Canada shows what a mature translation profession looks like: rigorous training, compulsory qualifications and public recognition. It is a model worth reflecting on.
A rigorous, practical BA
Canada has a long tradition in translation practice and training. The Federal Government's Translation Bureau, the largest recruiter in the country, requires every candidate to hold a BA in Translation. Why? Because the four-year university programme follows a rigorous and practical process. Students may take a 'co-op' BA, which includes paid internships over about three years, or a traditional BA covering linguistics, translation theory and practice and translation technologies, but with no fieldwork. Co-op students gain experience in companies and agencies, and get paid for it.
Degrees and social status
My second point concerns the value of taking degrees and pursuing professional development. I see resistance to this as degrading our professional status as social actors. Why should we not enjoy the same standing as older professions such as medicine or law? Doctors, too, once learnt by doing, on a hit-and-miss principle, but they developed into a profession over time and were institutionalised through education and training, with social and political recognition. Why must translators always be timid and lacking in self-esteem when it comes to making our voices heard? We do social work of the same importance as doctors, lawyers or engineers: making the unknown known through language, building powerful relations between nations and peoples through linguistic communication, and building a heritage of knowledge.
We need education at a higher level alongside 'the artisanal job'. Every profession has undergone the same process: from learning by doing, the artisan's way, to theorising and institutionalising the profession, and finally to gaining social recognition and respect. We cannot stay invisible, acting behind the scenes all the time.
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