A Quantitative Exploration to Directionality Among Sworn Translators and Interpreters in Colombia

The high influence of sworn translators and interpreters (sti, henceforth) on the professional context of translation in Colombia is undeniable. However, the lack of institutional support and the poor documentation and research that exist amongst sti in the country makes it difficult to read it in an informed, comprehensive, and historical manner. Considering the abovementioned, this article aims at presenting the results of a sociological case study from a quantitative research that reflects, in a diagnostic or preliminary way, on the current situation of the Colombian sti, their status, and their working conditions. This study used techniques mainly from inferential statistics on data collected from a survey conducted to 200 informants. In this paper, special emphasis is placed on the results related to directionality and its influence in the market behavior. In general, there was a large plurality in the informants’ profiles even though it was found that more than half of them were women and that English remained the main working language among translators with a particular strong presence of reverse translation/interpretation (towards a language other than Spanish). Likewise, through this research, it was concluded that several understudied professional and market-related aspects crucial for reading and understanding the work done by translators and interpreters in Colombia more judiciously were identified, described, and problematized.