Language Attitudes about Interpreters

The notion of language attitudes has a place in psychology, sociology, anthropology, education, and history, among other disciplines. Bilingualism and minority languages are not topics that are confined to linguistics or language studies but are debated in a wide variety of fields, including Interpretation and Translation Studies. Drawing from data on social media sites, this study addresses the following questions:

• What language attitudes do signed- and spoken-language interpreters, translators, and laypersons hold, specifically in relation to interpretation and translation work?
• What attitudes do signed- and spoken-language interpreters, translators, and laypersons hold about languages, especially in relation to one another’s work?

The aim of this project is to confront issues of attitudes within interpretation and translation and to show that they will refine and improve our understanding of how we view one another in Interpretation and Translation Studies.