Born or Made? An Overview of the Social Status and Professional Training of Hungarian Interpreters in Romania

Abstract

There is a recurrent debate in the scholarly literature on interpreting studies: are interpreters made or bom? While classical interpreting schools state that great interpreters are bom and that formation and development is of a secondary importance, the newest publications on this topic place a much greater stress on the formation and development of interpreting abilities, skills, and competences. The latest results also challenge several ideas and stereotypes concerning the personality and attitudes of interpreters. This article outlines the position and situation regarding Hungarian interpreters in Romania with a special regard to the legal framework, and to the present state of professional training. The study also discusses why interpreters of Hungarian are much more likely to be bom in Romania, and not made, (a factor that hinders the professionalization of Hungarian interpreters in Romania). Equally significant are the legislative loopholes which enable untrained individuals to perform interpreting activities (even economic activities), the result of which is a significantly poorer image of the profession, and a lowering of the quality of work it produces. We also give a short overview of the translation and interpreting programmes. As the majority of the Hungarian population in Romania reside in Transylvania, we confine our overview to Transylvanian universities.