Stress experienced by Polish sworn translators and interpreters
Paweł Korpal
Abstract
Although there is some existing empirical research on job satisfaction and working conditions of court interpreters, little is known about specific stress factors inherent in the profession of a sworn translator and interpreter. The main aim of this study was to investigate psychological stress among sworn translators and interpreters working in the Polish-English language pair in the Republic of Poland by means of a self-designed online questionnaire. Among the main stress factors identified in the study were: the speaker’s delivery rate, translation and interpreting rates, non-cooperative translators and interpreters, sense of responsibility, as well as poor organisation of work. Sworn translators and interpreters were found to experience fatigue, back pain and eye irritation. Task-oriented coping was shown to be a predominant coping style among study respondents. The results of the study may offer a valuable contribution to translation and interpreting studies, stress research, and human factors in court interpreting.