Translation as a Profession (Benjamins Translation Library)

138 Translation as a Professionof sworn translators and interpreters. Yet, many translators fight hard to beawarded the title of ‘judicial expert’ or ‘court translator’ or ‘official translator’or ‘sworn translator’ because of the additional weight to a CV or visiting cardand of the resulting rate ‘improvement’.2. Narrow markets for ‘exclusive contractors’ are the translations requestedby work providers with regular and narrowly specialised needs. Such workproviders have set up a restricted (virtual) pool of translators whom they considerentirely trustworthy and who have the responsibility for managing andcarrying out all translation work on their account. Such pools build-up overthe years and are very stable, with no one quitting and no one joining in.Translators in such pools are there because they have narrowed their clientbase down to the most rewarding (both in terms of subject area and, of course,financial gain). They also make significantproductivitygainsascontractsaccumulate,since the materials to be translated generally become quite repetitivein the long run. Last but not least, given the degree of specialisation and homogeneityinvolved, these markets also enhance the opportunities for translatorsto build up expertise in a lifelong learning process.3. By definition, open markets are not controlled by any one translator or groupof translators. Here translators will find providers who are confronted for thefirst time with translation needs or who are looking for a new translator, eitherbecause they have not been satisfied with the work previously commissionedor because they want to take advantage of the competitive marketplace byputting out an open call for tenders (or, in some cases, because open calls aremandatory whenever public money is concerned) or because they are lookingfor a given quality/price ratio or simply because they just have no idea how togo about solving their translation problem.4. Although the ‘dark’, ‘grey’ or ‘greyish’ market segments may not be of interestto bona fide translators, they should not be simply swept under the carpet andforgotten. They include all the translation work carried out with no regard fortax and social security legislation and are therefore a major source of unfaircompetition for all legitimate operators. These market segments exist because:– having “studied languages” seems to many ample justification to “do”translations;– for a fair number of work providers, the one and only guiding principle is:“the cheaper the better”;– job centres and employment offices often see translation as the ‘easy option’to be recommended to unemployed language graduates who may betempted to take contracts ‘on the side’ to save on the starting cost of equipmentand contributions and, more generally, many translation graduates