A Survey Study On Perception Shift Of Visibility And Invisibility Among Trainee Interpreters

As the interpreting becomes more advanced and professionalized,relevant research has also been both more extensive and more intensive.One aspect,the role of the interpreter,or more specifically the interpreter’s visibility / invisibility,has gained great attention,focusing mainly on professional interpreters and with a static view.This thesis aims to find out the novice interpreter’s perception on the interpreter’s visibility / invisibility and explore whether there is a dynamic shift of perceptions,either from visibility to invisibility or vice versa,among fourth-year undergraduates of translation and interpreting(BTI),first-year and second-year graduates of translation and interpreting(MTI 1 and MTI 2).A questionnaire was designed and distributed to the above-mentioned three groups of subjects,covering three parts,including demographic information,the interpreter’s role perception,and the interpreter’s visibility and invisibility.Then,a postquestionnaire interview with three separate participants was carried out for further evidence.The main findings are: most participants situate the interpreters in the middle of the visibility-invisibility continuum,but graduate participants perceive themselves as more invisible but act with greater visibility in practices than undergraduates.In addition,senior students of translation and interpreting are more capable of adapting to this gap.And as for gender difference,males seem to perceive in a more invisible way while females are more likely to shift their perceptions towards invisibility,the degree of which is still smaller than males.