ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2, we discussed what makes an activity a profession, not just an occupation, and the social nature of professions. We looked at the distinguishing features of professions, especially with respect to policing – the main context of this book. In this chapter, we examine interpreting and translating as a professional activity through the lens of Fullinwider’s (1996) schema. Dael and Metselaar (2001) assert that everyone who works has an occupation but not necessarily a profession and they contend that ‘acquiring a professional status is closely related to the tasks carried out by the individual workers’ (p. 188). ey are of the view that professions claim monopoly over certain tasks, which they call jurisdiction, and this is a key step in the professionalisation of an occupational activity. is brings us to the question: What tasks dene the translating and interpreting profession?
