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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2014
Here we move from the description of what is being done to an outline of what can be done, before attempting to formulate what should be done.
If there is to be a policy or some kind of public intervention regarding the existing mechanisms for signalling the status of translators, what are the basic options available?
Free Market or Controlled Entry?
The first fundamental question would seem to be whether this should be an entirely free market, where anyone can translate, or if there should be formal restrictions on who can be allowed to translate in exchange for financial recompense.
Bearing in mind that most people in the world are plurilingual, and since translation is one of the basic things that people do with language (alongside speaking, listening, writing, and reading), there can be little question of restricting the activity of translating. On the contrary, generalised translating should be encouraged, as empowerment in the field of cross-cultural communication. The availability of free online translation memories and machine translation services, together with web-based software for collective volunteer translating (“crowdsourcing”), means that generalised translating can be expected to expand, whether we like it or not. Our question here cannot concern restricting an activity, or controlling who can or cannot be paid for a service. It more exactly concerns the efficiency and effectiveness of the possible mechanisms for signalling status.
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