What do we know about translators' job satisfaction?

What is it about?

This is the first overview of research into translators’ job satisfaction (overall and selected aspects) and factors associated with it. Based on 51 articles, we explore what previous studies have to say about the individual, job-intrinsic, job-extrinsic, societal and demographic factors. We establish that overall, translators are fairly or quite satisfied with their job, and that this can be linked to aspects such as emotional intelligence, the nature of translating itself, autonomy, a sense of recognition, and rewarding professional contacts. In contrast, industrialization and technologization mainly emerge as causes of dissatisfaction. Interestingly, while psychological research into job satisfaction finds that self-employed workers tend to have higher job satisfaction, the case among translators was not so clearcut. The studies have mainly focused on job-intrinsic and job-extrinsic factors, so there is a lot of room for further research into psychological, societal and socio-cultural factors. More attention should also be paid to the sources of satisfaction among translators working in different contexts and specializations.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

The translation and language industry is currently undergoing rapid changes in terms of technology and business models. If the industry is to continue to thrive, committed translators who can adapt and perform optimally in changing situations will play a crucial role. As satisfied employees are also committed employees and this affects organizational performance (Spector 2022, Ch. 6), the industry needs to pay more attention to translators’ concerns about the way their work is changing and give translators more say about their work.