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Abstract

This study examined constructs such as occupational stress, stress factors, sources of motivation, job satisfaction and coping behaviours in the context of professional translation. Self-report instruments, incorporated into an online-based questionnaire, were used in this research to investigate, and account for, ‘stressed but happy translator’ phenomenon, established in translation literature. Forty-eight professional translators, members of the Chartered Institute of Linguists’ Translation Division, participated in the study by completing the survey. The respondents were found to be moderately stressed and a fair positive relationship between the level of their self-perceived work-related stress and its effects was established. Stress was mostly experienced as distress, with fatigue being its most commonly experienced symptom, although there was also some evidence of positive impact of stress. Professional translation was found to have the potential to fulfil basic psychological needs of professional translators, i.e. their needs for autonomy and competence, leading to their enhanced job satisfaction. Low scores relating to the need of relatedness suggested that there was an issue with the immediate social context in professional translation. The inverse relationship between job satisfaction and stress, evident in translation literature, was also established. Enhanced stress levels were the response to the external pressures present in professional translation, with turnaround times, translation rates, the pressure to accept unsuitable and the effect of work on private life being the most salient stress factors. The respondents were found to be intrinsically motivated and a high degree of self-determination established coincided with their proved propensity to use task-oriented behaviours in response to work-related demands.

Course: Translation Studies - MA/PGD - C0680

Date Deposited: 2024-02-06

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14367.html