ISSN: 1579-9794
Hikma 19 (2) (2020), 183 – 206
Inside Iranian Freelance Simultaneous Conference
Interpreters’ Experience: A Thematic Analysis of Narratives
La experiencia de los intérprete simultáneo (trabajadores
autónomos ( conferencia en Irán: Análisis temático de
declaraciones
MEHRNOOSH FAKHARZADEH
mfakharzade@shbu.ac.ir
Sheikhbahaee University
SIMIN KAZEMI
S.kazemi1991@gmail.com
Sheikhbahaee University
Fecha de recepción: 27 de febrero de 2020
Fecha de aceptación: 5 de noviembre de 2020
Resumen: Aunque numerosos estudios han examinado las experiencias de
los interprete y los interpretes simultáneos en diversos casos, pero
relativamente pocos estudios han intentado examinar la experiencia de
traductores autónomos en una conferencia en Irán, en la que un número
creciente de conferencias internacionales está creando demanda de
intérpretes de alta calidad para la conferencia.En este estudio, utilizamos el
análisis cualitativo de los enunciados para abordar la experiencia de
intérpretes simultáneos (autónomos) de la conferencia en Irán y explicamos
el efecto de los factores subyacentes en la experiencia de su traducción oral.
Dos formatos, la experiencia en la búsqueda de trabajo y la experiencia
laboral, se derivan de ocho subtemas. En general, se describen la traducción
oral en Irán como una tarea no profesional, lo que significa un evento
temporal, intercambio de idiomas que es una tarea orientada a la capacidad.
Estos hallazgos podrían ser de interés para muchas partes interesadas
involucradas en la traducción e interpretación, así como para los médicos.
Palabras clave: declaraciones, intérpretes simultáneos autónomos, Irán,
análisis temático, trabajo no profesional
Abstract: Although several studies have examined translators' and
interpreters' experience in various contexts, relatively few studies have
attempted to explore the freelance simultaneous conference interpreters'
experience in the Iranian context where the increasing number of international
conferences has created a demand for quality conference interpretation. In
this study, we use qualitative analyses of narratives to delve into the
experience story of freelance simultaneous conference interpreters in Iran and
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explain the impact of contextual factors on their interpretation experience. Two
themes, namely job-finding experience and on-the-job experience, were
extracted from eight sub-themes. Overall, the narratives characterized
interpreting in Iran as a non-professional occupation that amounts to an ad
hoc event, language brokering, and ability-oriented task. The findings can
raise some important considerations for stakeholders involved in the field of
translation and interpretation studies as well as practitioners.
Keywords: Narratives, Freelance Simultaneous Conference Interpreters,
Iran, Thematic Analysis, Non- professional occupation.
INTRODUCTION
Over the last decade or so, Iran has hosted many international
conferences. This, on the one hand, has had much to do with the
advancement of information and communication technologies and the swift
pace of globalization (Pym, Grin, Sfreddo, & Chan, 2011). On the other hand,
the establishments of the UNESCO Cluster Office in 2003, as well as Iran’s
adoption of a prospective view (Khoshandam, 2016) in international affairs
and exchange of specialized knowledge in the last decade, has provided
inspiration to share platforms for exchanging data on various areas through
holding international conferences. The exponential rise in the number of
international conferences, which are expected to be fulfilled with qualified
interpreters, has brought a demand for more effective communication
channels between the agents.
Recent moves in the sociology of translation and translator studies
(Chesterman, 2009) inspired researchers to devote their attention to “the
social formations of translators and interpreters as specific professional
groups subject to their own social constraints, with their particular access to
resources, their status struggles, and sense of professional selves” (Sela-
Sheffy, 2016a: 131). The experience of the people who work as translators or
interpreters and how they perceive their job and locate themselves as
professionals, or otherwise, were the main focuses of most studies. Thus,
what we know about the experience of interpreters is primarily based upon
empirical studies that investigate the issue employing sociological theories of
professionalism and status. Katan (2011), for example, studied translators’
and interpreters’ perceptions of their working world and the way the field of
Translation Studies and university training programs have influenced this
world. The results revealed that universities did not significantly affect the
perception of the interpreters and that rather than pursue a degree in
translation or interpretation, they preferred self-development. He maintained
that within the profession-occupation dichotomy, interpreting falls into
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occupation category where occupation can be viewed as the bundle of tasks
that require some knowledge and skills while profession is an occupation that
rests upon a systematic knowledge base, and formal prerequisites and
examinations imposed by politically legitimate figures.
Taking an identity view towards professionalization, Sela-Sheffy
(2016b) conducted a qualitative study to examine the status structure in
different branches of the translational occupation. The results indicated a
counter-professionalization trend is emerging in the field in Israel. Despite a
growing demand for translators and interpreters in this country, practicing
translation and interpreting is neither regularised by professional bodies nor
recognized as officially registered professions.
Han (2014) conducted a diary study to explore real-life interpreting
practice in China. He found interpreters face problems in their real-life
practice: they are given insufficient time to prepare; they are expected to
perform a wider variety of interpreting tasks than they thought; they are
required to work both into and from their mother tongue.
Dam and Zethsen (2013) investigated the occupational status of Danish
conference interpreters and translators employed in the EU. The authors
intended to examine the translators’ and interpreters’ self-perception of their
position on the status continuum, which is closely connected with
professionalization. Out of eight, they drew upon four defining criteria for a
profession proposed by Weiss-Gal & Welbourne (2008), namely
remuneration, education/expertise, visibility/fame, and power/influence. They
found that, in terms of remuneration, influence, and prestige, interpreters did
not rate their occupational status significantly higher than translators. In
relation to expertise and skills, both interpreters and translators consider
themselves as highly skilled experts. As for visibility, the interpreters viewed
themselves as moderately visible, while translators said they are invisible to
the clients. However, the two groups were found to differ significantly in the
way outsiders view them: unlike translation, interpreting is perceived to be a
highly skilled activity.
The related studies in Iran addressed various issues involved in
interpretation such as quality of male and female interpreting (Hasanshahi &
Shahrokhi, 2016), strategies to deal with culture-specific terms (Asadi, 2013;
Eskandari & Nejadansari, 2013), and challenges in the establishment of
professional status for Iranian translators (Kafi, Khoshsaligheh & Hashemi,
2018).
The unprecedented rise in the need for communication across linguistic
and cultural barriers and the complexity of real-world situations of interpreting
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in different contexts call for studies on interpreters' working world to shed light
on the professional status of this group. The present article follows Wayatt’s
developmental approach to expertise and professionalism, which, rather than
emphasizing traits and criteria to define professional areas, holds there is a
natural predisposition towards translation, which can progress to trained skills,
competence, and expertise. The approach does not deny the necessity of
training and education to move towards the professional/expertise end of the
continuum. Yet, it states that “translation ability can evolve under favorable
external circumstances (i.e., the need for translation services) and internal
conditions (i.e., the translator’s conscious effort to develop)” (Whyatt, 2017:
50). Moreover, an expert is “somebody skilled or knowledgeable: somebody
with a great deal of knowledge about, or skill, training, or experience in, a
particular field of activity” (Whyatt, 2017: 50).
Given that conference organizers are facing more and more demand
for efficient conference interpreters, it looks like the time is ripe to let the
conference interpreters’ account of interpreting for conferences in Iran be
heard. Assumedly, narratives are rich sources of information for learning
about socio-psychological aspects of working conditions. As Baker (2016:
247) puts it, “Narrative is understood as a story that unfolds in time, with a
(perceived) beginning and a (projected) end. A narrative is constructed and
exploited; it is populated by participants, real or imaginary, human or non-
human, in a configured relationship to each other and to the unfolding story.”
Narratives encompass information about people and social conditions
(Connelly & Clandinin, 2006). Connelly and Clandinin (2006) emphasize that
continuity and interaction constitute the foundation of an experience.
Continuity refers to the chain-like nature of experiences where later
experiences build up from previous ones and modify the experiences that
come after. Integrity implies individuals are connected with their social
contexts, and as such, their experiences are shaped by the transaction
between their needs, purposes, and capacities, and their environment. Thus,
conference interpreters’ experience of their interpreting career refers to that
construction which is shaped by the interaction between the interpreters'
schemes and the impact of the situational environment and other agents in
their working life.
Using thematic analysis to investigate their narratives, the researchers
could look into the interaction of various factors involved in shaping the
interpreters’ experiences. It is believed that interpreters’ narratives can help
us deepen our understanding of interpreters' job status and
professionalization in Iran. Moreover, since their performance would mainly
hang on working conditions, the quality of teamwork, and technical equipment
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(AIIC 2011), much can be learned from studying the freelance simultaneous
conference interpreters’ (FSCI, henceforth) narratives.
1. THE CONTEXT OF IRAN
No official data exist regarding authorized or even active translators
and interpreters in Iran. What is known is that freelance translators and
interpreters abound in number (Kafi et al. 2018). We may assume that
translation and interpreting are freelance careers in Iran, where the formal
qualifications or licencing are not required to offer services. Currently, three
official translator associations have been set up in Iran, namely the Iranian
Association of Certified Translators and Interpreters (IACTI), Iranian
Translators and Interpreters Association (ITIA), and Tehran Translators and
Interpreters’ Association (TIAT) with the objective to raise translators’ status,
offer financial and moral support, and act as a link between translators and
authoritative bodies (Kafi et al. 2018).
It is worth mentioning that the 4-year bachelor translation training
program in Iran was established about three decades ago. The curriculum,
which has only recently been refined, dated from 1990. Iranian universities do
not offer any Interpreting program at graduate and postgraduate levels. There
are three introductory courses on interpretation embedded within the
translation training program at the BA level. At MA and Ph.D. levels, there are
only limited courses that deal with theoretical aspects of interpretation.
Professionals of this field in Iran are trained under the supervision of the
Foreign Ministry and the Broadcasting Organization “without necessarily
having to pass the academic prerequisites (Shafiei & Barati, 2015: 27). The
program has been shown to fail to train translators and interpreters for the
market demands (Khazaee Farid & Khoshsaligheh, 2010; Khoshsaligheh,
2014).
That not many interpreters in Iran are officially employed by institutions,
and most of them are freelancers invited for interpretation on demand,
provided the incentive for the authors to delve into the experience of
conference interpreters as they describe their story of interpreting. Against this
backdrop, this study took a qualitative thematic analysis to analyze the
narratives of eight FSCIs with regard to their job as conference interpretation.
2. THE STUDY
This section, first, explains the sampling method used to select the
participants. It then presents the data collection instrument and process, which
is followed by data analysis.
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2.1. Sampling method and participants
The current study employed snowball sampling for selecting the
participants (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2009). A peer debriefer (see section 2.3),
who is an interpreter trainer introduced the first simultaneous conference
interpreter. The research participants grew as the second author of the
present study, who was also the interviewer, asked each participant to
introduce other FSCIs as potential participants to be later interviewed. This
type of sampling aims to have an intentional non-random selection of the
participants who are representative of the population, have more information,
and/or have experience in the central studies concepts being investigated
(Fraenkel & Wallen, 2009).
The end of the data collection process, as recommended by Corbin and
Strauss (2008), was determined by data saturation where no new information
could be obtained from the participants. The data saturation resulted in a
sample of eight FSCIs. Three participants were living in Isfahan and five in
Tehran. To keep their identities hidden, a code was assigned to each
participant. The detailed demographic information of the participants, as well
as their professional information, is provided in Table 1.
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SCI= Simultaneous Conference Interpreting
CCI= Consecutive Conference Interpreting
WI= Whispering Conference Interpreting
TI= Telephone Conference Interpreting
EN= English
AR= Arabic
TEFL= teaching English as a Foreign Language
Table 1: Participants’ demographic information
As shown in Table 1, out of eight participants, only one was female.
Five participants were above 40. Three majored in English translation at the
BA level. Only one of the participants (the female one) had interpreting as her
main occupation. The table also shows that only one participant worked in all
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of the interpreting modes. It is worth mentioning that for six out of eight
participants, the target language, B language, was English, and for one of
them, it was Arabic. One interpreter, AR2, had Arabic as his mother tongue,
A language, and Persian as the B language. For other participants, Persian
was the A language. The participants’ work experience ranged from 4 to 16
years, with an average of 9.37 years.
2.2. Data collection
Before collecting the data, each participant was given a consent form,
designed based on Berkley University Sample Form. For data collection,
open-ended, unstructured interviews, was used. The participants were asked
to narrate their interpreting experience as a story. The interviews were
conducted by the second author of the present research. The site of
interviews, as recommended by Bogdam and Biklen (2003), was set by the
participants for their convenience. Interviews with 4 participants took place in
their offices, with 3 in a park, and one of them was conducted online using
Telegram messenger version 4.2. At the beginning of each interview, the
interviewer introduced herself, described the aim of the study, and obtained
their informed consent. She abstained from verbal comments and showed her
interest and attentive listening with non-verbal signals and paralinguistic
reactions to encourage the participants to continue their narration
(Jovchelovitch & Bauer, 2000). The interviewer acted as a facilitator rather
than a director so that the participants take the central role in the way the
interviews would proceed. All the interviews were recorded to enable
transcription.
2.3. Data analysis
The present study employed an inductive thematic analysis (Braun &
Clarke, 2006) since the emerging themes were linked to the narrations of the
participants and bore little relationship to any specific research question.
“Inductive analysis is, therefore, a process of coding the data without trying to
fit it into a pre-existing coding frame or the researcher's analytic
preconceptions. In this sense, this form of thematic analysis is data-driven”
(Braun & Clarke, 2006: 12). The recorded data were transcribed after each
interview session. Once the researchers had transcribed each interview, they
imported the data to MAXQDA Plus 12 (Release 12.3.2) software to be sorted,
organized, and coded.
The coding procedure started with reading and rereading each narrative
to check the data content. More than 50 initial codes were initially generated
and established in the software from the transcripts. That part of the data
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where each initial code was extracted was attached to the codes, together
with a written memo to define the code and provide a first-hand analysis for
the excerpt related to that code (Corbin & Strauss, 2008).
The researchers used comparative analysis to find similarities and
differences (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). The data analysis process at the second
stage generated two main themes, and each theme implied several
subthemes. The coding process ended when the researchers decided the
conceptual saturation (Corbin & Strauss, 2008).
It is worthy of note that the coding process was not unproblematic. To
address subjectivity involved with the coding process in thematic analysis, and
to enhance the rigor in this approach, five of the transcripts were
independently coded by the co-researcher. Wherever the researchers
disagreed on the codes, a peer debriefer was consulted to resolve the issue.
To meet the trustworthiness criteria, transferability, confirmability,
credibility, and dependability were established (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, as cited
in Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009). To enhance the transferability and
confirmability of the conclusions, the researchers tried to provide a detailed
description of the context by providing an overview of the participants and the
coding process. Furthermore, a peer debriefer was consulted in every step of
the research to enhance credibility and dependability. The peer debriefer of
the present study was himself an SCI and an interpreter trainer.
The credibility of the conclusions was also addressed by member
checking (Creswell, 1998). The general themes were sent via emails to three
participants as member checks. They replied after three days. None of them
disagreed with any theme and two of them mentioned some unnoticed points.
3. RESULTS
The coding process resulted in two dominant themes that could
represent the Iranian FSCIs’ experience: 1. Job-finding-experience, and 2.
On-the-job experience (Table 2). While some of the subthemes overlapped
with what has been portrayed in the existing literature, others could be viewed
as context-specific issues that might provide significant insight into the
contribution of contextual factors in a particular setting. In the following sub-
sections, the themes will be presented along with the related subthemes.
Some original data extracted from the narratives are presented in each sub-
section.
Themes
subthemes
Job-finding-experience
Unsolicited job offer
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Social capital
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On-the-job experience
Knowledge and skill demand
Preparation for a conference
Intrinsic satisfaction
Extrinsic satisfaction
The locus of the problem
Table 2: Themes and subthemes extracted from FSCIs' narratives
3.1 Job-finding-experience
Once the participants had introduced themselves, they began their
story describing the way they found their job. Job-finding experience as one
of the main themes contained three subthemes: unsolicited joboffer, social
capital, and advertisement.
Out of eight participants, four mentioned that they were not seeking jobs
and happened to be an FSCI. For instance, EN1 said:
I was doing hotel and hospitality courses when Mr. X, who taught
the English course on hospitality, asked me if I wanted to interpret
in conferences, and I said: "yes if I can, it would be really cool." You
see, I actually stumbled on the career.
He further emphasized, "I entered the job fortuitiously.” Another
participant, EN2, said, “I entered into the conferences for accompanying
foreign guests, and then was chosen for simultaneous interpreting.” Although
he did not deny the role of his interest, he explained he did not look for the
job, but the job came after him.
EN3 shared his experience of job finding by reporting:
…I saw Mr. Y came and said, 'Run, Run!' I asked, 'Why?' He added,
'don’t ask anything. I'm telling you just come with me'. Well, literally,
he pushed me into the studio, put the headphones on my ears,
and…. I asked, ‘What is all this about?' He said I should run the
program. I said, 'No way!' He said, ‘We have heard you can… start,
I know you can'. That was the beginning of my experience as a CI.
Having social capital was the reported experience of three participants.
In this regard, EN6 stressed the role of having job contacts in finding a job for
translators in Iran:
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See, it is the matter of having relations and connections, um....you
know, what matters is who you know. I was introduced by one of my
friends who has been doing conference interpreting for over eight
years in Tehran. And, there is more to it than that; even that friend
of mine had contacts who could match him to the job.
EN5, the only participant who had attended certificate interpreting
programs, said:
Well, sure, I was interested in the job, but as to how I entered, I came
across a job advertisement in the Hamshahri newspaper. The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs needed an interpreter, and I took the
exams.
On the one hand, the above narratives highlight that rather than using
a systematic hiring process, most FSCI employers use informal methods and
channels for hiring interpreters. On the other hand, not all interpreters are
employed based on their knowledge and skills. This can imply that employers
may perceive the job as a low-skilled job. Although these narratives can be
interpreted as if the employers are prone to simply trust the interpreters’ skills
and knowledge, paying close attention to the way employers’ behavior is
reported can indicate that interpretation is viewed as a career that can be
immediately available without any effective candidate evaluation process.
3.2. On-the-Job experience
The second emerged theme was the participants’ experience of
working as an FSCI in Iran. As shown in Table 2, the theme contained five
subthemes: knowledge and skill demand, preparation for a conference,
intrinsic job satisfaction, extrinsic job satisfaction, and the locus of the
problem.
The participants had mixed responses about whether interpreting
requires professional knowledge and skill. While most of the participants (n=5)
stated that the job requires formal education to be offered by professionals,
three participants seemed to perceive interpreting as an occupation that can
be performed by any near bilingual requiring no special training. Concerning
the knowledge and skill demand of the job, EN5 reported:
I took and passed professional translation and interpreting courses,
for around seven years… [it started] before my first experience, and
continued even after I started as an FSCI. It is not what most people
and interpreters think. You need training; you need to acquire some
skills and develop them, for example, how to deal with ideological
issues. The point is that, unfortunately, we don’t have anything as
on-the-job training courses for interpreters in Iran.
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AR1 and EN4 gave prominence to the role of being professionally
trained, obtaining qualifications by attending programs at the university level,
and meeting the technical requirements of interpreting activity. AR1 said:
I need to know what to do in a particular situation when I encounter
problems; see, it is a decision-making process; the decisions cannot
be made off-the-cuff. I mean, you have to decide what to do
instantly, but you should be able to say why you made that decision.
EN2 said he did not assume the job requires a high level of
specialized knowledge and skill. He explained:
I liked to enter into the field, but I did not mean simultaneous
interpreting; I mean, tourism and taking tourists and stuff like that
was something I was interested in, but to be honest, I think, although
my degree has nothing to do with translation and interpreting, I am
doing as well as my other colleagues. I think since my major was
literature, I am even a better option because, usually, English
literature students have a better command of English.
The narratives describe the mixed perceptions of the participants with
regard to their job as an occupation or profession.
Preparation for conferences was another reported aspect of their on-the-job
experience. The participants mentioned the significance of having time to
familiarize themselves with the subject matter, content, and specialized
terminology of the conference theme. Concerning preparation, two positions
were found in the narratives.
A group of them (n=4) acknowledged the importance of pre-
conference preparation and having general ideas about the topic, but reported
they agreed to run a conference without this requirement being met, and even
if they are asked to do so on short notice. Most of the participants in this group
agreed that periods as short as a week are not enough for an interpreter to
prepare her/himself for a conference the theme of which is new to her/him.
For example, EN4 said:
Interpreters are not walking encyclopedias; I know I cannot, um, be
a good interpreter in economics, a good interpreter in politics, or
science. If in a conference, um, these are not treated as separate
areas requiring different interpreters, the result won’t be good. But, I
honestly accept any offer on whatever topic and whenever it comes.
AR2 stated:
Interpreters should have information about the topic of the
conference. For example, if I go, um, to the ambassadors of the
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Middle East countries, to interpret a conference there, ... well I have
to know how things are in the Middle East; what is, for example,
Iraq's position on, um, a particular issue; what do Palestinians say,
what do Syrians say, what do Iranians say…. In reality, we do not
know who the speaker is; we do not have any manuscript;
sometimes, we prepare ourselves by looking through a list of words
related to the conference topic.
The tendency to accept interpreting in conferences without preparation
might be attributed to their willingness to estimate their abilities and their
intention to improve their interpreting skills by experiencing different situations.
Although not overtly mentioned, their tendency can equally be attributed to
their motivation for making money. In this regard, EN1 said:
I feel simultaneous interpreters in other countries have a better
situation than us. I feel the reason is that, um…, they do it more
regularly than us, … they are put in the situation more frequently,
and this helps them, … um, to feel comfortable to have words
ready,… um, … but we [interpreters] cannot do anything to have
more conferences, if there are more conferences that’s ok but, the
interpreters, if they had free time, they could work on their
interpreting performance.
The participant believed that there are a limited number of
conferences in Iran. On the other hand, he stated that they need to experience
real situations to become more proficient.
The second group (n=4), though, explained they would agree to
interpret only when they are familiar with the topic of the conference and have
enough time to prepare themselves in advance. EN2 shared his anger with
some conference organizers:
We tell those who call us if your conference’s subject is specific, you
should tell us a week or two earlier and specify the subject; tell us
its specific domain. Sending just some power points is not always
enough, or for example, don’t say psychology, the psychology of
what, and then we’ll tell you if this is our job or not, and if it is, we
need time to get ready for the task.
What is inferred from the narrative is that FSCIs do not regularly
receive the related documents; if they do, they do not have sufficient time to
cover them and study some relevant supporting materials.
Apart from the experience of conference interpretation, the narratives
revealed some characteristics of FSC interpreting in Iran that provoke degrees
of job appraisal, which was named intrinsic job satisfaction. Three features of
interpreting were put under the on-the-job sub-theme: the job brings them self-
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confidence, gives them pleasure and contentment, and makes them
experience self-worth.
For example, EN3 said, "the job involves a good amount of travel to
different parts of the country and it is good and it is fantastic." EN4 stated that:
Simultaneous interpreting gives you a good feeling, when um, you
have a large number of audience, … it feels good, you are proud of
yourself because you think you are introducing a concept to a large
number of people who don’t know [it] or know a little about it, and
the result is that you are motivated to stay in the job.
Moreover, half of the participants (n=4) stated their satisfaction with
the job because they thought it boosts their confidence. AR2 said:
In my opinion, it (interpreting) is really useful for getting more and
more self-confidence, … um, well, especially if the interpreter, is in
a situation that, [s/he can be] among people, this boosts her/his self-
confidence, gives her/him a good feeling, you feel your job is
necessary to these events.
The above-mentioned responses might imply that they perceive this
job as a means for self-empowerment and self-esteem to manage and satisfy
their in-built need for development. In fact, intrinsic job satisfaction can be
perceived to be derived from those factors which instigate self-
accomplishment.
Notwithstanding the features that give causes for job satisfaction, they
referred to some external features attributable to issues such as workplace
stress, low income, and the sense of thinking positively of oneself.
Interestingly, the analysis of the narratives demonstrated, unlike intrinsic
features of interpreting, extrinsic features are less closely linked with job
satisfaction.
One source of dissatisfaction was occupational stress, i.e., the tension
they experience when interpreting at a conference. They also accentuated the
impact of heavy workload and busy schedule on their stress level. For
instance, EN3 commented, “Sometimes, there is a heavy workload, … I
remember, once I wanted to say something else but since I was tired and
under high pressure, I couldn’t clearly say the phrase and the meaning
changed and it caused trouble.”
The adverse effect of stress on the quality of interpreting has also been
mentioned by Pochhacker (2003). In the member check process, one of the
participants stated that occupational stress could be a positive and enjoyable
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factor if only professional working situation and facilities could be provided in
a conference.
The occupational stress and the existing working situation discourages
many interpretation volunteers from entering into the adventure, as believed
by some participants. EN4 revealed an interesting point about novice
interpreters, “I know many people who, on seeing the working condition,
decide they want neither its bounty nor its haughty.”
Almost all the participants (n=7) believed FSC interpreting in Iran is a
low-paid job. The participants expected their demanding job to be balanced
against a fair income. AR2 pointed out:
As for the payment, I think the facts speak for themselves. I don’t
know many interpreters who can live their lives just by interpreting.
As far as I know, interpreting is not a full-time job for many Iranian
people.” EN6, the only participant whose main occupation was
interpretation, added, “the payment is not fixed, and it is not
reasonable; moreover, most translators and interpreters are on
zero-hour contracts; they are invited to interpret when required,
when there is an international conference. And, as you may know,
there is no insurance.
However, some common concepts emerged from the participants’
responses, which rooted in their satisfaction with the honor, repest, and
prestige attached to the job. For example, interpreters reported that in Iran,
they receive public respect. At least people recognize the value of their career
and consider it as a high-status job. EN4 reported:
In comparison to translators, interpreters are more respected and
valued in Iran because not only interpreting is more difficult than
translation, but also everyone who knows a little bit of a foreign
language tries his hand in translation, but not in interpreting.
AR2 said, "We are treated as high-rank officials, thank God, they
(people) respect us, and I think this is the nice part of the job.”
The last subtheme, the locus of the problem, emerged from those part
of the participants’ narration which reflected what gives rise to the challenges
they face in their workplace in the context of Iran. All the extracted data
collated to generate the sub-theme revealed that they referred to the
challenges they face in their workplace and, in the end, put forward their
hypotheses as to the source of the problems. The subtheme was extracted
from four codes: misconception of the hiring staff, workplace culture,
interpreters, and training courses.
198 Inside Iranian Freelance Simultaneous Conference Interpreters’ Experience
Hikma 19 (2) (2020), 183 – 206
The first code refers to how the hiring staff or the conference organizers
view interpreters and interpreting (n=6). For this group of people, as the
participants reported, interpreters are those human beings who know more
than a language, are responsible for everything that goes wrong in the
conference, do not have a significant role in the conference, and do not
deserve to be paid much.
In this regard, EN4 shared his frustration with most of the conference
organizers in Iran:
Well, the point is that we do receive little attention from our bosses
and organizers. They never appreciate us and the things we do; they
underestimate us. If we just say something, I mean if there is any
objection from interpreters, the organizers retort: “that’s the way it
is," or "this is not such a big deal,” and sort of ‘you are not moving
mountain here,' "if you cannot do this, there are lots of other people
out there to be called for interpreting.”
In the narratives of the participants, the researchers could find parts that
could depict the dominant culture of the workplace. Almost all the participants’
descriptions of their working experience exhibited references to some
intractable problems traceable in the workplace culture of Iran. The features
could be attributed to the mental constructs of people involved in the working
world rather than technical issues. Non-synergistic bend of mind, result-
orientedness, valuing quiet interpreters, competition spirit, and lack of
systematic incentive system were the salient sources of the problem.
With regard to the non-synergistic bend of mind on the part of the people
involved, the participants (n=5) directly or indirectly stated that Iranian are not
good at mutual collaboration; they mostly fail in teamwork, and do not know
how much collaboration may contribute to their up-datedness.
Almost half of the narratives reflected taking the process for granted and
overlooking its role in improving quality. EN6, for example, mentioned:
I have been doing interpretation for four years, and I have not seen
anyone care about howness; all they are concerned about is the
result of our job. If we make a mistake, no one cares about the
reason behind it to prevent something bad. They don’t ask you if you
can run the program for two hours non-stop, if you need anything, if
you have any problem, nothing.
Three participants pointed out that those interpreters who do not say
anything and quietly do what they are assigned to do are valuable assets. AR1
said, “as soon as you object, you become the bad guy, you know, they don’t
come to you for conferences anymore, they like silent employees.”
Mehrnoosh Fakharzadeh y Simin Kazemi 199
Hikma 19 (2) (2020), 183 – 206
Two expressed their resentment against the dominant culture of
encouraging competition in all the institutions. EN4 mentioned:
Here, as you know, since our childhood, we are, sort of, encouraged
to compete with our friends, we are always compared with each
other; if our parents, or now our bosses want to make us change or
improve ourselves, they compare us with others. Another thing is
that, instead of exchanging information, we hide new information
from each other. If I am successful in my job, I don’t say what I do.
The participants’ descriptions indicate the internalized shared values
that shape the core of workplace culture in Iran. Their experience might imply
the orientation of people involved in the conference interpreting could strongly
affect the task of interpreting.
While the participants mentioned a range of problems faced by
interpreters in Iran, they (n=5) agreed that the interpreters themselves can be
the source of, at least, some challenges. On the one hand, they confessed
that most of them do not have an excellent command of their B language and
are not professionally skilled; on the other hand, they do not even try to
improve their skills. Moreover, they stated they do not demand reasonable
wages and refrain from their voice being heard so much so that employers do
not take them and their career seriously.
EN3 shared what once happened in a conference:
…. she was interpreting; everything was going smoothly at the
conference until, towards the end of the event, the host said, in
Persian: lotfan sokhanran azizemun ra babate sokhanrani
amoozandeshoon tashvigh befarmaeed (lets’ put our hands
together for Mr. X and his informative speech). The interpreter
translated like: Now let's encourage our speaker for his informative
speech. She mixed up this Tashvigh konid (applause) with that one
(encourage). What do you think happened next? Nothing. Cases like
this happened in the future. She knows her English is not enough;
still, she does nothing. She never asks for help.
EN5 emphasized:
Employers don’t have a real understanding of the job; once an
employer compared me to Google Translate.” But, he added, “What
you see is the result of translators’ and interpreters’ actions, they
present themselves as weak figures, so they would say, “people use
Google Translate, so, you translators and interpreters can do the
same?
EN2 had a similar opinion:
200 Inside Iranian Freelance Simultaneous Conference Interpreters’ Experience
Hikma 19 (2) (2020), 183 – 206
We are busy, everyone is, but we do not plan for our self-
development, we do not even ask what some of our successful
colleagues do; sometimes, I fell we shirk our responsibilities, it is
obviously in our own interest to change ourselves, we need to move
on.
The fourth extracted code addressed the shortcomings embedded in
the system of training. Those interpreters (n=3) with a translation academic
background raised the issue, describing that at the BA level, they pass many
theoretical courses without knowing how to apply them in their translation
practice. They also insisted their teachers mostly neither were translators nor
had an academic degree in Translation/Interpreting Studies. Another reported
shortcoming was the teaching approach in translation courses where the
teachers mostly asked the students to read their translation to be later
commented by the teacher or peers. EN1 and EN3 emphasized that they do
not have any hands-on practice, experience, or an interpreting practicum.
Almost all the participants started the job with low mastery of interpreting skills.
It is only after years of working in this field that the participants believed they
have discovered the reality of the working situations and build up a true-to-life
perception of interpreting.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The narratives of the participants outline the inextricable
interconnection of social, cultural, and institutional context with the working
experience of interpreters. They can describe how their experience is shaped
and influenced by contextual factors.
The major themes of the study, i.e., job-finding experience and on-the-
job experience, can boil down to one overarching meta-theme of
‘interpretation as a non-professional job.’ The results of the present study,
which intended to obtain a general picture of what it is like to be an FSCI in
Iran, portray freelance interpreters as non-professionals with the term 'non-
professional' carrying a range of connotations.
Their job-finding experience (see section 3.1) and conference
preparation stories construct the image of conference interpretation as an “ad
hoc” event (Buhrig & Meyer, 2004) in Iran, suggesting that interpreting can be
conducted by whoever available in the immediate situation. This can also be
supported by the way interpreters are recruited without any regular external
procedure or, even without an intentional job-seeking experience and
predefined job requirements. The results are in line with Katan (2011) and
Whyatt’s (2017) account that in many countries, translation and interpretation
are inclined to be considered as a non-professional performance since formal
qualifications or licencing are not required.
Mehrnoosh Fakharzadeh y Simin Kazemi 201
Hikma 19 (2) (2020), 183 – 206
The account of FSCIs may reflect another connotation, i.e., language
brokering, carried by non-professional job in Iran, which can be conducted by
bilingual adults. This might be drawn from those parts of the narratives which
depict conference interpretation for interpreters and conference organizers as
mediation: it lacks institutional support; it does not require planning for
preparation; it can run for a long time; more and more experience results in
their skill development and boosts the interpreters’ confidence (Esquivel,
2012; Orellana, 2017); some reasonable command of two languages and
some mastery over some technical terminologies and messages suffice to do
the tasks. The findings of the current study are also consistent with those of
Han (2015), who found that most interpreters experienced ‘last-minute
preparation’ mode while expecting ‘advance preparation’ (Gile, 2002).
The mixed responses of the participants as to the knowledge and skill
demand of interpreting together with the misconception of the hiring staff who
perceive interpreters as any bilingual who can transmit the message across
languages represent another aspect of non-professional view on
interpretation. In fact, the stories tell us the people involved in interpreting
occupation in Iran regard the task as an ability rather than competence or
proficiency (Whyatt, 2017) that “goes beyond the sum of the two language
proficiencies” (p.53). As can be seen from the statements, among various
defining traits of a profession (Weiss-Gal & Welbourne, 2008), knowledge
base, skill, and academic study were the traits that make the bulk of
interpreting profession for the participants.
The features that pictured the job as non-professional can be
summarized as follows:
a. relying on social capitals rather than meet some predefined criteria
for entering into the field,
b. enjoying no professional autonomy to make job-related decisions and
being obliged to follow what organizers, who are not themselves insiders to
the profession, expect them,
c. not being remunerated for what they do, and
d. imposing no restriction on receiving professional education in a
higher education system that provides the required distinctive knowledge,
skill, and expertise.
As to the on-the-job experience of the participants, the narratives
suggest that some intrinsic and extrinsic factors might contribute to their
perception of interpreting. Among the intrinsic determinants of job satisfaction,
Herzberg (1966) introduced, namely sense of success, sense of importance
to the organization, the nature of work itself, responsibility, and growth, and
extrinsic determinants, i.e., salary and benefits, job security, working
conditions, supervision, and interpersonal relationships at work, some were
202 Inside Iranian Freelance Simultaneous Conference Interpreters’ Experience
Hikma 19 (2) (2020), 183 – 206
mentioned by the participants. The narratives revealed the conference
interpreters' positive reception by the public as the only extrinsic determinant
that could be interpreted as a motivator. Low levels of income and challenging
working conditions though were sources of their job dissatisfaction. The
stories also indicated they value their job because it has some glamorous
working factors (Dam & Zethsen, 2013) that bring them self-worth and self-
confidence. These results partly match those observed in the literature. In line
with Dam and Zethsen (2013), FSCIs in the current study could be interpreted
to enjoy moderate to high status due to the supposed appealing lifestyle.
However, the job cannot be considered a high-paid job, and this has been
reported as a factor that can be linked to the economic sources of job
dissatisfaction.
The participants ascribed the problems partly to their workplace culture.
As the members of an organization, interpreters, hiring staff, and organizers,
all share values manifested in the practice of the group and shaping the
perceptions and attitudes of the members. From the narratives of the FSCIs,
one can see how the stakeholders involved in the field commonly
misconceived interpretation. In fact, workplace culture cannot be considered
in isolation from national culture, societal culture, and the goals of an
organization (Johnson, Chy & Killough, 2009). As misconceived as
interpretation is by the hiring staff, the participants’ non-professional
viewpoints of the nature of the practice deserve attention, and the results are
in line with Johnson et al. (2009: 321) who suggest that workplace culture has
"greater influence over work styles and perspectives than an organization’s
procedures and pólices.”
Overall, the findings of the present study are consistent with much of
the existing literature on interpreters’ occupational status, expectation, and
self-perception, while providing a broader perspective on the contribution of
contextual factors in the quality and experience of interpreting in Iran.
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206 Inside Iranian Freelance Simultaneous Conference Interpreters’ Experience
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Code
Gender
Age
Education
Years of
Experience
Main
Occupation
EN1
Male
32
B.A. in
Translation
4
EN*
Teacher
EN2
Male
33
M.A in
English
Literature
4
EN Teacher
EN3
Male
45
M.A in other
majors -
B.A. in
translation
10
News
Translator
EN4
Male
46
B.A. in
Translation
13
News
Translator
AR1
Male
47
M.A. in other
majors
10
News
Translator
EN5
Male
47
Ph. D. in
TEFL
14
EN Teacher
AR2
Male
48
M.A. in other
majors
16
News
Translator
EN6
Female
34
Ph. D. in
TEFL
4
Interpreter
Themes
subthemes
Job-finding-experience
Unintended job offer
Social capital Advertisement
On-the-job experience
Knowledge and skill demand
Preparation for a conference Intrinsic satisfaction
Extrinsic satisfaction
The locus of the problems
Misconception of the hiring staff
Workplace culture Interpreters Training
courses