Chapter 4 The Case Study
4.1 Case study research background
The 2004 GIO research identified six possible challenges of the freelance interpreter as follows:
- unstable amount of income - unstable amount of assignments
- lack of connections with consultants possessing domain knowledge
- difficulty encountered in communications with clients because they do not understand the attributes of the profession
- inability to make oneself known to clients
- lack of a professional association to protect the interpreter's rights
The highest weighted average score fell on "lack of a professional association to protect the interpreter's rights". The second highest went to "difficulty encountered in
communications with clients because they do not understand the attributes of the profession".
The study implied that these two challenges are the most prominent problems freelance interpreters are currently facing on the market. Survey results including other common issues raised by the interviewed interpreters are shown in Table 4.1. Upon further analysis of the problems proposed, the conclusion that they are mostly situations in which freelance interpreters may find themselves in rather than challenges presented by external forces
becomes evident. Obstacles not directly related to the individual interpreter’s actions include:
“lack of a professional association to protect the interpreter's rights”, “insufficient
professional status”, “inexistence of standardized pricing, work environment, work conditions and contracting process” and “insufficient tax reductions”. “Insufficient professional status”
and “inexistence of standardized pricing, work environment, work conditions and contracting process” are actually problems that will be remedied when a professional association is
established according to Tseng (1991). First round interviews further pointed out that freelance interpreters generally partake a passive strategy in career management regarding interpretation services, such as waiting for the phone to ring. The researcher of this study, upon reflection, suggests that a proactive business management strategy such as performance evaluation systems might prove worthy of investigation for freelance interpreters. The purpose of this study is to suggest a plausible strategic performance evaluation plan for freelance interpreters. The Balanced Scorecard system is thereby proposed.
Table 0.1 Problems faced by freelance interpreters Source: GIO, 2004
Problems faced Weighted average*
Unstable amount of income 2.26
Unstable amount of assignments 2.68
Lack of connections with consultants possessing
domain knowledge 2.45
Difficulty encountered in communications with clients because they do not understand the attributes of the profession
2.95 Inability to make oneself known to clients 2.45 Lack of a professional association to protect the
interpreter's rights 3.26
Additional problems raised Number and Percentage of respondents raising the problem Inexistence of a standardized pricing 16 (42.1%)
Inexistence of a standardized work environment
and condition 7 (18.4%)
Difficulty collecting payables due to the number of
clients a single interpreter can handle 6 (15.8%)
Insufficient professional status 5 (13.2%)
Inexistence of a standardized contracting process 5 (13.2%)
Insufficient tax reductions 4 (10.5%)
Insufficient assignment leads 2 (5.3%)
*Degree of intensity (1 being almost nonexistent; 5 being severe)
4.2 Selection process of freelance interpreters
interpreters were gathered. Eleven of them declined to be interviewed citing reasons including unavailability or lack of trust in interviews. Six others could not be contacted probably due to temporary or permanent departure from Taiwan. The remaining thirty-six interpreters agreed to partake in the study and a brief first round of interviews was carried out to determine the visions of the freelance interpreters. Findings as listed in Table 4.2 showed that a large portion of the respondents responded by stating that they wish to be an active member of the market for as long as possible. In regard to the purpose of this study, the 23 respondents who made similar statements will be initially selected as the group of freelance interpreters analyzed. Further reviews showed that language combinations among the 23 respondents are as follows:
Mandarin into English; English into Mandarin – 19 respondents Mandarin into Japanese; Japanese into Mandarin – 3 respondents Mandarin into Korean; Korean into Mandarin – 1 respondent
This result conforms to the notion that the Mandarin into English and English into Mandarin interpreters account to over half of the interpreters in Taiwan (GIO, 2004). The research further suggests that the market for freelance interpreters with English and Mandarin as their language combinations take up over 65% of the entire market. Since interpreters of the same language combination basically face the same interpretation services market, the freelance interpreters with a common language combination can be considered to be subunits of the unit of analysis: a freelance interpreter that serves a market requiring a certain
language combination. In the interest of an additional source of data through direct
observation, this study chooses to focus on the 19 interpreters as the subunits of the unit of analysis for this study. To avoid confusion, this group of 19 interpreters will be referred to as
“select respondents” in this study.
Table 0.2 Initial findings regarding visions
Visions listed by respondents Number of respondents Be an active member of the interpretation market for as long as
possible
20
Be an active member of the interpretation market for as long as possible and teach interpretation at the same time
3
Excellence and development in (another profession not related to translation) because that is what I plan to be doing in the short future
2
Excellence and development in (another profession not related to translation) because that is my primary work focus currently
7
Establish education institutes for the young and the elderly 1 Enjoy life as much as possible after my retirement shortly 1
No comments/ declines to answer 2
Total 36
4.3 Characteristics of the freelance interpreter model
Characteristics observed from the freelance interpreters are categorized in relation to the four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard.
4. 3. 1 Financial characteristics
- Freelance interpreters can belong to either stage of maturity, though the distinction between the “sustain” phase and the “harvest” phase isn’t clear.
- The total amount of interpretation cases is more heavily influenced by the general
In Table 4.3, it is clear that freelance interpreters share the same vision even at different stages of maturities. Growth stage freelance interpreters have a much smaller share of the market due to their startup statuses. Interviews have revealed that it’s not uncommon for interpreters to suddenly see a dramatic increase of cases after a few years of working in the market which follows Yang’s study results in 2000. Sustain and harvest stages are less easy to differentiate since the two would likely have a loop between them. Long term clients may require interpretation services every few months, annually or at greater intervals. Therefore freelance interpreters may need to return to the sustain stage at times that happen to
correspond to fewer cases.
Although the average number of interpretation cases undertaken per year shows an increase in regard to experience, several select respondents declared otherwise. 6 select respondents affirmed the notion, while 11 attributed the increase or decrease of interpretation case to the general environment. 1 had no comments and another attributed the difference to personal reasons. (See Table 4.4) It can be further confirmed from observations that although cases undertaken do increase alongside accumulated experience, the market situation has a bigger play in this relation. Although the market share a freelance interpreter commands expands once a certain level of professional imagery and reputation is established (Yang, 2000), the size of the total market is unpredictable and can be influenced by several factors uncontrollable by the freelance interpreter. Examples were given during interviews on how signs of possible political instability caused interpretation cases to drop dramatically since clients did not want to hold their conferences in Taiwan.
Table 0.3 Interpretation experience of select respondents
Interpretation experience of select respondents (yrs)
Number of select respondents
Average number of total interpretation cases undertaken by experience category
(cases)
Average number of interpretation cases undertaken
per year by experience category (cases)
0 < experience ≦3 3 26 17
3 < experience ≦6 2 270 45
6 < experience ≦9 6 335 50
9 < experience ≦12 7 500 54
12 < experience 1 well over 500 over 100
Table 0.4 Reason for difference in interpretation cases undertaken
Reasons Select respondents
Determined by the general environment (total interpretation cases available per year)
11
Interpretation experience of the interpreter 6
Personal reasons 1
No comment 1
- Price of service displays little fluctuation
Interpretation) services generally display fluctuations of 10%~20% upwards or downwards depending on relations with customer or difficulty of the material. (See Table 4.5) Several select respondents quoted the same mean price as others in either CI or SI. This result conforms with the GIO research findings. They admitted that they “followed” the market or price quoted by agencies which may explain the consistency. However, a fixed and
determined price does not exist for either type of interpretation service. Problems related to price setting were raised during interviews and cited as follows:
- cutthroat pricing is often seen on the market, and regulations depicting a reasonable method of price setting should be established.
- Organizations or associations that set up rules on working conditions and pricing methods for interpreters are nonexistent. The interpreter has few chips to use if he/she has to negotiate the price with the client.
It is possible that different groups of interpreters operate on the market with their own standards of price setting. Some are more inclined to compete with lower prices, while others tend to stick to their quoted prices. 7 select respondents confirmed that their prices for
interpretation services follow a fixed guideline, while 8 responded by saying that it still depends on the case itself. 4 declined to comment. (See Table 4.6) Certain intermediaries though do follow a fixed guideline for price settings and several interpreters prefer to work with them for this reason. Interpreters working with intermediaries would more likely be receiving a fixed quote following a predetermined formula.
Table 0.5 Interpretation service price quotes by the 19 select respondents
Average price of SI
(3hr/half day) 9000~9999
(3hr/half day) 10000~10999
(3hr/half day) 11000~11999
(3hr/half day) 12000~12999
(3hr/half day) above 13000
No comment Select
respondents
1 2 2 12 1 1
Average price of SI
(6hr/full day) 20000~21999
(6hr/full day) 22000~23999
(6hr/full day) above 24000
No comment
Select respondents
8 9 1 1
Average price of CI
(3hr/half day) 9000~9999
(3hr/half day) 10000~10999
(3hr/half day) 11000~11999
(3hr/half day) 12000~12999
(3hr/half day) above 13000
No comment Select
respondents
1 2 2 11 2 1
Average price of CI
(6hr/full day) 20000~21999
(6hr/full day) 22000~23999
(6hr/full day) above 24000
No comment
Select respondents
7 8 3 1
Table 0.6 Fluctuation of the quoted price
Fluctuation of quoted price Select respondents
Prices set according to a fixed guideline 7
Fluctuates depending on the case/client 8
No comment 4
- Freelance interpreters have sources of income other than interpreting
Many interpreters choose to invest their time in other revenue generating activities like a second job or personal pursuits. This approach may be used as a buffer against market fluctuations of total interpretation cases. All the 19 select respondents in this case study have sources of income other than interpretation services. The most prevalent being translation works and teaching positions. Only 2 select respondents do not engage in translation works, while 4 select respondents exclusive of the previous two do not take on a teaching position.
Other secondary economic activities employed include emceeing, publishing, acting as a liaison for long term clients, and taking part in client activities. The average ratio of income from interpretation services to total income for the select respondents is 52%. The average ratio of income from translation services to total income is 17.2%. The average ratio of income from teaching positions to total income is 22.1%. These three combined take up an average of 91.3% of the freelance interpreter’s income. Only 5 of the 19 select respondents have sources of income other than the three categories mentioned. Figures are shown in Table 4.7.
Table 0.7 Ratio of average income from services provided by select respondents to total income
(R)atio of specific income to
total income
Interpretation services (respondents)
Translation services (respondents)
Teaching positions (respondents)
Other sources (respondents)
R = 100% 0 0 0 0
90%≦R<100% 3 0 0 0
80%≦R<90% 0 0 0 0
70%≦R<80% 1 0 0 0
60%≦R<70% 2 1 2 0
50%≦R<60% 3 0 1 1
40%≦R<50% 3 0 1 2
30%≦R<40% 6 4 1 0
20%≦R<30% 1 2 5 1
10%≦R<20% 0 6 5 0
0%≦R<10% 0 4 0 1
R = 0% 0 2 4 0
Average ratio 52 % 17.2 % 22.1 % 8.7 %
4. 3. 2 Customer relation characteristics
- The current target market for freelance interpreters in Taiwan is the Taiwan market Most of the select respondents agreed that almost every interpretation case they have accepted is carried out in Taiwan. (See table 4.8) Whether the client is based in Taiwan or not
wouldn’t be an issue; the point considered is that the meeting is held in Taiwan. However, a few members of the select respondents are also shuttled out of Taiwan quite often to provide interpretation services in other countries. Possible reasons include trust and confidence in the interpreter or lack of competent interpreters at the area of the meeting. For the select
respondents, communications that can not be achieved effectively without interpretation between Mandarin and English speaking parties are the prerequisite for interpretation
opportunities. This logic follows for interpreters with other language combinations in that the parties would each speak non-overlapping languages in the interpreter’s language
combination. It is safe to say that wherever an English speaking party and a Mandarin speaking party can’t communicate with each other, therein lies an opportunity for the English and Mandarin speaking interpreter. But it is undeniable that for most interpreters with English and Mandarin as their language combination, the target market is still currently in Taiwan.
Whether this market shifts or not is yet to be determined.
Table 0.8 Location of interpretation services provided in the past Taiwan (outlying islets
included)
Foreign countries Percentage of cases in the
specified location
over 98% less than 2%
- The most common market segments that interpretation cases fall in would be economics/finance and technology
Research results have shown that interpretation cases pertaining to economic or technology issues to be the most prevalent in the Taiwan market. (See Table 4.9) 8 select respondents determined that over 50% of their interpretation cases are economics or finance oriented. Technology oriented interpretation cases come in second. The research by GIO in 2004 showed that in 2004, around 35.5% of the interpretation cases were economics or
financial oriented, whereas 23.6% were technology oriented.
Table 0.9 Average percentage of specific domain knowledge related interpretation cases
Legal/Politics Economics/Finance Technology Humanities Others Average
percentage
8% 41% 25% 11% 15%
- Freelance interpreters are likely to have long term clients that prefer to work with him/her 14 select respondents reported having clients that periodically seek their interpretation services while 5 were not sure. (See Table 4.10) Clients here include private corporations and organizations, government branches and organizations, and the professional conference
organizers or SI equipment rental companies that work with interpreters. It is likely for the clients that periodically require interpretation services to have a list of interpreters’ contacts that they are comfortable working with. The relation can be exclusive or not. Reasons cited by select respondents for this relation fall mainly in trust and confidence. Clients enlist the services of the same interpreter when the need arises if they trust, have confidence or are simply accustomed to the interpreter. Clients also prefer interpreters they’ve worked with because they believe that the interpreter is now more knowledgeable in their domain
knowledge. Confidentiality reasons are not cited since the client would simply seek another interpreter if they were dissatisfied with the previous one. The cost to search for suitable interpreters for clients is considered to be quite high and avoided if the current one is up to par.
Table 0.10 Select respondents with long term clients
Select respondents Have worked with the same client periodically
spanning over an year
14
Have worked with the same client periodically spanning less than an year
3
No such experience yet 2
- Clients usually prefer interpreters that have prior experience in their field of knowledge 10 select respondents mentioned that clients preferred interpreters with prior
experience in their profession. (See Table 4.11) The most common criteria would be having interpreted in similar cases before. 1 mentioned that clients seldom care about the major or academic training when selecting interpreters. Another mentioned that majors or academic training are usually treated as bonus points and come into play when all else are equal. 1 select respondent has never encountered situations where the client asked for experience in related fields. The other 7 select respondents did not comment on the issue. It is possible that having interpreted for speakers in the same field implies that the interpreter is no newcomer to this knowledge field. The client then has more confidence in assuming that the interpreter understands what the speaker is referring.
Table 0.11 Requirements from the client
Select respondents Prefers interpreters who has interpreted in
similar cases
10
Prefers interpreters with prior knowledge in the specific field
1
No specific requirements 1
No comment 7
- Startup freelance interpreters usually gain access to cases through referral by
intermediaries like PCOs, equipment rental companies, or more established interpreters This is also true for interpreters interpreting in an unfamiliar field of knowledge for the first time. 5 select respondents mentioned that they will try to convince the client of their capability by stating that prior experience is not required for interpreters because intensive preparation has to be done for every case. The interpreter is already equipped with
interpretation skills and domain knowledge is learnt according to the requirements to the case.
8 select respondents, however do contend that referrals by an interpreter or intermediary the client is familiar with is the best way to gain access to specific types of cases. 2 select respondents gave the example of interpreting in depositions and how they were introduced to the client by senior interpreters.
- Advertisements are not of much use
Several select respondents tried advertising as a strategy to increase their exposure to clients. However results were not satisfactory because major clients that require interpretation services usually take advertisements with a grain of salt. They preferred to follow the
recommendation of trustworthy sources. Some interpreters have also set up personal websites but nothing showing a strong causal effect to their career was observed. The respondent suggested that personal websites might not be significant enough to raise the attention of interpretation service users.
- Freelance interpreters usually wait for the clients to notify them of interpretation assignments
Since interpretation opportunities can not be easily created by interpreters as me ntioned in chapter 2, interpreters usually have to wait for the clients to contact them. This is affirmed by most of the select respondents while a few mentioned that some cases are predictable sine they are held at certain intervals. If the client requires interpretation services at fixed intervals, then it is quite possible that they will seek the same interpreter at the next interval. Therefore select respondents who have clients that hold annual meetings at a certain date can be quite sure that the same event will occur around the same date the next year.
- The major SI (Simultaneous Interpretation) and CI (Consecutive Interpretation) contacts are different
The contacts here, defined as the entity notifying the interpreter of an interpretation assignment, can be categorized into three departments: intermediaries; clients excluding intermediaries; and colleagues (fellow interpreters). All of the select respondents have
worked with intermediaries before and many started their career working with intermediaries.
The averaged figure of select respondents are listed in Table 4.12. In terms of SI cases, intermediaries are the greatest contributor at 45.4%, other interpreters second at 28.9% and clients excluding intermediaries last at 25.7%. In terms of CI cases, clients excluding
intermediaries come in first at 44.8%, intermediaries second at 36.4%, and other interpreters at 18.8%. The figures make sense because conferences that require simultaneous
interpretation must provide the interpreters with SI equipment. The organizer will usually
proceed to contact a rental company and contract them to provide the interpretation service, including both equipment and interpreters. The organizer may of course elect to contact interpreters on their own, but it’s usually more hassle free to have the intermediary take full responsibility since the organizer may not have the resources to determine suitable
interpreters. The reason other interpreters are second is due mainly because simultaneous interpretation requires at least two interpreters working together to ensure quality output. It’s likely that an interpreter who gets an SI case will proceed to contact a suitable partner. Clients, though coming in last at 25.7%, still implies that the interpreter is contacted by the organizer directly every case in four. In the consecutive interpretation scenery, the clients excluding intermediaries are the greatest contributor for freelance interpreters. This refers to the fact that CI services can be provided by a single interpreter. There is no need for the organizer to contact an intermediary. The fact that intermediaries come in second at 36.4% implies that some clients still prefer to enlist the help of an intermediary perhaps due to their lack of contacts. The intermediary will merely be acting as the middle person in these cases, and contact the interpreters on behalf of the clients. It is reasonable that other interpreters come in last as the messenger of consecutive interpretation cases. Since CI cases are usually able to be provided by a single interpreter, it is usually unlikely for the interpreter to give up the case unless he/she has better plans than providing the required services. Referrals in CI cases are actually still quite often at 18.8%, which serves to prove that the interpreter is unable to predict the exact time an interpretation assignment will come up, nor is he/she able to postpone the case to a later time due to the perishability aspect of services.
Table 0.12 Percentage of interpretation cases from different sources by SI & CI Entity contacting the interpreter for job assignments
Type of interpretation
Intermediaries (including agencies,
equipment rental companies, and
PCOs)
Clients excluding intermediaries
Other interpreters Total
Simultaneous Interpretation
45.4 % 25.7 % 28.9 % 100 %
Consecutive Interpretation
36.4 % 44.8 % 18.8 % 100 %
- Quality of interpretation services is not easily measured by clients
Many things come into play that affect the quality of interpretation services provided by the freelance interpreter. Select respondents usually refer to quality as the extent the messages in the original speech is rendered into the output language. This conforms with Viezzi (as cited in Lin, 2005), who proposed a model of quality standards that examines whether and how an interpreter has a) rendered the original message accurately; b) expressed it adequately in the target language; c) managed to create an intended effect equivalent to what a speaker first initiated and d) facilitated the communicative interaction successfully.
However, it has been inferred that only professional interpreters can listen to two languages at the same time and accurately judge whether the arguments developed in the interpretation are the same as those of the original speech (Seleskovitch, 1978). Still, one can not prevent the listener from evaluating an interpreter’s performance based on synchronicity, rhetorical skills, voice quality, spontaneity, fluency, accent, use of terminology, etc. (Kurz, 2001; Ru, 1996)
4. 3. 3 Internal business process characteristics
- Simultaneous interpretation cases require at least two or three interpreters working in the same booth to ensure quality of interpretation
As stated in chapter 2.
- Cooperation and competition between freelance interpreters
Cooperation between freelance interpreters is commonly accepted as the team work engaged when working on the same case, which is usually SI. Viewpoints expressed include how the client views the interpreters providing SI service to be a team, and competition at this point of time would impact the overall performance of the service provided. Different viewpoints occur when speaking of competition though. The practical view is to cooperate at work, and compete for cases. Since the market size is not determined by the interpreter alone, it is considered essential and practical to take whatever cases the interpreter can when total cases dwindle. More intense forms of competition has also been cited to happen when resource constraints and lack of external supports intensify. Competition during SI cases may take form in the division of labor,, as one select respondent recalled. A seemingly equal division of the material to be read may actually be one of the “hard” stuff and the “soft” stuff.
Other viewpoints include more neutral ones of defining cooperation as the lack of competition. On the other side, select respondents have also mentioned competition as beneficial activities that allows more focus and may not entirely be a bad thing.
- Unpredictability of performance beforehand
Interpreters generally can not guarantee the absolute success or quality of an interpretation service. Other than the fact that quality is “however the customer defines it, offered at a right price” (Gale, as cited in Lin, 2005), the unpredictability mentioned here refers to mishaps and accidents during the service providing process. Mechanical failures,
misunderstandings, misprints, blind spots, or any of various mishaps could interrupt the flow of interpretation, and affect the overall perceived performance of the service whether the interpreter has control over the accidents or not. Although this can be accounted to the variability attribute inherent in all service products, the pace required in interpretation often does not allow corrections to be made. Even if corrections were made, it might still be perceived as a fault on the interpreter’s side. This is exactly the reason why as much
preparation as possible beforehand and early arrival on site is often followed by practicing interpreters.
- Time is considered to be a measuring unit and resource
Select interpreters refer to their services provided in the unit of time. Interpreters can not provide interpretation services for two different communications occurring at the same time due to the inseparability attribute. Therefore the amount of service provided is often priced according to the time allocated to the service. Time is the measuring unit here, and time spent by the interpreter for the client is spent at a cost that should be remunerated later by payments of the quoted price. Preparations before meetings also take time, and most meetings have to be prepared beforehand. This aspect of the service is often the point of misunderstanding between clients and interpreters. When a request for service is canceled at the last minute, the client may not believe that he/she has already incurred losses on the interpreter other than the cancellation of the case. The interpreter may have turned down other cases to leave time for this particular case which was later cancelled. The International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) specifically states in the Practical Guide for Professional Conference Interpreters provided online as one of the dire reasons to have a contract signed. However, most interpretation cases in Taiwan are acknowledged with a verbal agreement and interpreters are often at a disadvantage even if they try to explain this logic to the client. PCOs (Professional Conference Organizer), agencies or equipment rental
companies that act as the intermediary for interpreters are more likely to have a signed contract with the client that specifies incidents like this which is why several select respondents preferred to work with intermediaries.
Since time is the measuring unit of interpretation activities, the total time an interpreter can allocate to work would in fact determine the upper limit of income accrued through this activity. As mentioned in previous characteristics, the interpreter can not always predict the occurrence of the next assignment, yet leaving all available time for possible interpretation cases would be impractical and not the best strategy. Time management therefore becomes especially important in this sense for freelance interpreters.
- Freelance interpreters often have partners they are used to working with
This is evidenced in simultaneous cases where the interpreters work in pairs of two or three. Having a familiar partner also eliminates the possibility of negative impacts that may arise due to competition or unfamiliarity.
- Materials given by the organizer related to the upcoming interpretation service are the most important reference material for pre-meeting preparation
Every select respondent spoke of materials regarding the upcoming meeting during which interpretation services is required as the single most important pre-meeting preparation material that an interpreter should acquire. These materials may include slides used or
speeches given by speakers in the meeting and should be obtained from the organizer before the meeting.
4. 3. 4 Learning and growth characteristics
- Interpretation is a skill that needs to be honed
Several select respondents mentioned how they were afraid to provide interpretation services after a long term of not interpreting. Many agree that this is a skill that can be
sharpened and requires a certain amount of practice before it becomes second nature.
- Internet connection a must for pre-meeting preparations
Other than materials pertaining to the meeting, select respondents refer to the requirement of internet connection as the second-most important tool used during the
preparation period for an interpretation service. Almost every select respondent cited Google as the most often used tool and more than one select respondent referred to another search engine. Only one select respondent uses MSN search alone. Select respondents further mentioned that issues discussed in conferences requiring interpretation services are often of the cutting-edge nature, and the internet is usually the only way of garnering information quickly and in abundance.
- Financial gains from interpretation services provided are translated directly into personal income
By definition, the freelance interpreter is not employed by any party and therefore retains all possible financial gains generated by his/her economic activities regarding interpretation services.
The characteristics inferred through direct observation and interviews are listed again below as a quick summary.
Financial characteristics
- Freelance interpreters can belong to either stage of maturity, though the distinction between the “sustain” phase and the “harvest” phase isn’t clear.
- The total amount of interpretation cases is more heavily influenced by the general environment of Taiwan than by the freelance interpreters themselves.
- Price of service displays little fluctuation
- Freelance interpreters have sources of income other than interpreting
Customer relation characteristics
- The current target market for freelance interpreters in Taiwan is the Taiwan market - The most common market segments that interpretation cases fall in would be economics/finance and technology
- Freelance interpreters are likely to have long term clients that prefer to work with him/her - Clients usually prefer interpreters that have prior experience in their field of knowledge - Startup freelance interpreters usually gain access to cases through referral by
intermediaries like PCOs (Professional Conference Organizer), equipment rental companies, or more established interpreters
- Advertisements are not of much use
- Freelance interpreters usually wait for the clients to notify them of interpretation assignments
- The major SI and CI sources are different
- Quality of interpretation services is not easily measured by clients
Internal business process characteristics
- Simultaneous interpretation cases require at least two or three interpreters working in the same booth to ensure quality of interpretation
- Cooperation and competition between freelance interpreters - Unpredictability of performance beforehand
- Time is considered to be a measuring unit and resource
- Freelance interpreters often have partners they are used to working with
- Materials given by the organizer related to the upcoming interpretation service are the most important reference material for pre-meeting preparation
Learning and growth characteristics
- Interpretation is a skill that needs to be honed
- Internet connection a must for pre-meeting preparations
- Financial gains from interpretation services provided are translated directly into personal income
4. 4 Planning of the freelance interpreter’s Balanced Scorecard
The initial scorecard process works best in a strategic business unit (Kaplan & Norton, 1996). The unit should have its own products and customers, distribution channel and
facilities. The financial performance measures should be relatively easy to construct. The relevant question is whether the proposed unit has or should have a strategy to accomplish its mission. As a single-person company, the freelance interpreter definitely should have a strategy to accomplish his/her vision. The Balanced Scorecard build given by Kaplan and Norton is basically followed by this study, namely:
- Obtain clarity and consensus on strategy and vision of the entity - Define the measurement architecture
- Build consensus on strategic objectives
Measures for the freelance interpreter can simply be a checklist of the objectives that is recorded and noted periodically. The implementation and review plan is not built due to the limitations faced by this study. The researcher has no control over freelance interpreters and the proposed Balanced Scorecard approach is a suggestion on possible improvements regarding the way freelance interpreters manage their career.
4. 4. 1 Obtain clarity on strategy and vision
During the data collection phase of this study, 53 freelance interpreter contacts were obtained through the snowballing method, and 36 responded to the initial questions. 23 of the 36 respondents expressed similar visions regarding their career as a freelance interpreter.
These 23 respondents were further slimmed down according to their language combination to ensure uniformity. In-depth interviews are then carried out for the remaining 19 select
respondents.
The primary vision of freelance interpreters was originally stated as “hoping to be an active member for as long as possible in the interpretation market”. Further clarification showed that it actually meant “Sustained competitiveness and existence as a provider of high quality interpretation services”. A secondary vision originally stated as “and teach
interpretation at the same time” was later clarified as a pursuit of personal interests and serves to supplement or be supplemented by the primary vision.
4. 4. 2 Define the Measurement Architecture
In designing a Balanced Scorecard approach for freelance interpreters, the unit of analysis would be the freelance interpreter model derived in the previous section. This model is derived based on the assumption that interpretation services provided by freelance
interpreters are expected to “produce a new utterance in the target language that meets a dual requirement: expresses the original message in its entirety, and geared to the recipient (Seleskovitch, 1978)”. The service itself fulfills a homogeneous purpose and negates the same difficulty in communications. The main distinction would be between different language combinations. Since freelance interpreters of different language combinations can be considered to be subunits of different units of analysis, the researcher chooses one that has an additional data source of direct observation. The Mandarin to English/English to Mandarin
group of interpreters with the same vision is chosen as the unit of analysis, and depicted as the freelance interpreter model.
4. 4. 2 Building the Strategic Objectives
The vision of the freelance interpreter model is to achieve “sustained competitiveness and existence as a provider of high quality interpretation services”. This would imply
providing quality service the way interpreters define it and be sought after for this service by the clients. A nod to professionalism is also hinted in the vision by implying that high quality interpretation services is a benchmark that ought to be achieved and maintained.
4. 4. 2. 1 The Financial Perspective
Financial objectives are listed as the focus of all the other objectives and measures by Kaplan and Norton. Every objective should be linked in some way to the financial objectives in order for the said objective to practically benefit the entity. In the case of the freelance interpreter, the “harvest” stage may very well be determined by the general environment, since the total amount of interpretation cases fluctuates according to external conditions. No study has yet been done on how or why the amount of total interpretation cases fluctuates, but reasons like political instability has been cited in the interviews according to the select respondent’s experience. Natural disasters that forbid or prevent a conference from opening is of course another reason, but that is also unpredictable. According to the research by the Government Information Office, total interpretation cases dropped by about 15% during the year the SARS epidemic swept through Taiwan. However, the statistics showed that a 30%
decrease was reported by half of the interpreters that responded, while the other half that responded did not report a noticeable decrease. Select respondents in this study that touched on this issue mentioned that there were indeed very few interpretation cases during the first half of the year since cases were being cancelled or postponed due to the SARS epidemic, but
when the epidemic abated in the later half, there was an incredible boom on the demand side for interpreters since almost every case that was postponed or cancelled reopened. The scope of this issue would require further study not achievable by this research. Therefore it is assumed for the purpose of this research, that freelance interpreters may very well be either in the “growth” stage or “sustain” stage. But no matter which stage the freelance interpreter is in, financial demands have to be met and resources in the form of working hours have to be
invested. Growth will always be attempted unless it is restrained by the amount of working hours available.
The freelance interpreter in the “growth” stage may simply need to invest more working hours building up his/her career by perfecting interpretation skills or acquiring domain knowledge required. The “sustain” stage freelance interpreter, who would have already invested a certain amount of working hours in building up the career, still needs to acquire new knowledge required for each case. The difference might be in the efficiency they achieve their goals since interpretation is a skill that needs to be honed and experience with long term clients will have prepared the senior interpreter better. The junior freelance interpreters may have to rely more heavily on other sources of income during the first stage of their career, while other sources of income are never abolished by freelance interpreters according to the findings in this study. This is understandable because the amount of total interpretation cases is unpredictable and a buffer against bad times may be required.
It should be noted here though, that the vision shared by the select respondents was achieving “sustained competitiveness and existence as a provider of high quality
interpretation services”. Some freelance interpreters have been known to provide interpretation services for the sake of personal interest or reputation associated with this profession. It may therefore be suitable to introduce another proposition alongside the
“income growth” proposition, namely “sustained existence as an interpreter”, which can
translate by varying degrees into financial gains.
Cost reduction and asset utilization are two other possible themes for the freelance interpreter. Since contracts stating working conditions are seldom created between interpreters and direct clients, payments are sometimes not received by the freelance interpreter. Working with reputable intermediaries that have clearly stated their contracting terms would help increase the payment recovery ratio. The main concerns of a freelance
interpreter as evidenced by the characteristics shown in the financial perspective are therefore:
income growth/ sustained existence as an interpreter, increase in interpretation assignments, and increased payment collections.
4. 4. 2. 2 The Customer Perspective
Although it may be true that interpreters can not easily create new assignment opportunities, it is possible to increase the probability of being offered interpretation assignments. Being a service provider, customer satisfaction is definitely of utmost
importance. The vision of providing high quality interpretation services is certainly aimed at maximizing client satisfaction. The study conducted by Kurz in 1993 showed that although the averaged idea of quality from the listener is roughly the same as the interpreter’s, each specific group may harbor different opinions regarding quality. “Rendering the original message correctly”, “being logically correct”, “proper use of terminology”, “fluency of delivery”, and “interpreted fully content-wise” were considered the five most important factors by most, with the importance of each factor varying slightly.
However satisfaction may not always be the same from the buyer’s viewpoint and the supplier’s viewpoint (Lin, 2005). If the buyer has low expectations for the product or service, then a quality moderately above the buyer’s expectations would be termed a quality product or service. Caution should therefore be taken when equating quality with satisfaction. Lin
pointed out in his research that certain steps differed in the delivery of the service and expectation of the service. Basically two steps were missing from the interpreter’s side, which are providing the CVs and requesting feedback on the interpretation service provided.
The Balanced Scorecard determines customer satisfaction by the value they perceive of the product or service. Value is determined by functionality, quality, price, time, image and relationship. Since interpretation services are usually seen as a solution to a problem, the price or cost to the client would be determined by the severity of the problem. It is also important to note that the client would be considering the cost of using the service, instead of the price of the service alone though it may often be perceived that way. A service provider with the lowest price would not necessarily be the provider with the lowest cost to the client.
This aspect is determined by the severity and stakes at hand regarding the client’s current need. Clients in this regard would include both the party requesting provision of
interpretation services or intermediaries. Objectives listed for freelance interpreters in the customer perspective would be: client satisfaction, long term client established, increased probability of interpretation assignments, positive interactions with intermediaries.
4. 4. 2. 3 The Internal Business Process
Working hours should be managed as an asset for freelance interpreters since both interpretation and pre-meeting preparations take up the time of an interpreter. It is also unlikely that an interpreter can provide interpretation services whenever he/she wants since it’s inseparable with the demand side. Therefore full utilization of the time an interpreter allocates to work would be a likely goal for the interpreter. And since interpretation cases can not be predicted nor can the length be determined, it would be preferable to free up as much time for interpretation cases as possible. With time running at the same speed for everyone, increased efficiency in usage of non-interpretation work time would be the way to increase
the value of the portion of time allocated to work but not occupied by interpretation cases.
Possible asset utilizations for freelance interpreters would refer to the sharing and maintaining of glossaries. Interpreters typically create glossaries to aid their preparation process. Since the terms and jargons used in different professions may vary, interpreters that build glossaries for conferences they’ve interpreted for have an advantage when a similar topic is presented again. If glossaries can be shared among interpreters, the time required to prepare a case will certainly be decreased. Communications with other interpreters will also allow one to be familiar with the strengths of other interpreters. This can be useful if the interpreter needs to refer another interpreter to take his/her place. Successful referrals are likely to increase the client’s confidence in the interpreter giving the referral, thereby increasing client satisfaction even if no interpretation services were provided directly. An interpreter is there to solve problems, and successful referrals would be a solution if the initially-approached interpreter happens to be unavailable. Objectives listed in the internal business process perspective would include: Positive interactions with other interpreters, requiring feedback from clients, periodical provision/update of CV, effective glossary building and preparation, successful referrals.
4. 4. 2. 4 The Learning and Growth Perspective
Due to the nature of a single-person company, financial gains are usually able to be directly translated into personal incomes. Employee retention would mean that the interpreter remains in the interpretation service market, while employee productivity can be seen as another form of income measurement. Therefore only employee satisfaction, competency, and technology infrastructure are considered.
The objectives listed include: Domain knowledge enrichment, high speed data access, refined interpretation skills.
4. 5 Development of Propositions
The propositions developed in this section is based on the analysis in the previous section. The Balanced Scorecard structure is considered in the development.
1. Relationship between ‘domain knowledge enrichment’ and ‘effective glossary building and preparation’
P 1: A deeper understanding of the ‘domain knowledge’ required would lead to a more
‘effective’ and efficient glossary building and pre-meeting preparation process; having an effective and practical glossary during the pre-meeting preparation would lead to a faster and more profound grasp of the domain knowledge required.
Explanation: Since clients prefer interpreters with prior experience in the specific domain knowledge the communication is to be held in, and that interpreters consider the material provided by the client to be the most important source of information during the pre-meeting preparation period, it is clear that the interpreter has to have a certain level of understanding in the issues to be discussed in order to provide quality interpretation. A comprehensive and focused glossary would allow the interpreter to quickly understand the key issues of the topic to be discussed, whereas an increased understanding of the required field of knowledge would allow the interpreter to prepare the glossary more efficiently and effectively.
2. Relationship between ‘domain knowledge enrichment’ and ‘client satisfaction’
P 2: Deeper understanding of the ‘domain knowledge’ would result in a higher ‘client satisfaction’ level
Explanation: It is important for interpreters to understand what the speaker is talking about since faithful interpretation can be provided only after the message is processed. Any
understanding of the domain knowledge used would likely be reflected in the interpretation ,making it a possible factor contributing to client satisfaction.
3. Relationship between ‘high speed data access’ and ‘effective glossary building and preparation’
P 3: An interpreter equipped with ‘high speed data access’ would allow a more ‘effective glossary building and preparation’ process
Explanation: Interpreters rely heavily on Internet search engines to acquire the information they need. Therefore, a faster connection would definitely improve the efficiency when building the glossary. This further applies to other sources of information an interpreter may beseech.
4. Relationship between ‘refined interpretation skills’ and ‘client satisfaction’
P 4: Higher ‘interpretation skills’ would lead to higher ‘client satisfaction’ but a high ‘client satisfaction’ does not imply high interpretation skills
Explanation: The core measurement of any interpretation service would be the extent it solves the communication problem existing among the listeners. Having better interpretation skills would allow a possibly more complete and accurate interpretation to be rendered. However, this extent is not easily measured by the client and low expectations could lead to high satisfaction even if the service provided did not solve much of the problem. Still, failure in interpretation services provided is certain to cause client dissatisfaction (Lin, 2005).
5. Relationship between ‘positive interactions with other interpreters’ and ‘effective glossary building and preparation’
P 5: ‘Cooperation among interpreters’ would allow ‘effective glossary building and
preparations’, while ‘effective glossary building and preparations’ taken would lead to
‘positive interactions with other interpreters’
Explanation: If interpreters cooperate during the pre-SI preparations, the combined effect is likely to be greater than having to go over everything themselves. On the other hand, if interpreters are willing to share their glossary for similar CI meetings, the knowledge
accumulated by each interpreter would definitely be greater when compared with not sharing.
However, this would have to happen under the prerequisite that the glossary prepared or preparations done are of a certain quality. Any interpreter giving away his/her share of accumulated wisdom would expect the other interpreter to return the favor to the same extent if possible for this cycle to continue.
6. Relationship between ‘positive interactions with other interpreters’ and ‘successful referrals’
P 6: ‘Positive interactions with other interpreters’ would likely lead to ‘successful referrals’
when one is unavailable for an assignment
Explanation: When an interpreter has positive interactions with other interpreters, it is likely that a form of trust and understanding has built up between them. It is therefore possible for the interpreter to know whom to refer when he/she is unavailable, as well as have a certain amount of trust in the interpreter to whom he/she is referring the client. This serves as a form of risk management for the individual interpreter, since the client is still supplied with
interpretation services in which the individual interpreter has a certain level of trust. It would not be reasonable for the interpreter to refer an incompetent person for the interpretation assignment since his/her reputation is involved through the referral. Considering the fact that referral from peers still take up a certain portion of the interpretation cases undertaken by an interpreter according to this study, having positive interactions with other interpreters
provides a safety net for times when one is unavailable.
7. Relationship between ‘successful referrals’ and ‘client satisfaction’
P 7: A ‘successful referral’ would solve the client’s impending need for interpretation services and raise ‘client satisfaction’
Explanation: When an interpreter makes a successful referral, the client’s need is still
satisfied by the interpreter. Since the search cost for a new interpreter may be quite high, it is likely that the client would then still come to this interpreter if future interpretation needs arise.
8. Relationship between ‘requiring feedback from clients’ and ‘client satisfaction’
P 8: Higher ‘client satisfaction’ is obtainable if the interpreter ‘asks for feedback’ from the clients
Explanation: Lin (2005) implied in his research that clients typically wish to express concern regarding the interpretation since mishaps do happen. As effective cross-language
communication was the reason interpretation services were required, it is understandable that the client is concerned about the interpretation provided. Actively requesting feedback or allowing the client a chance to give their view of the interpretation service would satisfy this need and raise client satisfaction. It might also provide the interpreter a chance to engage in client education through this exchange, and improve the chances of client satisfaction in the future.
9. Relationship between ‘periodical provision/update of CV’ and ‘positive interactions with intermediaries’
P 9: ‘Periodically updating the personal CVs ’ kept at the intermediaries would elicit ‘positive
