenced by a number of factors, including “ knowledge of the language, of the participant matter, of the content, of the institutional culture as well as the speaker’s own culture, and also by the speaker’s speech coherence and presentational style” (Hale, 2004).

(23) The main difference between translators and interpreters is that interpreters physically present themselves to facilitate communication between individuals who cannot understand each other’s languages, on the contrary, translators often do not come into contact with their costumers while conducting their assignments (Seleskovitch, 1978). Another important distinction between the tasks performed by translators and interpreters is different time demand. Translators have time to reflect and craft their final output, whereas interpreters must instantaneously arrive at a target language equivalent, while receiving further input (González, Vasquez & Mikkleson, 1991). The source-language text of interpreting is presented only once, with little chance for correction and revision afterwards (Pochhacker, 2004). 2.4.1 Job Description Translating words is only one part of the job description for interpreters. Professional interpreters relay concepts between languages, accurately convey body languages, expressions, emotions and ideas. A thorough understanding on the subject matter in which they work is necessary in order to accurately convert information from one language, (source language) into another (target language). In addition, they must be sensitive to the cultures associated with their languages of expertise. The job does not ask for a “walking dictionary" (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007). Interpreting tasks require interpreters to “study the origin, development and structure of languages, and interpret from one language into another,… in particular at conferences, meetings and similar occasions, and ensuring that the correct meaning and, as far as possible, the spirit of the original are transmitted. (ILO, 2004) “ Australian Bureau of Statistics, Statistics New Zealand, and the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations employ Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) define interpreting as a job with interpreters providing simultaneous and consecutive verbal renditions of speeches into another language in the appropriate 23.

(24) register and style in a range of settings such as courts, hospitals, schools, workplaces and conferences (Australian Bureau of Statistics & Statistics New Zealand, 2006). The Standard Occupational Classification System of the Republic of China describe Interpreters’ job content as providing consecutive interpretation in settings such as small conferences, debates, business meetings and guided tours; as for simultaneous interpreting, interpreters convey messages simultaneously and with precision in international meetings and conferences; furthermore, interpreters may also convert a written text into the target language.” (Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics, 1992) 2.4.2 Interpreting as a Profession Major occupational classification standards around the world classify interpreters under the category of profession alongside lawyers and doctors. According to International Standard Classification of Occupations 08 (ISCO-08), occupational groups assigned to the Professional occupations are listed under “ Major Group 2: Professionals”. There are in total of six sub-groups under this major group. The sixth sub-group Legal, social and cultural professionals is further divided into five minor groups in which Authors, journalists and linguists falls under the fourth. Under this minor group lists code 2643 for the unit group Translators, interpreters and other linguists (ILO, 2004). Interpreters are classified under the same unit group 2643 with linguists, not directly included in the linguist occupation; further more, they are separated from other language teachers (2353). Although all three professional occupations require a certain level of language skills and their job contents are highly involved in the use of language, the classification of ISCO-08 clearly shows that there are basic differences in between these three professions. Having the language feature in common does not mean a linguist or a language teacher can perform professional interpreting tasks and vice versa . Bureau of Labor Statistics published the “Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09.

(25) Edition”, including interpreters in the major group of Media and communications-related occupations in the category of Professional and Related Occupations out of fourteen major groups listed. There are in total eight sub-major groups in Media and communications-related occupations and the third reads interpreters and translators. ANZSCO classify interpreters under unit group 272412 with translators and historians in the same “Social Professionals” group 2724. Social Professionals research and study human behavior, society and institutions from current and historical perspectives, verbally render spoken statements, and transcribe text and recorded spoken material from one language into another (ANZCSCO). Most of the other occupations that fall in this unit group require a level of skill commensurate with a bachelor’s degree or higher qualification. The Standard Occupational Classification System in the Republic of China is a classification scheme which seeks to depict the current labor market in Taiwan. The system comprises ten major groups, 37 sub-major groups, 114 minor groups and 394 unit groups. Interpreters and translators falls into the minor group 2604 along with philologists, which is in turn placed under the sub-major group “Social Science and Related Professionals 26 & 260”, major group “Professionals 2”. Noteworthy is that court interpreters and escort interpreters are classified separately from conference interpreters, each having different job descriptions. Although all these interpreters require core-interpreting proficiency, they must deal with different knowledge domain and work in different kind of settings. Escort interpreters do not have the training or knowledge to perform court interpreting tasks and court interpreters may be at a lost when dealing with medical settings. 2.4.3 Modes of Interpretation There are two modes of interpretation: simultaneous and consecutive. All interpreting tasks are conducted by using either one of the modes (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007).. 25.

(26) Simultaneous Interpretation In the simultaneous mode the interpreter continues to receive and process new information while rendering, and monitoring the target language for equivalence all at the same time. Interpreters working in simultaneous mode allow lag time between themselves and the speaker. That is, the interpreters wait until the speakers have begun to develop their points before beginning to interpret. By allowing lag time, the interpreters ensure that they are interpreting meaning, not just individual lexical items. “Even memorizing a half dozen words would distract the interpreter, whose attention is already divided between listening to his own words, and those of the speaker. His memory does not store the words of the sentence delivered by the speaker, but only the meaning those words convey (Seleskovitch, 1978).” Simultaneous interpretation is most frequently used at international conferences, seminars, meetings and sometimes in courts, which goes on for more than a couple of hours and involves a big group of audience (AIIC). Consecutive Interpretation In contrast to simultaneous interpretation’s immediacy, consecutive interpretation begins only after the speakers have finished a paragraph or at least a few sentences. Interpreters often take notes while listening to the speakers, not depending entirely on their short-term memory in case the speakers speak for a relatively long period or packs intensive information into a tightly knitted paragraph (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007). Consecutive interpreting does not require interpreters to split their attention into receiving the message, process information and monitoring their output at the same time, as is required in simultaneous. The interpreters have a better understanding of the source text when working consecutively. Interpreters have the advantage of knowing the line of the argument before they start interpreting. However, they also face the difficulty of dealing with a longer text. If the message is too heavily packed with information or lasts too long, interpreters may be in a greater danger of omitting information or loosing track of the logic presented by the.

(27) speakers (Seleskovitch, 1978). This form of interpretation is mostly used in person-to-person or person–to-small group communication, during which the interpreter who often works alone is positioned near both parties. 2.4.4 Freelance and In-house Interpreters Interpreters, regardless of their job content, can generally be grouped into two categories, freelance and in-house interpreters. According to Swartz (1999), freelance interpreters are professional interpreters who are not employed by an agency, company, or corporation on a full- or part-time basis, but rather working for one or many such entities on a contractual terms when requested case by case. Their schedules are often erratic with extensive periods of no work interspersed with periods requiring long, irregular hours. In addition, freelancers must manage their own finances, and payment for their services may not always be prompt. Freelancing, however, offers variety and flexibility, and allows many workers to choose which job to accept or decline (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007). In-house interpreters (staff interpreters), in contrast, are employed by a particular agency, company, or corporation on a full- or part-time basis. These interpreters may also be referred to as standard wage earner interpreters (Swartz, 1999). In-house interpreters have a steady job and do not have to worry about the job flow. Having only one employer, the interpreters become a part of the integrated group and consequently involve in the organization’s activities (AIIC, 2007). Life as a staff interpreter is more predictable. Since they work solely for one company, the issues and topics of the interpreting task would not vary greatly or cross industrial sectors like the ones freelance interpreters face. Conference Interpreters Conference interpreters are qualified specialists in bilingual or multilingual communication. They make communication possible between delegates of different linguistic communities at conferences, meetings, negotiations or visits, where more than one working language is used 27.

(28) (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007). These experts comprehend the concepts of the speaker’s message and convey them orally in another language, either in consecutive, simultaneous or whispering (AIIC, 1994). To successfully fulfill the task at hand, a wide general knowledge and quick adaptation to certain domain knowledge are asked of conference interpreters in order to deal with all matters under discussion. Moreover, conference interpreters are bound to respect the code of professional ethics. In terms of knowledge, conference interpreters must be competence in foreign languages used, able to produce quality native language rendition, possess firm knowledge base and an understanding of current affairs. Most conference interpreters possess the ability to analyze and construe facts, speedy reaction, the ability to adapt, powers of concentration, above average physical, nervous staying power, a pleasant voice and good public speaking skills, a high degree of intellectual curiosity, tact and diplomacy, poise, and presentation (Weber, 1984; Seleskovitch, 1978; AIIC, 2004). Conference interpreters must also be driven to fulfill their duties regardless of how unexpected or difficult an interpreting assignment can be, able to adjust and cooperate, if not compromise, with demands of the assignments. However, not much consensus has been formed regarding whether interpreters would benefit from an extroverted personality (Shih, 2004) . Like the other young professions, conference interpreters encounter many challenges in the process of professionalization. The next section first gives an overview as to the problems arises duing professionalization and then goes into the details interpreters face at the present stage. The next section gives a few examples as to the approaches adopted in some interpreting markets to ensure quality performance..

(29) 2.5 Interpreter Accreditation and Quality Regulating Mechanisms 2.5.1 The United States There is currently no standard form of certification required of conference interpreters in the United States. As a matter of fact, many working conference interpreters are not certified. The U.S. Department of State has a three-test series for interpreters. These tests are not referred to directly as certification, but successful completion often indicates that a person has an adequate level of skill to work in the field. Tests include: simple consecutive interpreting (for escort work); simultaneous interpreting (for court or seminar work); conference-level interpreting (for international conferences) (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007). 2.5.2 NATTI, Australia Australia National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters, Ltd (NATTI) accreditation is the only credential officially accepted for the profession of translation and interpreting in Australia. All government translation and interpretation (T & I) services require translators and interpreters to be NAATI accredited whenever possible. NAATI accreditation is one of the very few accreditations in the world where there is a test on conference interpreting proficiency. NATTI provides five levels of accreditation: language aide (government employees only, to determine eligibility for language allowances), paraprofessional interpreter, interpreter, conference interpreter, and conference interpreter (senior). Language aide is an elementary level of language use appropriate for persons who are required to use a minimal knowledge of a language for the purpose of simple communications. Paraprofessional interpreter represents a level of competence in interpreting for the purpose of general conversations, generally in the form of non-specialist dialogues. The interpreter level is the minimum level of competence for professional interpreting. Interpreters at this level are capable of interpreting across a wide range of participants involving dialogues at specialist consultations and also capable of interpreting presentations by the 29.

(30) consecutive mode. Conference interpreters can handle complex, technical and sophisticated translation and interpreting. They practice both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting in diverse situations including at conferences, high-level negotiations, and court proceedings. As for conference interpreter ( senior), it is the highest level of NAATI accreditation and reflects both competence and experience. Beside accreditation, recognition is another award issued for interpreters who wish to work in languages for which NAATI does not test and it has no specification of level of proficiency. Recognition does not have equal status to accreditation. 2.5.3 AIIC: Asociacion Internacional de Interpretes de Conferencias AIIC is the only worldwide association for conference interpreters. Founded in 1953, it brings together more than 2800 professional conference interpreters in over 250 cities in over 90 countries. AIIC does not issue license or certificates but is devoted to promoting the profession of conference interpretation in the interest of both users and practitioners by setting high standards, promoting sound training practices and fostering professional ethics. Membership in AIIC is achieved by peer review through a system of sponsorship. By entering the association, members make a commitment to respect AIIC’s stringent Code of Ethics and Professional Standards. To be admitted as a members AIIC, a interpreter need to have at least 150 days of work experience; At least 3 sponsors, including 2 from the same region who have listened to his/her work at a meeting no more than three years prior to the date at which the AIIC Secretariat receives the application. These sponsors must also be active members of AIIC, have 5 years seniority in the languages they are sponsoring and cover at least one language pair. ( AIIC, 2007) 2.6 Conference Interpreter as a Profession in Taiwan Before taking a look at the entry barrier for conference interpreters implemented presently in Taiwan, this part will first introduce the professional regulating system in Taiwan..

(31) 2.6.1 Occupational Regulation in Taiwan The occupational regulating system in Taiwan can be classified into three categories: 1. Professional and Technical Exams: administered by the Ministry of Examination, The Examination Yuan of the Republic of China (since 1950); 2. National Technician Certification: administered by Central Region Office, Council of Labour Affair, Executive Yuan (since 1973); 3. Proficiency tests: by private associations or other government organizations.. The first type is Professional and Technical Examinations. According to Professionals and Technologists Examinations Act 1, the Professional and Technical Personnel Examinations in Taiwan are currently divided into senior examinations, junior examinations, and elementary examinations. Special examinations may be conducted to meet specific needs. Professionals and technologists as defined under this Act refers to persons who are eligible to practice their professions only after passing the examinations and obtaining certificates in accordance with laws and regulations (Ministry of Examination, 2004). Working without a proper professional license will be deemed as a violation of the law. Specialized professions and technical occupations are occupations requiring a process of modern education or length training in academic knowledge or technical skills of a particular nature. The content of these occupations is intimately connected to public good, or to the people's rights of livelihood, health and property. All examinations, regardless of level and participant, should comply with three conditions. First, it should be conducted in conformity with the governing laws and regulations; second, the test will result in the issuance of certificates of qualification; and third, it address duly-defined professions and technical occupations.. 1. Full text amended and promulgated on 29 December, 1999 by Presidential Order Hua Zong Yi Yi Zi No. 8800310390. 31.

(32) Dating from October, 2003, occupations under “Specialized professions and technical occupations” are lawyers and accountants, architects, engineers and technologists, physicians, doctors, medical specialists, veterinarians, real estate related personnel, Insurance related personnel, tour guides and tour managers, civil notaries; maritime pilots, fire protection related personnel, certified social workers; customs clearance agents; etc. In all, there are 101 categories of examination. (Ministry of Examination, 2006) The second type is the National Technician Certification. According the Vocational Training act 2, competent authorities shall carry out skill evaluations in order to enhance technical skills, establish certification system, implement vocational training, foster technical manpower for national construction, improve working technology, and promote national employment. Categories of occupation that shall carry out skill evaluations could be classified as Class A, B and C. As for occupations couldn’t be classified belong to Single Class. Those who have passed the skill evaluations shall be referred to as technicians and obtain certification of technicians uniformly from the Central Competent Authority. Business institutions that wish to hire professionals whose occupations that are technically concerned with public safety are required to employ a certain percentage of certified technicians or are allowed to employ certified technician only. However, most occupations are not required to hire certified professionals only. Regulations for Administration of Skills Certification and Examination Site3 states that if occupations need to hire the technicians in accordance with the rules and regulations or its technique relates to the public safety, the national competent authority should initiate skill certification examination. However, the national competent authority should not initiate 2. Vocational Training Act Promulgated by the President to cover all forty-four articles on December 5, 1983 by the Order of Tai-Tong-I-Tze-No. 6687. Amended Article 2, and promulgated by the President on July 19, 2000 by the Order of Hwa-Tung-I-Tze-No. 8900177610. Amended Article 33, and promulgated by the President on May 29, 2002 by the Order of Hwa-Tung-I-Tze-No. 9100108400.. 3 Lao-Chung-Yi-Tzu No. 0940100594 amended & promulgated by Council of Labor Affairs (CLA), Executive Yuan, on December 30th 2005..

(33) certification if the occupation accreditation needs to be included in professional occupations and technologist examinations or the occupation’s knowledge and technique still lack of the standards of objective evaluations. Proficiency tests are the third type of accreditation. They are normally held by private companies or institutions. For example, computer or language skill tests such as Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), General English Proficiency Test (GEPT), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD), etc. These tests are not endorsed by the government, which means the enactment of the test is not in accordance with certain legal acts or regulations; furthermore, proficiency tests does not have any legal base. 2.6.2 The Translation and Interpretation Proficiency Test in Taiwan Due to growing demands, the Ministry of Education conducted a Chinese-English translation and interpretation proficiency test on December 8-9, 2007. The goal is to establish an interpreter accreditation system, improve the professional image of interpreters and select interpreters competent to enter the market (Bureau of international Cultural and Educational Relations, 2008). Citizens age 18 or higher are eligible for the test. No additional qualification required. The interpreting proficiency test include two stages, candidates who did not pass the first stage are prohibited from participating in the second stage. The interpretation test includes short and long consecutive sections (see table 2.2 for details). Simultaneous interpretation ability was not included in this test. There are 150 people registered for short consecutive test and 139 for long consecutive. The passing rate for short and long consecutive interpretation is 9.59 and 6.57 percent respectively. Only six examinees passed both tests. (see table 2.3 for details).. 33.

(34) Table 2.2 The Structure of the First Translation and Interpretation Proficiency Test by the Ministry of Education Chinese-English translation and Interpretation Proficiency Test Foreign Language Dictation (20%) 90 min Part I and Summary ( 80%) Short Part II Consecutive 60 min Interpretation Consecutive (examinee will Interpretation only be allowed to enter this part Long of the test after Consecutive 90 min passing the first Interpretation part.) Source: Translated from Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, Ministry of Education, 2007. Table 2.3 The Initial Tests Results Conducted by the Ministry of Education 2007 Chinese-English Translation and Interpretation Proficiency Test Interpretation Number of Number of Number of Applicants Participant Applicants Applicants Pass Rate Passed Both Registered Passed Tests Short 150 14 9.59% Consecutive 6 Long 139 9 6.57% Consecutive Source: Translated from Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, Ministry of Education, 2008. The effectiveness and consequence of the first attempt to regulate the interpreting market in Taiwan remains to be seen. Furthermore, simultaneous interpreting was not included in the proficiency test. The reason for this option unknown. Therefore, the current preliminary results cannot be directly applied to the conference interpreting profession since it is highly dependent on the simultaneous interpretation skills to perform professional tasks. Therefore, this study aims to collect views from the major participants of conference interpreting activities to see if the results.

(35) can provide further understanding of the possibility of establishing a conference interpreter accreditation.. After reviewing the conference interpreter accreditation and quality regulating mechanism around the world, it brings out one of the questions this study would like to find out: Why is accreditation test on conference interpreting not a prevalent approach? Are there any traits in conference interpreting preventing the development? Through interviews, this study hopes to gain an insight to these questions. According to Hong’s Research (2004), the general public in Taiwan believes interpreters care more about the welfare of the society than their own profit, abide by ethic codes, and has developed jargons and culture specific to the interpreting filed. A formal and systematic training is essential to interpreters; in addition, interpreting is considered a profession that highly relays on expert knowledge and skills. However, most people also agree that interpreters are not critical to the smooth functioning of the society. People can do well without the interference of interpreters. This clearly indicates a lack of proper understanding as to the nature of the interpreting assignments (Hong, 2004). Since it is almost impossible for layman to directly assess the outcome of professional interpreting work, and the impact and loss incurred from low quality interpreting is not as obvious as a failed law suit, the general public does not take much interest in this profession that is complex and seems to have no effect on their lives. As a matter of fact, many interpreters indicate that the problems that interpreters face is that clients do not understand the nature of interpreting, therefore it is not easy to communicate with them. Furthermore, there is no professional association to protect their rights (GIO, 2004). However, interpreting activities do make a difference in the society even if they did not receive the attention they deserve. To bring the importance of quality interpretation to the public’s attention, one of the objectives in Challenge 2008 set by Council for Economic Planning and 35.

(36) Development, Executive Yuan is to develop an internationalized living environment and improve the quality of translation and interpretation to better connect the public to other parts of the world where Chinese is not spoken (Council for Economic Planning and Development, 2002). To achieve this goal, there are discussions on adding the interpreter profession into civil examination, though the cost the effect balance still needs to be calculated. At present, government agencies resort to outsourcing when interpreting services are called for. One of the reasons is that interpreting is not one of the routine jobs. Even in departments where interpreters are constantly needed, the government inclines to train civil servants into interpreters instead of opening up a new civil examination category (GIO, 2004). Since incorporating interpreting exam into civil examination does not seem to be an option at present, including interpreting accreditation into professional and technical examination or national technician certification are others way to go (Lin, 2005). This will not only profit the government agencies when they need to recruit services of quality interpreters, but will also allow private sectors to locate capable professional interpreters when demanded. Extra training may be required in some circumstances, but basic interpreting skills and ethical code are to be guaranteed by accreditation. According to the Taiwan Translation and Interpretation Survey (GIO, 2004), the surveyed are mostly in favor of a T&I certification system and the establishment of a government T&I office, whose major function to be confined to setting up standards and facilitating the growth of T&I industry. As for the accreditation system, different goals should be taken into consideration in order to build a flexible system. Of all the respondents surveyed, 64% of the interpreters support training institutions, 79% of the teachers in interpretation training support the establishment of an interpreting accreditation system. The interpreter training institutions surveyed think that an accreditation system can elevate the professional status of interpreting, act as quality control device, and earn interpreters proper respect. (GIO, 2004).

(37) More than 90% of the central and local government agencies surveyed support the idea of a translation and interpretation accreditation system. They believe that a credible system would help increase translation and interpretation quality and achieve professional translator and interpreter quality control. However, many government agencies do not have much confidence in the effectiveness of the accreditation system. To their concern, various reasons affect the outcome of an accreditation system, such as adequate judges, test participants and content, and whether the certificate really meets the need of the industry. Interpreting can be applied to many different industries that require specific domain knowledge. There is no guarantee that interpreters can carry out these divergent tasks simply because they passed one accreditation examination (GIO, 2004). Many conference interpreters support the idea of an accreditation system. The reasons given are that an accreditation system will establish professional standard, ensure interpreting quality and improve interpreters’ professional status. The ones oppose to the idea express doubts in the potential credibility of an accreditation test. Some of the ones support the idea also mentioned that they only support the idea under the condition that the test is credible. Therefore, it is clear that the greatest obstacle is the credibility of the competent authority in charge of the accreditation test (GIO, 2004; Tseng, 2005). In Tseng’s study (2005), many clients and conference organizers interviewed state that, as long as the interpreters established their reputation, they will work with reputed conference interpreters even if the interpreters are not certified. To them, interpreting proficiency is the key issue. And they evaluate interpreting proficiency by examining reputation and related degree. But how will novice conference interpreters be evaluated when the interpreters have not yet established reputation and do not have a related degree? This is why a credible accreditation system may be beneficial. An accreditation should be able to open doors for these interpreters, although it is also understandable a poorly designed system may not achieve the goal of establishing professional standards and as a result wield no influence on the interpreters and clients (Tseng, 2005). 37.

(38) CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHOD. The aim of this study is to investigate current condition and expectation of the conference interpreting profession and the groups related to conference interpreting activities, how all active participants of conference interpreting perform their roles, what challenges they face and whether or not theses challenges can be solved by implementing a government accreditation system. Furthermore, it is also of interest of this study to find out the views of the participants on the MOE test. To this end, the study employs the qualitative interview method, meaning to define the phenomena existing in the process of interpreter professionalization and possible motives and coping mechanisms that will further promote the upward process. This Chapter presents an overview on the research process, method, participants, selection criteria, and data analysis process employed in this study 3.1 Introduction During the process of professionalization, all semi-professions or emerging professions have to overcome hindrance, pool the collective effort of the practitioners together, form consensus, set standards, earn public recognition and then finally establish professional authority in the field, control admission to obtain the title of a full-fledged profession. In literature, it is established that the interpreter profession is not yet a full-fledged profession in Taiwan. It does not have legal base or set rules regulating the professionals, and no systematic theory base which allows the profession to persuade the public that they are able to determine and define the substance of work. Most important of all, it does not control admission into the profession. In addition, the public still has doubts towards the professional authority or competency of the profession and does not recognize it as a true profession. This study means to find out how the practitioners and other active participants of.