Interpreters have performed various interpretation tasks such as simultaneous interpretation, consecutive interpretation, relay interpretation, and whispering interpretation. However, in recent years, interpreters have been expanding their activities to other areas beyond the existing career boundary. The treatment of interpreters has not improved over time, and there seems to be an oversupply in the interpretation market. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to analyze the motivation for the expansion of the area of interpreters and to examine the direction in which they expanded.
This study aims at addressing the following questions: first, in what direction did the expanding career boundary of the interpreter occur; second, what is the motivation behind the expanding career boundary of the interpreter.
In the process of addressing the first question, I used an ethnography research using SNS and websites. A total of 75 job holders were identified through the researching.
In the process of addressing the second question, I selected 11 people from the sample identified through the previous ethnography researching and conducted an in-depth interview.
The key results are as follows. All interpreters who expanded the career boundary expanded to language-based areas. In terms of job satisfaction, most of the interpreters mentioned that interpretation work is a supporting role, not a leading role in all tasks. As well, this has an effect on the expansion of the career boundary. Interpreters who have expanded their career boundary so far have confirmed their willingness to challenge to expand their scope to new jobs similar to those that have been expanded or have been experienced in the past.
Through this study, it was found that many interpreters are expanding their career boundary by doing self-PR. In addition, it could be seen that interpreters not only broaden the scope of their activities through expansion of their career boundaries, and achieve job satisfaction together, but also share their experiences and knowledge in various ways. In the end, it was derived that the motivation for career boundary expansion was influenced by the surrounding environment beyond just the individual factor of an interpreter.
I hope the research will contribute to triggering deeper discussion on the expanding career boundary of interpreter and to presenting a cornerstone of more diverse studies.