CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSION
6.1 Conclusion
Interpreting, as a thriving profession in the service industry, has been attracting
individuals with language talent and from diverse knowledge fields to participate over
the past few decades. In response, a surge of interpreting studies have also emerged,
with most dedicated to pedagogical and performance aspects rather than on
interpreters themselves. To better understand how the practitioners of the
interpreting activities are faring, it is crucial to first explore the specific needs of this
group of people, and then investigate how current working conditions are measuring
up to their expectations. To this aim, this study reviewed the literatures on work
values, job satisfaction, the interpreting profession, and identified the possible factors
related to interpreters’ work values and job satisfaction.
The purpose of this study is to describe Taiwan interpreters’ general views on
work and their current job satisfaction, so as to provide information for the
practitioners, instructors, students, and all those who are interested in enhancing
interpreters’ working conditions and professional status. Work values dimensions
including personal growth, self-actualization, self-esteem, interaction with others,
sense of security and leisure, and job satisfaction factors such as the work itself,
achievement, co-workers, compensation, recognition, and working conditions were
explored. The method of questionnaire with open-ended questions was utilized to
gather the necessary data for analysis. A summary of the findings are as follows.
z Of the five work values dimensions, the variables concerning
self-actualization, sense of security and leisure, and personal growth were
rated relatively higher than those concerning self-esteem and interaction
with others;
z Specifically, in the Self-Actualization dimension, the respondents stressed
the importance of combining interest with work and doing a job that brings
variety to life;
z In the Sense of Security and Leisure dimension, the respondents showed
preference for flexible work schedules and relatively lower concern for job
security;
z In the Personal Growth dimension, the respondents emphasized the need for
a challenging career with constant intellectual input;
z In the Interaction with Others dimension, the interpreters expressed their
need for amiable relationship with colleagues and clients, and independence
at work;
z In the Self-esteem dimension, the interpreters indicated the importance of
having sufficient degree of control over working conditions and others’
respect for the profession, while prestige did not matter as much;
z Of the two job satisfaction facets, Intrinsic Satisfaction factors scored
significantly higher than Extrinsic Satisfaction factors, indicating that the
respondents were fairly satisfied with the work they do and yet were not so
happy with the current working conditions;
z In the Intrinsic Satisfaction facet, the subjects voiced high satisfaction
toward being able to take on a variety of interpreting tasks and derive a
great sense of achievement when accomplishing them, meanwhile enjoying
the freedom in arranging work hours;
z In the Extrinsic Satisfaction facet, the subjects showed dissatisfaction
toward how interpreting failed to provide for steady employment, welfare
benefits, client cooperation, and the means available for professional
development;
z Test of correlation supported that interpreting was a job that satisfied the
respondents’ need for challenge, variety, and intellectual input, and that the
interpreters who valued networking and customer relationship management
were generally more satisfied with the opportunities to expand their
personal networks.
In The True Professional Ideal (1992), Kimball asserted that three components
lay at the core of professional work: service, knowledge and autonomy. Interpreting,
in this sense, readily qualifies as professional work, as it involves providing intangible
interpreting service to clients, demands a vast body of knowledge acquired during a
formal period of training, and exhibits sufficient autonomy in terms of the content,
though not necessarily the context, of work. The work values and job satisfaction
profile drawn from the results of this study also presents interpreting as a professional
work, with the majority of the interpreters surveyed identifying the knowledge
component as one that they valued highly of and has been satisfied through the
interpreting work. Many interpreters also indicated through the open-ended
questions that by providing interpreting service, they helped facilitate communication,
which was the most gratifying part about their job. In addition, over eighty percent
of the interpreters surveyed held a Master’s degree or above and had mostly received
formal interpreter training for a certain period of time, demonstrating that exclusive
knowledge, a critical element of professional autonomy, is required to join the
profession. Nevertheless, as this study shows, on average the interpreters were not
so satisfied with how they were treated by their clients and demanded more client
education. Along with sometimes not so comfortable working conditions and
disagreeable terms and pay, interpreters often felt that they had limited degree of
control, and these factors altogether have eaten away interpreters’ autonomy.
6.2 Recommendations for the T & I Industry
To safeguard interpreters’ interest and increase autonomy, there is no quick fix
but to gradually enhance public understanding of the profession. An effective way,
as suggested by the respondents of this study and by Swartz (1999), might be to start
out by initiating more professional development or mentoring programs for
interpreters, in which seasoned practitioners could act as mentors to the novices, and
other stakeholders of the interpreting activity (e.g. conference organizers, referral
agencies, corporate clients) could participate to share their point of view from the
other side. A comprehensive understanding of the market will not only allow
interpreters to better promote themselves, but inform them of the issues requiring
more client education. Then if similar problems arise at work, the interpreters will
more likely be equipped to tackle the problems and negotiate with their clients to
achieve win-win outcomes. In the long run, positive repercussions will contribute to
better public understanding of the profession and increase interpreters’ professional
standing.
While the initiator of the professional development programs could be training
institutes, government agencies, or event organizers, more organized effort on the
interpreters’ side could also do the job. Tseng (1992) suggested in a research that
most Taiwan interpreters surveyed considered it necessary to establish a professional
association so that measures could be taken collectively to protect the market from
outsiders, but consensus had not been reached for them to take concrete actions
(Tseng, 1992). To date, for reasons yet to be investigated, an association of Taiwan
interpreters remains to be seen. According to Tseng, if one such organization is
established, internally it could define the work content for interpreters, control
admission into the profession, sponsor research, sanction training institutions that
produce qualified interpreters, and set up a professional code of ethics to regulate the
behavior of practitioners and protect the rights of clients. Externally, the association
could engage in negotiations with relevant authorities for appropriate working
conditions, remuneration, recognition and eventually protection from outsiders (Tseng,
1992). The professionalization of interpreting will then be brought up to the next
level.
6.3 Limitations of the Study
This study is an attempt to explore Taiwan interpreters’ work values and job
satisfaction, and to discover if correlation exists between work values and job
satisfaction variables. Small number of respondents, limited research methods
utilized, and time constraints were the major limitations.
Due to time limits, this study is cross-sectional in nature, with only one
observation recorded for each individual participating in the research. Therefore
causality between the variables cannot be established. If inferences are to be drawn,
they should be made with extreme caution.
The study was also limited by the sample size. There were interpreters who
chose not to participate having received an e-mail invitation. And so no
demographic data were available for this group of people to compare with participant
interpreters. A question is raised about who they were, why they chose not to
participate, and what their views might be.
6.4 Recommendations for Further Studies
The focus of this study was to provide a preliminary profile of the work values
and job satisfaction of the interpreters in Taiwan. Due to time and resource
constraints, the findings were mostly on a descriptive level. It would be interesting
to see more subjects recruited and longitudinal studies conducted, so that more
reliable generalizations could be made.
Future research could also choose to go into particular work values and job
satisfaction dimensions for in-depth studies. Interviews could then be conducted to
explain further how the work values and job satisfaction responses come about.
Work values and job satisfaction variables that are not covered by this study could be
examined as well, so that the outcomes will better represent interpreters’ actual
condition.
Other subjects worthy of investigation are the various antecedents and
consequences of work values and job satisfaction, including such variables as work
performance, commitment and retention. Research could also be conducted to
understand why the Taiwan interpreting industry has yet to establish a professional
association, and the feasibility of such an attempt.
