Low Social Status, High Individual Status: Turkish Translators in the State and Private Sectors

Abstract

The translation literature indicates a negative perception regarding the translator status and the translation profession. This study aims to explore how the state and private sector translators’ social, symbolic, cultural capital and translatorial habitus are related to their self-perceptions of status as a professional group in Turkey. With this aim in mind, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with thirteen translators who work in the state and private sectors in Turkey. The results of the interviews are discussed in the light of Pierre Bourdieu’s key concepts of capital and habitus. According to the findings of the study, translation is not still a fully established profession in Turkey. The findings also indicate that translators don't assign the same value to all the capital forms. Especially the possession of a distinctive cultural capital in an unregulated field leads them to develop a professional habitus of proud, satisfied, committed experts. In light of the qualitative findings this study argues that the social negative narratives regarding the translation profession in Turkey clash with the translators’ personal narratives in terms of their social, symbolic, cultural capital and translatorial habitus.