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UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND PHILOSOPHICAL FACULTY

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES English language and translation

Anni Riikka Mönttinen

NON-PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATION IN AN ACADEMIC SETTING

MA Thesis April 2019

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ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO – UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND Tiedekunta – Faculty

Philosophical Faculty Osasto – School School of Humanities Tekijät – Author

Anni Riikka Mönttinen Työn nimi – Title

Non-professional translation in an academic setting

Pääaine – Main subject Työn laji – Level Päivämäärä –

Date Sivumäärä – Number of pages

English Language and Translation

Pro gradu - tutkielma

x

30 April 2019 83 pages + Appendix of 3 pages

Sivuainetutkielma Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä – Abstract

Non-professional translating and interpreting is a common phenomenon, practised by countless people all over the world. These people have not received training in translation, but for many of them translating and interpreting is a significant part of their everyday lives.

In this MA Thesis, my aim is to discover what kind of translation practices take place in one academic unit, where the researchers translate certain materials themselves. The study also attempts to describe what kind of skills the research participants have regarding their working languages. In addition to describing these skills and practices, I wish to identify which aspects of their translation process and attitudes could be considered professional and which are more likely associated with non-professional translators.

The theoretical background of this study focuses mainly on professionalism, expertise and the human ability to translate. Additionally, it offers a presentation of non-professional translation and interpreting in different contexts.

The data for this study was collected by interviewing two Finnish-speaking researchers, who also provided me with a translation they had recently made. The translation included comments from the people working on the project, thus providing additional information on their translation process.

The interviews provided a great deal of thought-provoking information about the skills and attitudes of the research participants. Their language skills seem to vary slightly based on their own accounts, but they both think that their skills are at a sufficient level to produce adequate translations. In addition, they ensure that the quality of the translation is high enough by doing the work in collaboration and they are also very skilled in using different kinds of tools while solving problems. All in all, the research participants have many qualities that could be considered professional, but there are also many aspects, which resemble non-professional translation.

Avainsanat – Keywords

Non-professional translation, professionalism, expertise

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ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO – UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND Tiedekunta – Faculty

Filosofinen tiedekunta

Osasto – School Humanistinen osasto Tekijät – Author

Anni Riikka Mönttinen Työn nimi – Title

Ei-ammattimainen kääntäminen akateemisessa ympäristössä

Pääaine – Main subject Työn laji – Level Päivämäärä – Date

Sivumäärä – Number of pages

Englannin kieli ja kääntäminen

Pro gradu - tutkielma

x

30.4.2019 83 sivua + Liite, 3 sivua Sivuainetutkielma

Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä – Abstract

Ei-ammattimainen kääntäminen ja tulkkaaminen ovat yleisiä ilmiöitä, jotka ovat osa lukemattomien ihmisten jokapäiväistä elämää. Näillä ihmisillä ei ole kääntäjän tai tulkin koulutusta, mutta kääntäminen on silti erottamaton osa heidän arkeaan.

Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tavoitteena on kuvata yhden akateemisen yksikön

käännöskäytänteitä ja kääntäjien kielitaitoa. Vaikka heillä ei ole virallista kääntäjänkoulutusta, he kääntävät tiettyjä materiaaleja itse. Tutkimuksen toisena tavoitteena on saada selville, mitkä asiat heidän käännösprosessissaan ja asenteissaan voidaan lukea ammattimaiseksi toiminnaksi ja mitkä esiintyvät yleisemmin ei-ammattimaisissa piireissä.

Tutkimuksen teoriapohja käsittelee pääasiassa kääntämisen ammattimaisuutta, asiantuntijuutta ja ihmisen kykyä kääntää. Tämän lisäksi esitellään ei-ammattimaisen kääntämisen ja tulkkaamisen erilaisia ilmenemismuotoja.

Tutkimusmateriaali kerättiin haastattelemalla kahta suomenkielistä tutkijaa. He antoivat myös nähtäväkseni käännöksen, jonka he olivat vastikään tehneet. Käännöksen mukana oli työhön osallistuneiden ihmisten kommentteja, jotka valottivat osaltaan käännösprosessia.

Haastatteluiden avulla saatiin paljon tietoa haastateltavien taidoista ja asenteista sekä heidän käännösprosessistaan. Haastateltujen antamien lausuntojen pohjalta on pääteltävissä, että heidän kielellisissä taidoissaan on hieman eroja, mutta molemmat ovat sitä mieltä, että heidän taitonsa ovat kuitenkin riittävällä tasolla. Laadun varmistamiseksi käännökset tehdään yhteistyönä, eikä tämä tunnu aiheuttavan haastatelluille ongelmia. Heidän tiedonhakunsa on melko ammattimaista, ja he käyttävät taitavasti erilaisia apuvälineitä käännösongelmien ratkaisuun. Heidän

toiminnassaan on monia asioita, jotka voidaan lukea ammattimaisiksi, mutta mukana on myös paljon ominaisuuksia, jotka muistuttavat enemmän ei-ammattimaista kääntämistä.

Avainsanat – Keywords

Ei-ammattimainen kääntäminen, ammattimaisuus, asiantuntijuus

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Contents

1 Introduction ... 1

2 Theoretical background ... 4

2.1 Terminology ... 4

2.2 The ability to translate ... 5

2.3 Professionalism and expertise ... 9

2.3.1 Developing expertise ... 12

2.3.2 Specialisation ... 17

2.4 Non-professional translation and interpreting ... 18

2.4.1 Work-related translating and interpreting ... 19

2.4.2 Online collaborative translations ... 27

2.4.3 Crowdsourcing ... 36

2.4.4 Language brokering ... 38

3 Data and methods ... 45

3.1 Interview as a data collection method ... 46

3.1.1 Setting up the interview ... 48

3.1.2 After the interview ... 51

4 Analysing the data ... 52

4.1 Interviews ... 52

4.1.1 What kind of texts are translated ... 52

4.1.2 Teamwork ... 54

4.1.3 Translation practices within the academic unit ... 55

4.1.4 Problematic situations ... 56

4.1.5 Translation tools and information sources ... 59

4.1.6 Finnish skills ... 61

4.1.7 English skills ... 62

4.1.8 Giving feedback ... 62

4.1.9 Aspects of translating that are easy or difficult ... 63

4.1.10 Translating the test related to the research project ... 64

4.2 Summary of findings ... 67

5 Conclusion ... 73

References ... 76

Appendix ... 84

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1 Introduction

Non-professional translation is a trending research subject, and its impact in the field of translation studies can no longer be ignored. Antonini, Cirillo, Rossato and Torresi (2017: 7) define non-professional translators and interpreters as people who are ‘unqualified, i.e. they have received no specific education and/or training to translate and/or interpret’. More and more people translate due to our globalizing world, where people can easily travel across the globe and the status of English as a lingua franca is stronger than ever. The current situation has brought to the surface multiple questions regarding translation and interpreting conducted by untrained individuals, which has resulted in a surge of new research on the field of non- professional translation. This has manifested in conferences and several new publications, all concentrating on this phenomenon, which has existed for the longest time but has only recently received the attention it deserves.

Why then has it taken this long to start studying a phenomenon that has existed longer than translation studies itself? As Antonini et al. (2017: 9) point out, there have been concerns that if the academic community acknowledges non-professional interpreting and translation, it may cause the practice to become widely accepted, which in turn may harm professional translators.

However, since the phenomenon is already so widespread and will most likely spread even further in the future, it is of greatest importance to study it and distinguish how it affects the translation business. As Antonini et al. (2017: 9) state, non-professional interpreting and translation is often unpaid and usually more easily available, and it may possibly affect how often professionals are hired to do the work. Therefore, there is clearly a connection between non-professional translators and the translation industry. It would be foolish of the industry to not attempt to discover how non-professionals will affect and alter it in the future, since, as all industries, translating needs to adapt to the modern times and not remain stagnated in the ‘good old days’. Antonini et al. (2017: 9) remind us that if professional translators start to think of non-professionals as ‘enemies’, it may create prejudices, which may blind us to the actual market situation, and hinder us from adopting effective strategies, which would enable us to meet the current demands of the market.

In my MA Thesis, I plan to study the non-professional translation that takes place in the work of researchers within one academic unit. In this study, a non-professional translator refers to a person who has no official translator training but whose tasks, in spite of this, include translating

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texts. The texts are related to the academic field of the research participants, and therefore, they are considered as experts regarding the subject.

Most Finns know English to some extent, which can also be deduced from the relatively high rank of Finland in the EF English Proficiency Index (8th place in 2018) (EF EPI n.d.). Therefore, a lot of people have the potential to translate to some extent, even if they do not have any official translator training. Therefore, translation conducted by people without training is a relatively common phenomenon in Finland.

This is also apparent from the fact that the academic unit featured in this study produces their own translations from English to Finnish, if they, for example, need translations of some research material. The researchers translate the text in collaboration: one or more people translate the text and others comment and revise it. This makes their work a fascinating research subject, since a great amount of research concerning translation conducted by people without translation training is concentrated on children, and their roles as interpreters for their families (see Orellana 2009, Cirillo 2017). I have not been able to find many studies that would concentrate specifically on written translation as part of someone’s job when they are not trained translators, although there are a few exceptions. Such are the studies focusing on translations done by journalists, who often translate articles in addition to their original writing.

However, according to Doorslaer (2010: 182–183), it is often difficult to decipher where translation ends, and where original content creation begins. Another exception is the study by Latomaa (2013), which concentrates on native language teachers, who translate and interpret to aid the communication between the school and the families. Despite these exceptions, non- professional interpreting remains as the main focus of the two closely related practices.

Apparently, translating texts as part of someone’s work has not sparked such an interest so there is certainly a paucity of research in this particular field. This tendency to lean more towards children and interpreting was noted by Krings already in 1989 (p. 263), and unfortunately the bias seems to still exist, even if as Krings points out, translation is largely considered to be a text-based medium.

The aim of this study is to describe the translation process and practices of the two research participants I interviewed in December 2016. An additional goal is to attempt to discover what kind of features linked with professionality can be identified in the material, and which are more likely to occur in non-professional translation.

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It should be emphasised that the aim of this thesis is not to make non-professional translation seem like a bad practice and condemn everyone who engages in such work without training.

However, it is not my goal to throw professional translators under the bus either and claim that everyone can translate anything they want if they only decide so. This study will only attempt to objectively describe the features mentioned above and leave the ethical discussion for the more philosophically inclined.

Section 2 of this thesis will introduce previous literature related to non-professional translation.

The sub-sections of this part will include discussion about terminology, the intrinsic human ability to translate and how it can develop all the way to expertise and, finally, different forms of non-professional translation. Section 3 will concentrate on the data and methods used in this study, while Section 4 consists of the analysis of the data gathered from the interviews, before the conclusion in Section 5.

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2 Theoretical background 2.1 Terminology

Although the research area is relatively new, it is starting to seem that the term non-professional interpreting and translation (sometimes shortened NPIT) is currently being used most regularly to refer to translation or interpreting conducted by people who have not received any official training for it. However, this phenomenon has had several names over the years, which all reflect the focus of interest during the times the terms were introduced.

Probably one of the earliest predecessors of the term was natural translation by Brian Harris (1976), who defines natural translation as ‘translation done by bilinguals in everyday circumstances and without special training for it’. Although the description does not exclude adults, the research at the time concentrated mainly on children who interpreted for their families. This also resulted in an emergence of a new term called language brokering, which, according to Antonini et al. (2017: 4), was introduced by Shannon in 1987. Orellana (2009: 25) describes language brokering as ‘mediational work that children do as they advocate for their families and negotiate between monolingual speakers’. It is therefore quite clear that the term refers even more clearly to child translators than natural translation does and is therefore not extensive enough for different contexts.

Although in the past, research has mainly focused on child interpreters and translators, Antonini et al. (2017: 5) mention that in recent years, more interest has been diverted towards informal interpreting in institutional settings, such as bilingual staff or family members interpreting in hospitals or police officers interpreting in the line of duty. Characteristic to this ad hoc interpreting is that the interpreting is done by someone who is immediately available regardless of an official translator status. However, since ad hoc refers to activity that is quite spontaneous and situational, it does not include settings where the work is clearly planned. In addition, ad hoc is understandably used more in interpreting contexts, since written translation work is rarely needed in the same manner of urgency as interpreting. However, it should be mentioned that as Antonini et al. (2017: 7) say, a lot of interpreting and translation situations are clearly expected, even if they are not fully planned, and therefore the interpreters are not entirely unprepared for the situation.

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Since the aforementioned terms fail to include all the situations where translation by laypeople is taking place, a more extensive term is needed to describe all these other instances that do not fill the requirements of the other categories. According to Antonini et al. (2017: 5), the term non-professional interpreter was first used in 1986 by Knapp-Pothoff and Knapp, who originally described non-professional interpreters as people who act as transmitters and mediators. By broadening the term to include translators as well, the term non-professional translation and interpreting appears to be broad enough to include all types of interpreting and translation situations that people who are not professionals engage in. This is further affirmed by Antonini et al. (2017: 6–7), who mention that they prefer the term since it is general enough and does not include the biases that the other terms seem to have. The neutrality of the word non-professional becomes even more evident when compared with a very similar word unprofessional, which has many negative connotations. Unprofessional seems to be linked to the low quality of the performance, whereas non-professional seems to only suggest that the task is performed by laypeople, without the implication of quality. This is very important since, as Antonini et al. (2017: 7) point out, although non-professional translators and interpreters may be uneducated in translating and interpreting, it does not necessarily mean that they are incompetent.

Although non-professional translating and interpreting is a convenient umbrella term, there is also a plethora of other terms, which could be considered as sub-fields of non-professional translation. For instance, Pilke, Kolehmainen and Penttilä (2015: 329) mention “user-generated translation (O’Hagan 2009), community translation (O’Hagan 2011), collaborative translation (O’Brien 2011), hive translation (Garcia 2009), wiki-translation (Cronin 2010), open translation (Cronin 2010) -- volunteer translation (Pym 2011)” to name a few. In addition, after the initial list, they mention crowdsourced translation by O’Hagan (2009). Some of these terms will be discussed later in Section 2.4, which goes more into depth regarding different types of non-professional translation.

2.2 The ability to translate

The variety of terms related to non-professional translation does not only suggest that non- professional translation is a complex phenomenon, but also that it is a relatively common one.

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Translating is a prevalent skill in all corners of the world. However, as Whyatt (2017: 45–46) mentions, the practice has been thought to be reserved only for talented individuals translating professionally. According to Pym (2011) translator training has existed for as long as there have been expanding empires. Most often, they took the form of master-apprentice relationships, but the more elaborate training programmes can be dated from the fourth century onwards.

However, the modern institutionalised translator training is a relatively recent development, which was significantly boosted by the Second World War.

Despite the professionalisation of translating and the rise of formal training, many people manage to translate to some extent, even if they have never even heard of the concept of translator training. According to Whyatt (2017: 45–46), it can be assumed that translation as a skill stems from a basic ability present in all people who know more than just one language.

Nevertheless, even if all bilinguals are capable of translation regardless of their professionality status, the level of accuracy and the translation situations can be vastly different. For example, a professional authorised translator who is translating an official document is required to maintain the accuracy of the original without making any additions, whereas a bilingual convict interpreting between his/her cellmate and a guard may add information they deem necessary for the other party to understand what is being said (language brokering among prisoners is discussed in more detail in Section 2.4.4.1).

In this thesis, the term bilingual is used in its more liberal sense, similarly to Whyatt (2017: 49), who describes bilinguals as ‘anybody who can communicate in two different languages’. A certain competence level in either of the languages is therefore not specified, apart from the requirement that the people in question must be able to use them to communicate.

According to Whyatt (2017: 46–47), the human mind is very adept at encoding and decoding messages. However, this is not limited to interlingual translation, but it can also be seen in how we interpret bodily gestures, reword our own sentences and even how we understand traffic signs. Even speech itself is a communication system based on producing verbal code, which is used to translate the speaker’s intentions into a form that other people can understand. However, this of course requires that the listener shares the same language code.

However, to be able to communicate effectively, it is not enough to just turn your intentions to words. An efficient speaker needs to adjust their communicative means based on the situation.

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This is by no means an easy task, especially when regarding interlingual translation, which, according to Whyatt (2017: 48), is ‘frequently described as one of the most complex mental operations performed by the human mind’. Descriptions like these implicate that not everyone is capable of it, just the select few who have attended translation schools and have practised the art rigorously for long periods of time. Nevertheless, this is not necessarily the case. According to Malakoff and Hakuta (1991: 144) it has been frequently observed that even children can translate fairly complex things as long as they can comprehend the subject matter and have the required vocabulary to fulfil the task (see also Orellana 2009: 66–78). It is therefore evident that there is a thought-provoking contradiction surrounding the phenomenon: on one hand, translating is thought to be something that only educated professionals do, but on the other hand, anyone who is capable of using two languages is expected to translate when needed.

According to Whyatt (2017: 49), all bilinguals have the ability or potential to translate. However, this does not mean that they are necessarily skilled or competent at it, but rather that ability is the initial stage on a developmental continuum. This ability can, potentially, be developed into a skill with training or experience, and then further into competence and even expertise.

Whyatt (2017: 51) states that translation in its untrained ability stage is mainly performed by two groups of people in multilingual settings: language brokers (see Section 2.4.4) and language learners. Language brokers are, typically, immigrant children acting as mediators for their families, who may not have acquired the language as fluently. As Whyatt (2017: 52) mentions, language brokering often resembles community interpreting, and therefore, the brokers rely on their pragmatic knowledge of the situation and concentrate on getting the message across instead of focusing on the linguistic form. In addition, Whyatt (2017: 51) says that natural bilinguals do not often become good translators, which results from the fact that, according to Grosjean (2002: 5), they use their two languages in different communicative situations and, contrary to popular belief, are most likely not equally fluent in both of them. Language learners, on the other hand, produce very different types of translations according to Whyatt (2017: 51).

Although language learners may act as language brokers as well, they may also use translation as a pedagogical tool to educate themselves in the language. However, their translations usually include great amounts of interference from their first language.

It is clear, that although the untrained ability allows all bilinguals to translate, it has its limits and the people on this stage may not be able to produce high-quality translations. According to

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Kumpulainen (2016: 1), people who possess bilingual competence can use their languages separately, but to gain translation competence, they need to learn how to operate in the space between the languages.

According to Shreve (2006: 28), translation competence consists of a selection of cognitive resources that an individual engaged in translating has in his or her possession. Shreve says:

From a cognitive perspective, competence could be seen as declarative and procedural knowledge from a variety of cognitive domains accumulated through training and experience and then stored and organized in a translator’s long-term memory.

Shreve (2006: 40) lists four cognitive domains, which are essential for translation: linguistic knowledge of at least two languages, cultural and specialised subject knowledge, knowledge of textual conventions, and finally, knowledge of translation, such as strategies for translation problems and information seeking. Furthermore, with training and experience the competence may develop into expertise, which manifests in consistently superior performance. However, not all expert translators develop their competence sub-domains identically. Depending on their backgrounds, others may have extensive subject knowledge, while others exhibit superior information seeking skills. Kumpulainen (2016: 4) says that the individual differences can be explained by the constructivist idea, which proposes that people have acquired unique sets of knowledge based on their previous experiences, and thus, they may develop into completely different directions from one another.

Although different types of knowledge are important features of translation competence, according to Kumpulainen (2016: 3), linguistic competence is the essence of translation.

Although cultural and other extra-linguistic skills are needed, interlingual text production skills are the core of translation competence, since the end product is always a text in some sense of the word. However, Kumpulainen (2016: 58–60) also states that different situations require different types of translation competence and that there is no set way that translation competence forms. Kumpulainen (2016: 60) explains that ‘if a translator understands the constraints and expectations set by the situation and is able to comply with them, she has the TC that is needed in that specific situation.’ For example, while some simpler tasks can be sufficiently fulfilled by relying mainly on linguistic skills, some situations require more culture- specific knowledge. However, there is knowledge that is required in all translation situations.

According to Kumpulainen (2016: 58), interlingual text production competence is present in all

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translation while situation-bound extra-lingual competences serve that core competence.

Kumpulainen (2016: 60) explain that if the situation is complex, more complex set of knowledge is needed to be able to comply with the demands of the situation, while in informal everyday situations, there are usually less expectations regarding many aspects of the translation. For example, translating a legal document requires a whole another level of precision than explaining to one’s mother what is being said in an unsubtitled television programme. However, both of these actions still require that the person has enough translation competence to be able to fulfil the task; the required level and combination of the skills are just different.

2.3 Professionalism and expertise

To be able to produce translations, both professional and non-professional translators need translator competence, but the requirements of their translation situations may differ. However, the line between professional and non-professional translators is still vague at best. According to Whyatt (2017: 56), it is often thought that professional performance should ideally be able to produce high-quality formally flawless translations, but as the people who commission the translations can rarely assess the quality, it is likely that there are also lower quality translations on the market. This raises the question of whether one can be considered a professional, if one is able to make a living by translating regardless of the quality of the work.

To be able to understand what non-professional translation is, we must first try to define what exactly is professional translation. Jääskeläinen (2010: 215) states that one possible pragmatic definition could be that professional translators earn their living by translating. However, Jääskeläinen (2010: 213) also states that not all professional translators produce high-quality texts, which raises the question whether quality plays any role in professional performance.

Nevertheless, the quality cannot be completely ignored either, although one could argue that if the translation is in use, the quality is high enough. However, according to PACTE (2009: 219), the level of expertise affects the quality of the translation positively. It is also possible that professional translators fail to produce good-quality translations in some situations but excel in others. According to Jääskeläinen (1999: 243), attitude towards the task can affect the translation, as was demonstrated in her study, where a professional translator failed the assignment resulting from the lack of personal involvement. Attitude can explain differences

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between professional translators, and a positive attitude can improve the quality, but attitude alone cannot guarantee good translations. One of the non-professional translators in the study exhibited positive attitude towards the task and was probably the only one who understood the contents of the source text fully, but she still failed, most likely due to the lack of translation- related text production skills.

Sirén and Hakkarainen (2002: 71) state that professionalism does not automatically mean expertise. According to Ericsson (2007: 3) expertise refers to ‘the characteristics, skills, and knowledge that distinguish experts from novices and less experienced people’. He continues that experts are able to constantly exhibit superior performance in their domain. Jääskeläinen (2010: 215) further elaborates that ‘While all experts are professionals, not all professionals are experts, especially in the context of the requirement for “consistently superior performance”.’

Sirén and Hakkarainen (2002: 75) argue that one cannot only concentrate on the years the person has acted as a translator if one wants to know about his or her expertise and that we also need information about the quality and requirements of the work. It is therefore beneficial to differentiate between the terms professionalism and expertise, since the two are clearly not synonymous, although the terms do overlap partially, depending on the definition of expertise.

For example, according to PACTE’s (2009: 209) definition, there are three factors, which affect the level of expertise: years active, translation as the main source of income and experience in translating a wide array of texts. Especially the first two items could be associated with professionalism as well.

Sirén and Hakkarainen (2002: 73) have a list of criteria related to translation expertise as well:

experts are skilled mainly in their own domains; experts are fast in performing tasks in their own domains; experts spend proportionally a longer time than novices analysing problems qualitatively; experts have strong self-monitoring skills.

Sirén and Hakkarainen (2002: 73) explain that as the criteria are derived from general expertise criteria, the first item on the list, being skilled in their own domain, first and foremost refers to being skilled in translating. However, it could also refer to a special field that the translator is familiar with, such as medicine or information technology. Jääskeläinen (2010: 215–216) mentions that expert translators are often expected to have knowledge in some special fields, but there are also generalist translators who do not.

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The second and the third criteria seem to contradict each other, especially in the context of translation. According to Sirén and Hakkarainen (2002: 73–74), the second criterion regarding fast performance may be true when discussing some other domain, such as chess, or other activity which profits more greatly from automatised processes. Of course, in translation as well, expert translators may perform faster than novices, who may be inhibited by comprehension issues, but in general, expert translators take a longer time translating a text, since they take their time analysing the multiple translation dilemmas. Beginners tend to try to solve the problems as quickly as possible, whereas experts take a longer time analysing different factors related to the translation and the problems, such as the target audience, purpose and medium of the translation. This thought process is vital due to the nature of translation. There is of course also the possibility that certain types of texts may become faster to translate with experience, such as user interfaces, where there is a lot of repetition between different projects. However, this is most often not the case. According to Sirén and Hakkarainen (2002: 77), translation problems are ill-defined problems that do not have clear, unambiguous answers, unlike, for example, math problems, which often have only one solution. Therefore, it is inevitable that solving the problem properly takes time. However, the reality of translation is that expert translators are often under some forms of constraint (usually time) and they need to balance between that constraint and the quality of their work, and therefore cannot continue polishing their translations endlessly.

Sirén and Hakkarainen (2002: 74) also introduce the fourth and final criterion of experts having strong self-monitoring skills. It enables them to be more aware of certain aspects related to their working process, such as recognising their inability to comprehend a certain text, noticing the mistakes they may have made and identifying the instances where they may need to question and check their translation solutions. In addition, expert translators control and adjust their process according to the assignment and any constraints the task may include. For example, according to Jääskeläinen (1989: 88–89), the function of the target text affects the translation process heavily and if it is different from that of the source text, even significant changes may be justified. Furthermore, the translator’s sensitivity regarding the subject indicates their level of professionality. However, Sirén and Hakkarainen (2002: 74) state that not all professional translators show such self-monitoring skills. This provides further evidence for the claim that not all professional translators are experts. The lack of self-monitoring in non-professional translators was evident in a study conducted by Krings (1986: 263–276) as well, where the research participants were advanced German learners of French studying to become teachers.

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Krings (1986: 273) noticed that the students remained very attached to the source text, and when faced with translation problems, they did not attempt to solve them on the basis of the target text function or target audience but opted to translate the problematic items either literally or as shortly as possible. However, rather conversely, Jääskeläinen (1989: 92–96) discovered in her think-aloud protocol study that even non-professional first year students of translation paid attention to the assignment and the target audience, when they encountered a problem that could only be solved by addressing the issue of who would be reading their finished translation.

Expectedly, their translation solutions were not as fluent as the ones the other group of fifth year students had made, and they lacked understanding regarding some of the more basic principles of translation, but nevertheless, they adjusted their process on the basis of their imagined target audience. Therefore, it is quite safe to assume that all translators show self- monitoring skills to some extent, but experts use them more effectively and systematically, exhibiting consistently superior performance in this aspect as well.

2.3.1 Developing expertise

According to Sirén and Hakkarainen (2002: 75), another way of examining translation expertise is investigating the process of becoming an expert, and thus discovering why some people achieve this status while others do not. One way to look at this is to inspect how people resolve problems they encounter.

Bereiter and Scardamalia (1993: 98–100) introduce the terms progressive problem solving and problem reduction to help in this approach. The first term is usually linked with expertise and the latter the exact opposite of it. However, it should be mentioned that these terms are mainly applied to study expertise in relation to writing, which is an essential skill when translation is concerned, but this is not necessarily the case with other fields. According to Bereiter and Scardmalia (1993: 98–100, 156–157) the problem reduction approach is based on the idea that problems are something that need to be eliminated, which often ignores the complexities of the task at hand. In a translational context, such an approach usually results in a mediocre translation at best. However, the more progressive approach utilised by the experts does not ignore these complexities and the ones practising it do not insist on using only familiar routines unsuitable for the task. When facing a problem, they are working at the edge of their competence, and it is in this window, where their expertise develops. This type of working is undoubtedly taxing, but it often yields admirable results as well, since the new skills combine

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with the old ones, thus resulting in better skills which can be utilised to perform even more complex tasks, since the edge of their competence has been pushed even further. If the problems are merely removed, the person will not have a chance to learn from them, and their learning process will not be as effective as it is for someone who has decided to solve the problem in a more progressive way. Furthermore, Bereiter and Scardamalia (1993: 156–157) add that in addition to a more effective learning process, the results are usually better as well, since the person has recognised the unique qualities of the problem and adjusted their process accordingly. The results are usually poorer if the person merely uses the knowledge he or she already possesses and forces the problem into that mould, creating a certain ‘close enough’

approach. However, as Bereiter and Scardamalia (1993: 100) mention, it is of great importance to realise that working at the edge of one’s competence all the time, in every situation, is virtually impossible, since it takes a lot of energy. Therefore, it is beneficial to learn when to use problem reduction and rely on routines, and when to invest in progressive problem solving.

Both problem reduction and progressive problem solving are strongly associated with learning.

Translation is a learned skill, and therefore, many of the skills related to it are teachable, such as searching for information and applying it accordingly, according to Jääskeläinen (1999: 242).

She explains that a difference between professionals and non-professionals is that non- professional and professional translators use different types of knowledge when they are working with a translation. Non-professionals tend to concentrate on linguistic matters, while professionals focus more on the cultural implications and the qualities of the text. In other words, they use a wider array of knowledge than their non-professional counterparts. However, with training, students learn to find and use different kinds of information, thus expanding their mental toolkit.

According to Whyatt (2017: 54–55, 61), turning the initial translation potential into a trained skill requires conscious effort from the person, including both formal translator trainees and people learning translation by themselves. In addition to treating translation as an educational learning instrument, external factors that support the development are required as well, such as a demand for translations. In addition, the skill can be developed further into translation competence with repeated practice and self-reflection. It is a slow process and can be acquired with assistance in different contexts such as institutionalised translator training or mentoring from a more experienced colleague.

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Shreve (2006: 28) is also of the opinion that deliberate practice is essential in developing expertise. According to Shreve (2006: 29) deliberate practice can be defined as “regular engagement in specific activities directed at performance enhancement in a particular domain, where domain is some sort of skilled activity”. If this objective towards better performance, along with experience, is absent, the cognitive processes will not evolve towards expertise.

However, if the individual engages in deliberate practice, the cognitive changes will not only enable him or her to draw solutions from the patterns stored in his or her episodic memory but also develop more efficient knowledge structures. Shreve (2006: 37) lists several different changes in cognitive processes: greater episodic memory; pattern recognition in relation to the domain-specific problems and their solutions; continuing to learn new solution methods and applying them to classes of problems, which have been organised together in a more abstract level of thinking; and finally, storing the solutions in the long-term memory in an organised way for optimal retrieval. Shreve (2006: 29) also emphasises that translation expertise is an acquired skill that does not correlate with other cognitive abilities such as intelligence or memory, and that the most significant factor in its development is deliberate practice. However, merely translating a mass of text cannot be called deliberate practice, even if translation experience is vital for translation expertise.

According to Shreve (2006: 29–30), deliberate practice needs to meet several conditions. The first condition is that the practice should have a well-defined task, but due to the nature of translation, such a task is usually difficult to determine. However, there are smaller sub-task components that can be identified, such as text comprehension, translation strategies and target text production. Nevertheless, practicing these underlying basic tasks does not lead to expertise, and superior performance stems more from the experiential aspects, such as limiting oneself in regards of subject, type and the skopos of the translated text. Shreve (2006: 30, 38) states that a well-defined task in translation is therefore based on the assumption that the translator works on similar texts related to a certain domain over a long period of time. Therefore, in Shreve’s model, it is required that a translator also specialises in some other domain besides translation, and general translation expertise is not even achievable. If the translator who is an expert in one domain is told to work on some other domain, their superior performance will expectedly decline.

The second of Shreve’s (2006: 32) conditions is that the task is of reasonable difficulty but still challenges the translator. Shreve (2006: 32) defines the difficulty of a translation task as: ‘-- an

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intersection of the specific characteristics of a given text with the existing (possibly deficient) cognitive resources of the translator.’ Therefore, the difficulty arises from the discrepancy between the skills of the translator and the aspects of the text, which the translator may not have the direct tools to solve. The difficulties may occur during different phases of the translation process. For example, in texts where the density of field specific vocabulary is high, and the sentence structures are complex, the translator is required to re-read the text multiple times and effectively utilise both their short- and long-term memory to be able to solve the translation problems. Shreve (2006: 31, 35) states that an expert translator can identify more potential translation problems and have more solutions to the problems than their non-expert counterparts.

He also suggests that a translator expert is able to consistently pick the best translation solutions most suitable for the situation, even when faced with a wide array of difficulties. Furthermore, Shreve adds that expert translation solutions are usually effective and do not require excessive amounts of effort, which results in greater speed and accuracy. The efficiency is a result of proceduralisation of the domain knowledge, which means that the translators recognise certain patterns in the text that they have seen before and know how to approach the situation. Shreve (2006: 32–33) suggests that a translator who wishes to improve their skill level should select texts which include challenging aspects regarding the skill in need of improvement, and then use those texts to deliberately practise. When translators are no longer a part of an educational environment, such as a university, it is likely that they will no longer receive constructive feedback on their translations, unless their workplace has deliberately opted to take feedback as a part of their workflow. Therefore, they need to be aware of the nature of the task and the translation themselves, which requires extensive utilisation of metacognitive abilities.

According to Shreve (2006: 38–39), the increase of expertise increases metacognition (also called self-regulation or self-monitoring, see Section 2.3) as well, which means that the translators are consciously aware of mental processes and how they work, in addition to controlling the said processes. Metacognitive regulation is one aspect of metacognition and it includes, for example, planning and monitoring of the working process.

The last of Shreve’s (2006: 34) conditions are repetition and error correction. The latter is usually a part of the revision process, but in the case of practice translations, there may not be possibilities to adjust the text, since the translator is not aware of the errors. In such cases, it would be best to develop a system which would allow error corrections, for example, with the assistance of a mentor. Since translation tasks are rarely identical, repetition of the task cannot be achieved in the same sense as in some different activities. However, there are usually certain

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patterns, which will become familiar when the translator continues to translate texts in the same domain. According to Shreve (2006: 35), with time, the domain-specific problem-solving procedures will override the more general approaches, thus further accentuating the idea that expertise can only be achieved in quite a narrow field.

However, despite all the practice an expert translator has gone through, according to Gerloff (1990: 54), translation expertise does not always guarantee ease. In fact, it seems that if one achieves the status of an expert and has more experience, translating becomes harder. On one hand, some processes will undoubtedly become more automatised and therefore easier, but on the other hand, at the same time, this seems to allow more complex thought processes to take place instead. Therefore, it appears that there will always be problems to solve, whether one is an expert or a novice, but the problems the experts identify are more complex in nature and therefore take more time to solve. Sirén’s study (in Sirén and Hakkarainen 2002: 79–80) showed that the translation experts considered translation tasks harder than the non-experts did.

In the study, six participants translated two texts each: one literary text and another related to medicine. Two of the participants were translators specialised in medical translation, the other two in literary translation and the last two were medical professionals without background in translation. In the end, the translational experts took longer to translate the texts and did not consider their translations as finished work, unlike the non-experts who would not want to edit their texts apart from a few separate details if given the chance. The experts insisted that especially the literary text translation could not be done during only one sitting, and that they would need to know more about the context and the novel itself, which was not possible during the short time given to the research participants. It is of interest to note that one of the expert literary translators produced a very rough draft of the literary text, while one of the non-experts produced a text that was evaluated to be of good quality. However, since the expert considered their text a draft, in an authentic situation, the expert translator would have most likely worked on the text significantly more, which would have presumably yielded better results. The non- expert, however, considered the work already done and did not want to make any additional changes, and therefore the quality would remain the same.

Bereiter and Scardamalia (1993: 35) agree that experts in writing work harder than novices as well. According to them, in a think-aloud study, the word count of the experts’ thinking process was five or six times higher than the word count of their final essays. This results from the fact that they spend a lot of time evaluating and processing their work, so that their main point will

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come across clearly. Contrastingly, non-experts appear to put their thoughts almost straight to the paper, deciding on their main points nearly immediately. Similar results were observed in Jääskeläinen’s (1999: 242) study, where the non-professional translators performed quickly and effortlessly, since they ignored the problems present in the text, whereas more experienced translation students spent a lot more time on the task, since their training had taught them to notice potential problems. However, the professionals performed either quickly or slowly depending on the context. In routine tasks, their automatised processes helped them to speed up their process, but in more complex tasks, they needed to exert more effort and utilise more time- consuming strategies, which made their process slower.

2.3.2 Specialisation

There is one significant factor that needs to be taken into consideration when talking about professionalism and expertise: specialisation. There seem to be two opposing approaches to the subject among researchers focusing on expertise. For example, Shreve (2006) considers specialisation as a vital part of expertise and that real expertise cannot truly be achieved without it. However, there are also people who think that it is possible to be a generalist expert, without a specific field to concentrate on. For example, PACTE’s (2009: 209) definition of expertise includes ‘experience in translating a wide range of texts’, which is the complete opposite of Shreve’s model.

In addition, PACTE’s definition seems slightly looser in the sense that they do not require consistently superior performance, and still consider some translators experts even when they do not perform particularly well. In PACTE’s (2009: 226) study, translators they had defined as experts translated a text into their foreign language, although they were more accustomed to translating into their first language. They were lacking in the target language text production skills, thus producing translations of equal quality with teachers of the foreign language, who did not have translation experience. However, it must be taken into account that the teachers were more accustomed to producing texts in the target language, and therefore, they had an advantage over the translators who would normally translate into their first language.

Nevertheless, despite these shortcomings, they were able to compensate for their lack of linguistic skills with their knowledge of translation and other sub-competences related to the profession. It is therefore implicated that translation expertise can be applied on a wider scale than just being strictly limited to one special domain.

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Tynjälä (2002: 34) states that while it is difficult to imagine expertise without specialisation, there can, however, be specialists who are not experts, since their performance is not consistently superior. For example, Jääskeläinen (1999: 112, 243) mentions a research participant who was the only one who understood the contents of a text they were supposed to translate, but since she did not have experience in translating, her translation solutions were sometimes awkward or they suffered from faltering logic.

Jääskeläinen (2010: 215–216) mentions that in the case of translation, it is often expected that a professional translator has special knowledge of some other domain besides translation.

However, not all translators have such a special field. There are also generalist translators, who according to Jääskeläinen (2010: 216) could also qualify as experts. No special field knowledge is therefore necessarily required for an expert status, although specialisation among experts is highly likely. Jääskeläinen (2010: 216) also mentions that there are people who translate texts in their own field but are not professional in the sense that they would earn their living by translating. They can, however, be experts if they produce high quality translations in that field and are therefore specialised experts but not professionals.

2.4 Non-professional translation and interpreting

As non-professional interpreting and translation is a very extensive phenomenon, it can appear in countless different contexts. It takes place at homes, public service institutes, workplaces and numerous other multilingual situations. However, it is not limited only to physical locations. A growing arena of translation is the internet, where anyone can offer their translations for others to see. As O’Hagan (2016: 115) says, various companies (both non-profit and for-profit) take advantage of this and crowdsource the translations of their websites (e.g. Facebook).

A common theme, which seems to surface in many studies, is that the non-professional interpreters take significant liberties in their translations (see for example Ticca 2017, Rossato 2017, Martínez-Goméz 2014) while the translators attempt to stay as faithful to the source text as possible sometimes with the expense of fluidity (see Massidda & Casarini 2017, O’Hagan 2013). The interpreters are more interested in getting the message across and they do not shy away from adding their own input to the conversation if they feel that it is needed for the

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receiving party to understand what is being talked about (see Sections 2.4.1.1, 2.4.1.2 and 2.4.4).

The translators, however, especially in fan subtitling circles, pride themselves in following the source material meticulously and trying to maintain as much of the original as possible (see Section 2.4.2).

2.4.1 Work-related translating and interpreting

For many bilingual people, translating and interpreting is an ordinary aspect of their daily work even if they have not received any training in it. As Ticca (2017: 110) sums: ‘“non-professional”

interpreters are lay people invited to participate in a social encounter by virtue of their language competences’. According to her, the main goal of the interpreter is to bridge the language gap between the parties so that they can successfully complete a social activity. However, this is not always unproblematic, as the interpreters often lack the skills to deal with complex vocabulary, which will be discussed further in Section 2.4.1.1.

The other sections shall introduce work-related non-professional translation in their various forms. Antonini et al. (2017: 13) say that research on non-professional interpreting and translation as part of one’s work has largely concentrated on healthcare settings, although translating is a common aspect in many other fields, such as journalism and education.

Therefore, in addition to healthcare settings in Section 2.4.1.2, this part shall also cover journalism and media in Section 2.4.1.3, educational environments in Section 2.4.1.4 and, last but not least, postal workers in Section 2.4.1.5.

2.4.1.1 Strategies to translate specialised language

Translating special terminology is demanding even for a trained translator or interpreter, who has had the privilege of education concentrating on tackling this challenge with different strategies. Non-professional translators or interpreters, however, must figure these out by themselves with limited experience and no training. Nevertheless, even if they have had some amount of training, it usually has little to do with translating. In Pöllabauer’s (2017: 140, 150) study, some of the non-professional public service interpreters (or community interpreters) regarded themselves as ‘trained’ since they had received training in the institution they worked at. However, this training only consisted of information regarding the institution itself and did

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not include anything related to interpreting. The lack of skills related to interpreting leads to a situation where they do not possess all the translation strategies required for these potentially demanding tasks, and additionally do not have the competence to manage the terminology as they lack skills related to information-mining.

Therefore, it can be assumed that the translation strategies for specialised terms differ in some respects when it comes to professional and non-professional interpreters. Pöllabauer’s (2017:

150) study showed that among non-professional public service interpreters the most popular translation strategy for specialised terminology was omitting the term altogether. This is most likely related to the fact that the participants took a very active role in the encounters and did not only concentrate on translating the message but also engaged in other ways. In many occasions, they did not in fact translate the messages and opted to discuss with the other party themselves. These people are most likely not aware of the ethical issues related to interpreting, and therefore do not adhere to the standards that would be expected of professional interpreters.

According to the code of ethics compiled by The Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters (SKTL n.d.), an interpreter should not omit or add anything, and that he or she should only act as a mediator in the situation, without letting his or her feelings or opinions affect the result. In addition, the code states that the interpreter should not take any other role in the situation besides interpreting, and that he or she should not act as an advocate for someone.

It is likely, that although non-professional interpreters may have a significant amount of knowledge regarding the languages they are using, they do not necessarily pay attention to the ethical aspects of the situation. Pöllabauer (2017: 150) mentions that another popular strategy among the interpreters was paraphrasing and simplifying the difficult terms either to make them easier to understand or because they did not know the proper equivalent in the other language.

Some of the strategies that were observed in the study also seemed to produce errors in the translations. According to Pöllabauer (2017: 151), the translations done by non-professional interpreters were vaguer and not as specific as the original speech. This can possibly be explained by the most commonly used strategies, which omitted and paraphrased parts of the speech, thus reducing the information value. In addition, they occasionally separated the original spoken unit into several parts, and in some cases, they were delivered much later.

Another common feature was that the interpreters frequently changed into speaking in third person to indicate who was speaking, unlike professional interpreters who would consistently use the same pronouns as the original speaker.

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It is also worth noting that only five different strategies were used by the participants in Pöllabauer’s (2017: 150) study, when the original categorisation included ten, which were based on strategies used by professional interpreters. This could mean that through their training and experience, professional interpreters discover strategies that are not as available to non- professional translators.

It is therefore clear that specialised terminology causes problems for non-professional translators, as it is something they have not been educated in. Furthermore, they may not possess the necessary language proficiency the situation demands. The strategies they use may alter the original message, which in turn may potentially have far-reaching consequences. As Pöllabauer (2017: 151) mentions, it would be ideal to use professional interpreters, but as that is not always realistic, the least that could be done is that the people working at public service institutions would refrain from using excessive amounts of specialised terminology if they notice that the non-professional interpreter may not be completely proficient in the language.

2.4.1.2 Healthcare

According to Ticca (2017: 110), in many multilingual countries, non-professional interpreters are the only possible option whenever there is a language barrier between the patients and medical professionals. As a result of immigration, non-professional interpreting in hospitals has become a common phenomenon all over the world, and the interest regarding its impact on patients is growing steadily. This interest is a very positive development, since, as Elderkin- Thompson, Silver and Waitzkin (2001: 1344) state, immigrants feel that the biggest obstacles in receiving healthcare are the language and cultural barriers. Alarmingly, the language barrier does not only affect the quality of the treatment the patients receive, but also determines whether they will receive it at all. As Elderkin-Thompson et al. (2014: 1355) state, if the patients do not receive a correct diagnosis immediately due to communication difficulties, they may refuse to return to the clinic altogether, even if they are in need of medical attention.

According to Elderkin-Thompson et al. (2001: 1345), it is recommended that doctors use professional interpreters when discussing with patients with whom they do not share a common language. However, mostly for economical and availability reasons, this does not always happen, and bilingual nurses will often act as interpreters in these situations. Another reason for using nurses is the assumption that a nurse will be able to notice the significance of an

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important detail that a person with no medical background would disregard as irrelevant.

However, nurses are not the only people in a medical setting that are sometimes required to interpret. According to Ticca (2017: 111), in some places, even bilingual maintenance personnel may be asked to interpret if the patient has not brought someone with them to help in the medical consultation.

Elderkin-Thompson et al. (2001: 1348–1354) studied the accuracy of the interpreting performed by nurses who had excellent skills in two languages but no training in medical translation. They discovered that when the nurses acted as interpreters, the probability of successful interpreting improved if the conversation proceeded slowly using short sentences asking one question at a time and if every fact was verified. Other factors resulting in successful communication were back-translating to ensure that everyone in the room shared the same knowledge and creating an empathetic atmosphere, so that the patient felt comfortable sharing the needed information.

In the study, four factors that caused interpreting errors could be identified. Firstly, problems occurred when the physician could not change their view of the situation when faced with new contradicting information. This was further accentuated by another factor, which is the tendency of nurse interpreters to solve conflicts in communication by translating the information in a way they think the doctor expects by providing only the clinically relevant information. Thirdly, the difference in social and economic status that was present in many cases between the nurses and the patients, caused the nurses to occasionally treat the patients in a demeaning manner. In some of these cases, the nurses translated in a way that challenged the patient’s credibility, and their symptoms were not taken seriously or were dismissed offhand, which could potentially have severe and far-reaching consequences. Finally, the last factor leading to unsuccessful interpreting, was the failure to explain the culturally bound idioms relating to sickness, which when translated literally may sound nonsensical, which in turn undermines the credibility of the patient and information about the symptoms may not get delivered.

According to Elderkin-Thompson et al. (2001: 1354–1355), although many of the encounters in the study were successful in the sense that there were no critical translation errors that would have endangered the diagnosis or treatment of the patient, there were also a great number of encounters which contained elements that somehow hindered the process of treating the patient, such as errors or omissions in medical charts. However, the faulty interpreting occurrences

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could not be associated with individual nurses, since a nurse who had performed poorly with one physician, could provide an error-free translation with another. The errors can be explained by the fact that, according to Elderkin-Thompson et al. (2001: 1355), this type of medical translation is exceedingly demanding. The nurses must interpret into both directions, they have to do it quickly and they do not receive any additional payment for their troubles.

In addition to interpreting, Ticca (2017) explores the other roles and identities a non- professional medical interpreter has. According to her, their involvement is not limited only to interpreting, but they participate in other activities as well, and they may act as experts or peers depending on the situation. Ticca (2017: 126–127) suggests that problems occurring in non- professionally interpreted situations are not always necessarily related to language differences.

The problems are also to some extent caused by the different identities the interpreters have, especially when the roles are not clear, or they change during the interaction (for example a medical consultation). In addition to the interpreting and related tasks, non-professional interpreters have to pay attention to what kind of a role is expected of them and then act accordingly. According to Ticca (2017: 108), these roles are not pre-determined in the same way as, for example, educational level, nor permanent such as age, gender or ethnicity. Instead, the identities appear to emerge in accordance with the social activity.

Ticca (2017: 112–115) says that in her study, the main reason bilingual individuals were invited to participate into medical consultations, was that they could provide translations when needed if the doctor and the patient did not understand each other. Therefore, their roles as translators were clearly expected of them. Since the translators knew that they were expected to translate, they paid attention to the interaction and were prepared to provide a translation if needed.

However, Ticca (2017: 116) also states that in some cases the interpreters acted as experts as well. They made a quick diagnosis based on the symptoms the patient reported, and therefore they expanded their role from merely acting as a mediator between the two other people. In addition to acting as translators or experts, according to Ticca (2017: 119–122), the bilingual speakers occasionally assumed the role of the peer, either in relation to the patient or the doctor.

In one case, the interpreter engaged in non-serious talk and reported an amusing event when discussing the patient’s back problem which is something peers may do, but which would not be suitable for a medical professional or a professional interpreter. However, since the interpreter was acting as a janitor in the facility and had no training in either medicine or translation, her tendency to behave in a manner of a peer may thus be explained.

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Although the bilingual speakers are invited to the appointments to help bridge the language gap, their varying roles are occasionally challenged. Ticca (2017: 122–125) mentions two such occurrences in her study. In the first one, the patient switches to the doctor’s language when the problem is hard to explain. By doing so, the patient excludes the interpreter from the conversation and challenges his or her role and also ability to offer valid translations. However, it is also of interest to note that the interpreter reacted to the patient’s language change by cringing and rolling their eyes, which seems to suggest that the interpreter most likely feels a sense of professional pride to some extent. Of course, another possibility for such a reaction could be the potential belief that the patient is socially below the nurse; an attitude which was also noted by Elderkin-Thompson et al. (2001: 1351) in some cases. The other instance in Ticca’s study where the role of the interpreter was challenged occurred when the interpreter provided information on the behalf of the patient. According to Ticca (2017: 125), this is quite common with people interpreting for their families (see. Section 2.4.4), but very rare for other non-professional interpreters, which is logical, since an outsider will most likely not have the necessary information needed in the situation. However, this still happens occasionally and in this case the doctor dismissed the contribution of the interpreter and told her to ask the patient instead. Therefore, the doctor questioned the interpreter’s knowledge of the situation and reminded her of her role as an interpreter in the situation.

As Ticca (2017: 126) mentions, non-professional medical interpreters have many different identities, and they must use their language skills and their knowledge of the field to be able to face the challenges that interlingual and intercultural communication demands of them and what other people expect. They adjust their behaviour depending on the situation, although at times, other people may challenge their role, whether regarding their ability to translate or their informal behaviour.

2.4.1.3 Journalism and media

As opposed to medical interpreting in hospitals, journalism related translation usually takes written form, although there are exceptions (see the end of this Section). Journalism is a field where the translation work goes mostly unseen, and according to Doorslaer (2010: 182), it is rarely considered translation in the traditional sense of the word. This is a result of several factors, which are distinctly unique to the field.

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