Looking for interview partners on translator self-image Thread poster: Caroline Mocza
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Hello everyone,
my name is Caroline, and I am looking for interview partners for a small empirical study for my BA paper. I am a translation student in Vienna, Austria, and am interested in how translators see themselves and their role in society, not in small part to get an idea of my own possible future in this profession.
The interview should last around 30 minutes, depending on the individual.
I am looking for translators working with written text, with a minimum of... See more Hello everyone,
my name is Caroline, and I am looking for interview partners for a small empirical study for my BA paper. I am a translation student in Vienna, Austria, and am interested in how translators see themselves and their role in society, not in small part to get an idea of my own possible future in this profession.
The interview should last around 30 minutes, depending on the individual.
I am looking for translators working with written text, with a minimum of 5 years experience who are making most of their living from it. Both of these criteria must be met.
I have around 3 topics/ questions to discuss:
- your personal self-concept and perceived social role as a translator
- your perceived agency/ power as a translator
- how you face the future with AI powered translation
The interview can take place either through Zoom or in person in Vienna, Austria within the next two weeks.
Your help would be greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to responses:
c.mocza@tutanota.com or through whatsapp: +4368120393885 ▲ Collapse
| | | | | No need to spend 30 minutes | Jul 14 |
I'll volunteer my (admittedly curmudgeonly) answers right here:
1. I don't need any self-concept and don't care about my social role.
2. I think I know languages and how to use them.
3. I don't think I am facing it. When high quality is required, AI-powered translation is failing miserably, and if its development remains guided by the same kind of people as those who are guiding it today, it is likely to keep failing for a couple of decades to come.
| | | | Lingua 5B 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 23:58
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| She won’t get paid | Jul 15 |
Anton Konashenok wrote:
I'll volunteer my (admittedly curmudgeonly) answers right here:
1. I don't need any self-concept and don't care about my social role.
2. I think I know languages and how to use them.
3. I don't think I am facing it. When high quality is required, AI-powered translation is failing miserably, and if its development remains guided by the same kind of people as those who are guiding it today, it is likely to keep failing for a couple of decades to come.
She’ll only get paid if it’s done through Zoom (maybe recorded too?). The participant should also get paid, but no mention of it anywhere.
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Lingua 5B wrote:
Anton Konashenok wrote:
I'll volunteer my (admittedly curmudgeonly) answers right here:
1. I don't need any self-concept and don't care about my social role.
2. I think I know languages and how to use them.
3. I don't think I am facing it. When high quality is required, AI-powered translation is failing miserably, and if its development remains guided by the same kind of people as those who are guiding it today, it is likely to keep failing for a couple of decades to come.
She’ll only get paid if it’s done through Zoom (maybe recorded too?). The participant should also get paid, but no mention of it anywhere.
Why would she get paid if it's for a bachelor's thesis? Bachelor's students will also not have a budget for paying participants unless their thesis project is embedded within a larger, funded research project that would be able to pay for it.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 23:58
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Rita Translator wrote:
Lingua 5B wrote:
Anton Konashenok wrote:
I'll volunteer my (admittedly curmudgeonly) answers right here:
1. I don't need any self-concept and don't care about my social role.
2. I think I know languages and how to use them.
3. I don't think I am facing it. When high quality is required, AI-powered translation is failing miserably, and if its development remains guided by the same kind of people as those who are guiding it today, it is likely to keep failing for a couple of decades to come.
She’ll only get paid if it’s done through Zoom (maybe recorded too?). The participant should also get paid, but no mention of it anywhere.
Why would she get paid if it's for a bachelor's thesis? Bachelor's students will also not have a budget for paying participants unless their thesis project is embedded within a larger, funded research project that would be able to pay for it.
Because it’s through Zoom and it’s a different type of research.
Why not using a form?
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I would be happy to do it but I am too much of an outlier to be statistically significant.
Oh, and I wouldn’t expect to be paid🙄
[Edited at 2024-07-15 07:07 GMT]
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Lingua 5B wrote:
Rita Translator wrote:
Lingua 5B wrote:
Anton Konashenok wrote:
I'll volunteer my (admittedly curmudgeonly) answers right here:
1. I don't need any self-concept and don't care about my social role.
2. I think I know languages and how to use them.
3. I don't think I am facing it. When high quality is required, AI-powered translation is failing miserably, and if its development remains guided by the same kind of people as those who are guiding it today, it is likely to keep failing for a couple of decades to come.
She’ll only get paid if it’s done through Zoom (maybe recorded too?). The participant should also get paid, but no mention of it anywhere.
Why would she get paid if it's for a bachelor's thesis? Bachelor's students will also not have a budget for paying participants unless their thesis project is embedded within a larger, funded research project that would be able to pay for it.
Because it’s through Zoom and it’s a different type of research.
Why not using a form?
Zoom is just the virtual option she's offering for people not in Vienna. She doesn't mean she's being paid by Zoom to do it.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 23:58
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Rita Translator wrote:
Lingua 5B wrote:
Rita Translator wrote:
Lingua 5B wrote:
Anton Konashenok wrote:
I'll volunteer my (admittedly curmudgeonly) answers right here:
1. I don't need any self-concept and don't care about my social role.
2. I think I know languages and how to use them.
3. I don't think I am facing it. When high quality is required, AI-powered translation is failing miserably, and if its development remains guided by the same kind of people as those who are guiding it today, it is likely to keep failing for a couple of decades to come.
She’ll only get paid if it’s done through Zoom (maybe recorded too?). The participant should also get paid, but no mention of it anywhere.
Why would she get paid if it's for a bachelor's thesis? Bachelor's students will also not have a budget for paying participants unless their thesis project is embedded within a larger, funded research project that would be able to pay for it.
Because it’s through Zoom and it’s a different type of research.
Why not using a form?
Zoom is just the virtual option she's offering for people not in Vienna. She doesn't mean she's being paid by Zoom to do it.
There are many translators in Vienna she could meet and have a chat.
Have you ever had a 30-minute interview on Zoom? Are you aware of how dense it can get? I was paying people for Zoom interview and still got comments from them in the end such as “thank God this is over”.
I wouldn’t exactely run all happy to be interviewed by someone who isn’t even a verified site user.
[Edited at 2024-07-15 07:18 GMT]
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| reasonable explanations | Jul 15 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
There are many translators in Vienna she could meet and have a chat.
Have you ever had a 30-minute interview on Zoom? Are you aware of how dense it can get? I was paying people for Zoom interview and still got comments from them in the end such as “thank God this is over”.
I wouldn’t exactely run all happy to be interviewed by someone who isn’t even a verified site user.
[Edited at 2024-07-15 07:18 GMT]
1. Just interviewing translators in Vienna won't give her a very representative sample
2. I've had Zoom interviews before - this was just a request, no one is being forced to do anything. I was trying to clarify that it's not surprising there's no payment because she's a bachelor's student working on their final thesis. Zoom doesn't provide anyone with funding just for using its software to conduct interviews.
3. Because she's still a student, I'm also not at all surprised that she's not a verified site user. If that's a warning sign for you, though, then don't contact her.
You seem to be wanting to cast a lot of doubt on whether this is legit. It's fine to be skeptical, but it would be too bad to shoot down her attempt at getting some participants for her research when there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for not being a verified user and not offering any payment.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 23:58
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Her original post says it’s for BA paper, and her profile says she already earned BA and is working toward her MA. Data mismatch, which one is true?
[Edited at 2024-07-15 07:39 GMT]
| | | | Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 23:58
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
I find the remark that she will be paid for the interview is rather hostile. She won't be paid. Anyway, if she would, than why would using Zoom make a difference? She needs Zoom because of the flexibility in an eye-to-eye interview.
[Edited at 2024-07-15 11:39 GMT]
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 23:58
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Because she has a sponsor? | Jul 15 |
AI sponsors this type of stuff (I know because I had been offered the exact same thing), and the payment was quite high, but I turned it down.
Or was it a coincidence that the project I had been offered had the exact same questions, also through Zoom?
[Edited at 2024-07-15 12:16 GMT]
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Caroline Mocza
Austria
Local time: 23:58
English to German
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TOPIC STARTER | Thank you for engaging with my request | Jul 15 |
Thank you everyone for engaging with my request. I am quite new using Proz, so I haven't figured it all out yet. I'm a translation student and have only recently started freelancing on the side to gain experience, that is why I am not verified yet. ProZ was recommend by one of my professors and I thought it would be a good resource to find practicing translators for my research.
As Rita Translator has pointed out, this project is only for my BA thesis, not part of any funded or spon... See more Thank you everyone for engaging with my request. I am quite new using Proz, so I haven't figured it all out yet. I'm a translation student and have only recently started freelancing on the side to gain experience, that is why I am not verified yet. ProZ was recommend by one of my professors and I thought it would be a good resource to find practicing translators for my research.
As Rita Translator has pointed out, this project is only for my BA thesis, not part of any funded or sponsored project and also not affiliated with Zoom in any way, I am not being paid for anything. That is why I haven't offered to pay for these interviews. I understand it might be an incentive, but from my position as a student to the interviewee's position having an active income it would seem a bit unbalanced for me. I only want to ask a few questions from practicing translators, and I'm choosing the interview method to get more in-depth, personal answers rather than a form or questionnaire or only relying on published research. It does not necessarily have to be very long.
Thanks again for your active engagement! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Caroline Mocza
Austria
Local time: 23:58
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Christopher Schröder wrote:
I would be happy to do it but I am too much of an outlier to be statistically significant.
Oh, and I wouldn’t expect to be paid🙄
[Edited at 2024-07-15 07:07 GMT]
Dear Christopher,
what do you mean by being too much of an outlier? Any practicing translator with experience, making their income from translation, would be a relevant source for my study.
All the best
| | | | Michael Hughes
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:58
Member (2022)
Japanese to English
+ ...
| Statistical significance would only be relevant... | Jul 15 |
Christopher Schröder wrote:
I would be happy to do it but I am too much of an outlier to be statistically significant.
Oh, and I wouldn’t expect to be paid🙄
[Edited at 2024-07-15 07:07 GMT]
..... if it were a quantitative study, whereas this (judging by the description) is almost certainly qualitative. The goal is to do a deep dive into different translators' thinking and motivations in order to get rich insight. It doesn't have to be a representative sample.
I wish I could interview you Chris!
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