Interview of the month – Dimitra Stafylia
Interview of the month – Dimitra Stafylia
(Translator – President of PEEMPIP)
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What drove your interest in translation and what do you do now?
My decision to enter the world of translation studies was an accidental but happy coincidence. I grew up in a multilingual environment, learning English and French, but I always considered languages as being a career booster rather than a career in itself. Back then, children were steered to follow traditional professions, and certainly translation did not fall into that category. I was preparing for my final exams hoping to make it into one of the Engineering schools, when I happened to stumble across the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting of the Ionian University as I was browsing through a Careers School Guide. It occurred to me straight away that this matched perfectly my personality and skillset, so I took this decision without much thinking, without weighing the pros and cons or being aware of the difficulties or employment prospects, and without fussing about my future. I just knew it was right for me.
20 years later, I have to say that I am totally happy with my choice. I learn something new every day and there is never a dull moment, despite having gone through some horrible difficulties. I work as a technical freelance translator. I want to believe that I have gained an all around insight of my sector, i.e. the production of multilingual content, from source language content authoring to target language publication in any form or means. Somewhere along the way, seeing the struggle of my co-graduates and their efforts to raise the profile of their studies and profession, I decided to be more active via the Panhellenic Association of Professional Translators Graduates of the Ionian University (PEEMPIP) in the fields of professional rights recognition and implementation and the regulation of the translation sector.
In your opinion, which are the most important challenges that translators have to face today?
The current problems are numerous, multidimensional and multifactoral. In this day and age of financial insecurity though, they have been augmented and have a stranglehold over newcomers mainly, who are particularly affected. There is a harsh, aggressive and inhospitable market environment, with translators of variable skills and abilities competing by lowering their rates beyond subsistence levels since they see it as an easy (and only) solution to “beat the competition”. Even translation-related public procurement competitions openly encourage price dumping practices, let alone a freelancer who is fighting for survival. There is a publishing sector following a downward spiral affecting literary translation rates. There is a punitive labour framework that fails to protect freelancers from the predatory intentions of bad payers and cunning business practices, all the same passing on the responsibility and punishing them for the financial shortcomings, deceitfulness and ill-intentions of others. There are disproportionate-to-earnings contributions for social insurance and indirect taxes that punish productivity and innovation. There are practically non-existent life-long learning offers forcing translators to invest heavily on their own continuous education, quite often attending courses abroad.
A few years back I would have included the lack of awareness and information about career prospects and a failure to promote entrepreneurialism among students, but nowadays universities seem to make efforts towards that direction through their career centres. However there are so many hitches out there, you need to develop a sixth sense to avoid pitfalls. This is why I strongly believe that participating in professional associations works like a compass – it supports professionals and helps them become part of a more protected community (at least in theory).
In your role as the President of PEEMPIP, you are involved in the issue of the establishment of professional rights for translators. How would you describe the situation in Greece today and what are your expectations for the near future?
The implementation of state-recognized professional rights is at the core of PEEMPIP’s activities. The association’s struggle does not only benefit all graduates of the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting of the Ionian University, but also indirectly anyone who has received some form of formal translation training at graduate or postgraduate level. Since our establishment, we had to deal with an outdated system based on old ottoman administrative concepts, other “interested parties” who had established certain rights many decades ago, but also the systematic stonewalling and hindrances to our efforts by certain “known-unknown” circles.
Just think that there is a state university department since 1986 producing multilingual translators that could have staffed state translation services, however it was impossible to get hired in public sector posts up until the mid 2000’s, since the diploma was not referenced in staffing competitions conducted by the Greek Supreme Council for Personnel Selection (ASEP). Furthermore, it was only in 2010 that the Ministry of Interiors issued a circular calling for all public sector agencies to hire translators of university education level and not secondary education level (i.e. high-school graduates). At least now I see a slight (but real) change of heart by some officials to listen, there is a change of mindset. Hopefully we shall be allowed to contribute to the improvement of standards, e.g. in the case of translation and interpreting in criminal proceedings.
However, the legal recognition of the translation profession is a pan-European problem that is dealt with half-measures (if any at all); as a result, there are serious problems in some countries due to a lack of planning, as is the case currently in Romania. We also see European programmes encouraging one-year courses of doubtful prospects, which focus on practical skills, unrelated to the translation process per se, following the trend of automation, thus downgrading the role of translators and seeking to set standards in the absence of professionals. Translators is everybody’s talk, but totally sidelined. One thing is certain. We are currently witnessing a general change of direction, therefore translators should be insightful, adaptable and combative so as not to be swept away by the efforts of some to reduce costs by implementing production line tactics to intellectual work. Unfortunately, I foresee even greater pressures and I hope that the resistance of the translation community both at European and local level is not going to be futile.
What would be your advice to the young professionals in the translation industry?
It should be clear that translation, even technical translation which is my field, is a beautiful yet difficult, demanding, stressful and nerve-wracking profession. In addition to the prerequisite linguistic and cultural skills, you need to have a constant yearning for knowledge, study and education, you need to be able to absorb large volumes of information and instructions, you need to be well-organized, disciplined, dedicated, versatile, a team-player, co-operative and directable. Therefore:
a) do a market research, get an internship for a couple of months to make sure this is what you really want to do in life before you dedicate time, money and effort to start your professional activity;
b) prepare a business plan, estimate the costs and possible earnings, draw information however you can to promote your services and find new clients;
c) show good professional conduct and work ethics;
d) develop good relations with your colleagues and never hesitate to ask for help and information – you may even find a mentor to guide you through and help you get better accustomed with real-life working practices;
e) make a life-long learning plan e.g. over a 5-year period, to improve and develop your skills; and
f) do not get discouraged by negative talks and outlooks, because “it is better to have tried and failed than to have failed to try…”.