Interpreting students’ perceptions of interpreter status, market order, and educational support and their commitment to the profession: a survey in China

Resumen

Since the rise of a sociological turn in translation studies, industry insiders’ perceptions of the translation and interpreting profession have received much attention. So far, interpreting students’ perceptions of and commitment to the interpreting profession is yet to be explored. This paper aims at investigating interpreting students’ perceptions of the social status of the interpreting profession, market order, and educational support, as well as their commitment to the profession. The relation of their perceptions and commitment to their demographic characteristics will also be examined. 983 interpreting students from 35 universities in China participated in the survey. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and chi-square tests were computed. The results indicate that the students’ perceptions of interpreters’ social status are not high, that interpreting is a semiprofession instead of a full-fledged one in China, and that there is a mismatch between what it takes to do the job and what is returned, making interpreting a less attractive career option. Students’ perceptions are related to gender, university reputation, level of learning, interpreting experience, and accreditation status. The results suggest that there is no monopoly over the interpreting job in the interpreting market and that educational support is still to be improved; those from regular universities, beginning students, and those without interpreting experience tend to have a higher rating of market order and educational support than their counterparts. The results also reveal the students’ low commitment to the interpreting profession and their reasons to join or reject it. Younger students, beginning students, those with interpreting experience, and those with certificates are more likely to choose interpreting as a profession than their counterparts.