Abstract
Chapter 5 addresses the relationships between online social media (OSM) and the professional translation market, and, more specifically, how professional translators are leveraging OSM in creative – and sometimes surprisingly lucrative and beneficial – ways. The chapter lists some of the ways in which translators self-describe their work and their self-perceived role(s) on various OSM platforms, with emphasis given to activity on LinkedIn. Research in translation studies has sought to ‘unveil’ the very people – the translators – who have helped disseminate knowledge and culture such that they be seen and recognized for their contributions. While this chapter explores the positive aspects associated with translators’ digital presence, it also calls into question the potential pitfalls of this ‘digital visibility’. Could the translation tweets, statuses and other forms of user-generated content not also paradoxically contribute to the translator’s invisibility?
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- 1.
‘It is also true that [TS] has in some places been colonized by language departments driven by the perceived attractiveness of academic teaching programmes centred on the practice of translation but harbouring their own academic prejudices. Ironically, this has also worsened the artificial gap between practice and theory.’ (Munday 2012, p. 25; emphasis in original)
- 2.
The definition of ‘discourse’ used here aligns the definition proposed by Candlin 1997, p. iix): discourse refers to ‘language in use, as a process which is socially situated. […] In this sense, discourse is a means of talking and writing about and acting upon worlds, a means which both constructs and is constructed by a set of social practices within these worlds, and in so doing both reproduces and constructs afresh particular social-discursive practices, constrained or encouraged by more macro movements in the overarching social formation.’
- 3.
King (2010, online) says that in her experience, ‘Western’ profiles tend to opt for the inclusion of real photos (i.e. the person’s photo) as they give an air of credibility. Though other cultures may use photos as well, this can create discomfort (ibid.).
- 4.
Trends in the Canadian job market do suggest that interfacing with OSM will become inevitable, particularly for new hires across all sectors (Galt 2015). Thus, it is likely that translators will have to work with UGC at some point in their careers, whether they will want to or not. The position taken throughout the book is that in light of these trends, translators would be wise to seize the opportunities this new niche presents; however, that is not to say that other professional niches will become unviable.
- 5.
In a thematic issue of Linguistica Antverpiensia (Desjardins 2011a), a series of articles broaches the topic of ‘translation as social activity’. Although the term ‘UGC’ is not used, in some of the case studies, the authors do use excerpts from translator blogs and wikis to substantiate their research. The general position is that the digital era has given rise to even more collaboration within the field.
- 6.
This analysis was done by doing a simple Twitter search using any of the conference hashtags: e.g. #BeloHorizonte, #IATIS, #IATIS2015, #IATISBeloHorizonte.
- 7.
In theory, most OSM can allow users to disseminate scholarly information, regardless of their inherent specificity. For instance, although Instagram might not be the most effective means to disseminate a research article, a user could post a picture of something related to the research in question and provide a link to the article. A tweet on Twitter can reference an article by using a shortened URL. In other words, physical character restrictions or content type (e.g. visual and verbal) do not necessarily dictate whether or not a specific type of OSM can be effective for the dissemination of research.
- 8.
Some OSM, for instance Academia (academia.edu), require the use of an institutional affiliation, which is meant to verify credentials. This is usually done through the verification of an active institutional e-mail account, but other procedures also exist.
- 9.
This is not a commercial endorsement on behalf of the author. No compensation was received from Taylor & Francis or Routledge for the inclusion of this example.
- 10.
This isn’t to say that researchers don’t attempt to gain symbolic capital otherwise; given the highly competitive academic market, some researchers are likely motivated to engage in research that is more favourably reviewed by funding bodies or academic institutions, regardless of OSM usage or SMM data. That said, SMM makes the process of knowing what is popular that much easier.
- 11.
It should be noted at this stage of Venuti’s research, the focus of his arguments pertained to the translation of literary texts into English. Extending his earlier observations to other areas in TS may result in generalization, although his later work does address visibility in other contexts as well, for instance, in terms of compensation, decision-making and so on (cf. Venuti 2013).
- 12.
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Desjardins, R. (2017). Translation and Social Media: In Professional Practice. In: Translation and Social Media. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52255-9_5
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