Working for peanuts. The economic situation of Hungarian literary translators
Anikó Sohár
-
Download the full document in PDF [English]
-
HTML version of the abstract and keywords [English]:
Title
Working for peanuts. The economic situation of Hungarian literary translators
Abstract
Within the framework of Literary Translator Studies, this paper will examine the social status and working conditions of literary translators working into Hungarian. The invisibility of literary translators affects their remuneration, hence their production and circumstances. CEATL and the Hungarian Association of Literary Translators surveyed the working conditions of Hungarian literary translators in 2008, 2012, and 2020. I conducted an interim survey in 2018, which was followed by a smaller-scale investigation limited to Italian-speaking literary translators. A few reports about the current situation were published by literary translators and journalists whose statements were confirmed by interviews with literary translators, and by research findings. The latter reveal that the general perception of the societal role and importance of literary translators arises from limited and often biased information available to the public about the profession. The worsening economic position of translators has led to increasing amateurism, as a full-time job barely provides subsistence, which probably lessens professional pride and possibly capabilities. It also means an increasing number of career changes, leading to fewer literary translations by professionals and/or experts.
Keywords
literary translators, perception of literary translation, working conditions, remuneration, translator invisibility
35(2) - 2023