This study combines linguistic and economic points of view to deliver insights into two national translation services markets. Translation services form a relatively large market and provide quite a high number of jobs globally. In this industry, which is largely unregulated by government bodies, translation agencies have the potential to act as quality warrantors by applying elaborate quality-assurance procedures and requiring their freelance translators to possess certain qualifications. A controversial yet widely mentioned qualification is being a native speaker of a specific language. Drawing on a critique of the conventional "native speaker" concept and on insights from economics, Language Management Theory, and critical discourse analysis, this study investigates how the native-speaker status, along with other translator qualifications, is used as an argument for higher quality and a higher price in marketing and price-setting strategies of translation agencies in the Czech Republic and Germany when it comes to a technical translation into a non-local language. The research makes use of the market-research technique called "mystery shopping" and is designed as a combination of experimental and observational qualitative research methods. The four distinct stages, which correspond with...
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:nusl.cz/oai:invenio.nusl.cz:309002 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Šebesta, Daniel |
| Contributors | Dovalil, Vít, Sherman, Tamah |
| Source Sets | Czech ETDs |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
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