Social Trajectory, Identity and Status of the First Spanish Interpreters in the European Union: Descriptive Study

Abstract

This paper is part of a larger research project which investigates the emergence and professionalisation of the first generations of Spanish interpreters in the European Union, from a sociological and historical perspective. The interest in describing the professionalisation of this group is closely related to Contemporary Spanish History, since its creation runs parallel to Spain joining the EU and the socio-political modernisation of the country. Our purpose is to gain a better understanding of the social background and the creation and evolution of this professional group, while at the same time providing relevant historical and cultural information. This paper explores the social and professional trajectories of a group of pioneer Spanish interpreters who, returning to Spain after some years in Belgium, still follow the interpretation practices in the EU. This research combines a quantitative and qualitative method respectively based on questionnaires and interviews. Bourdieu’s concepts (habitus, field and capital) and the sociology of professions, are applied in the discussion of the findings in the study,. The paper aims at illustrating the importance of understanding and studying interpreting as a socially embedded practice, given that interpreters act as historical and social agents in the processes in which they are involved. The findings, likewise, suggest that the concept of habitus is a key concept in the emergence of a profession, since it is socially and historically conditioned.