Who said low status? A study on factors affecting the perception of translator status

Abstract

This article is a follow-up to a questionnaire-based investigation on the status of Danish company translators reported on elsewhere (Dam and Zethsen 2008). In the present study we focus on the so-called clear low-status and clear high-status ratings found in the questionnaire data. These ratings are matched with the respondents’ answers to a series of questions aimed at eliciting information about a variety of parameters relating to their demographic and professional profiles, working conditions, attitudes, etc, with a view to identifying possible correlations. On this basis we identify some of the factors which seem to affect the perception of translator status, i.e. some of the possible reasons for low- and high-status evaluations. The analysed sample is too small to allow definite conclusions, but a series of preliminary hypotheses are put forward, especially as regards the sources of the seemingly general perception of translation as a low-status profession.