Abstract

The aim of the research presented here is to find out what motivates professional interpreters in their profession and whether there are specific dimensions of motivation that distinguish professional interpreters with longer experience from professional interpreters with shorter experience, interpreting students, and the general population of non-interpreters. The research tools used were semi-structured interviews and the Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI). The interpreters in our research sample (N=9) considered specific personality traits more important than general giftedness or talent. In particular, they considered curiosity, a general interest in the world around them, and the enjoyment of tackling new challenges to be desirable. In general, interpreters were convinced that skills can be acquired through practice and experience if one is sufficiently motivated (intrinsic motivation). Quantitative analysis and comparison of the motivational profiles of the different groups with each other showed that professional interpreters with longer experience were characterized by higher perseverance, dominance, and confidence in success. Therefore, these characteristics are likely to be acquired in the process of gaining experience, a more advanced routine, erudition, and thus confidence in their own abilities. On the contrary, none of the interviewees reported feeling motivated by status orientation or the pursuit of career advancement. These statements were supported by the data from the quantitative analysis in the AMI. Strong intrinsic motivation and the belief that one's own skills and competences can be improved through training and experience are undoubtedly beneficial "mindsets" that allow interpreters to remain satisfied and successful in their profession for a relatively long time. 

Keywords: professional interpreters, motivation, semi-structured interviews, students, AMI

1. Introduction

Every profession demands cognitive prerequisites, abilities, and skills. However, personality traits also play a crucial role and are the most challenging variables to control. That is not different in the interpreting profession. Apart from cognitive prerequisites, abilities, and skills, Rosiers and Eyckmans (2017) also underline the importance of the interpreter's personality profile for potential success in the profession. Research on interpreting has explored various aspects of the personality of professional interpreters and interpreting students and has identified several soft skills linked to personality traits which can be classified as desirable. Generally speaking, these are characteristics related to conference interpreting, but it is likely that most of these characteristics may also be relevant for community interpreters (Rosiers and Eyckmans 2017) as well as for sign language interpreters (Macnamara et al. 2011).

Setton and Dawrant (2016) offer a summary of desirable personality characteristics in applicants to the interpreting profession based on the experience of leading interpreting programmes. According to the authors, one of several relevant characteristics is high motivation.

The importance of motivation for human performance in general, and for interpreting performance in particular, is also highlighted by Moser-Mercer (2008). Drawing on the literature, the author considers willingness, i.e., the motivation and attitude of an individual to perform a given skill at the highest level, to be one of the three main factors, alongside opportunity (suitable physical working environment) and capacity (intelligence, acquired skills, physical fitness).

Although it is clear that certain qualities may be key to the interpreting profession, Korpal (2016) points to overlooking the importance of personality and psycho-affective factors in theoretical considerations about interpreting as well as in interpreting practice. For these reasons, specifically due to the potential relevance of certain characteristics in the interpreting profession and, at the same time, relatively limited attention devoted to this subject by research, we decided to investigate selected personality characteristics in professional interpreters and interpreting students. We conducted comprehensive empirical research, part of which focused on exploring motivation. This study presents the results of an investigation into motivation and seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What motivates professional interpreters in the profession? In other words: do they have some kind of internal engine that drives them in their efforts to perform well, or are external circumstances more decisive?
2. Do professional interpreters with longer experience (seniors) have a different motivational profile than professional interpreters with shorter experience (juniors)?
3. Do professional interpreters differ in terms of achievement motivation from interpreting students and the general population of "non-interpreters"?

2. Motivation

According to Pašková (2008), the study of motivation is undeniably crucial for understanding an individual's personality, as it represents a possible driving force behind their actions. In psychology, there are different models and categories of motivation. Vallerand (1997) formulated a structural model of motivation consisting of three levels that interact hierarchically: global motivation (the general disposition of the personality), contextual motivation (motivational orientation and context-specific regulatory strategies in different domains) and situational motivation (motivation in a specific situation).

At all levels of the hierarchy, both internal and external, individual and social factors play a role. A key concept is motives defined as internal determinants of the direction and strength of behaviour (Nakonečný 1997: 125). Any behaviour directed towards achieving a desired outcome or fulfilling a need is called motivated behaviour. In the context of motivated behaviour, Gabler (2002: 52) uses the term performance motivation to refer to all the actual emotional and cognitive processes that are triggered when an individual is confronted with a performance situation. Thus, we speak of motivated behaviour (motivated performance) when a person tries harder, focuses more on the task, and persists longer in it (Roberts 2001: 8). In this case, motivated behaviour refers to physical activity (sports), but it is evident that by analogy it can also be applied to intellectual activity.

Motives can also be understood as “general drivers of risk-taking” (Zinn 2015: 3). Risk-taking behaviour is a specific type of motivated behaviour, and risk motivation can have both positive and negative effects on our performance (Yates 1992, Trimpop 1994). The risk motivation theory is a dynamic state-trait model that incorporates physiological, emotional, and cognitive components of risk perception, processing, and planning (Trimpop 1994). Zinn (2015) proposes to distinguish between different motives for risk taking and different levels of control. Fear of failing to achieve personal goals would motivate us to be more cautious. There has been support for the assumption that risk seekers pursue activities that are often neither goal-oriented nor material-oriented (aiming for material gain). The opposite preferences are characteristic of risk avoiders. Since some situations favour a certain type of risky behaviour over another, people are then more motivated to engage in the subjectively most rewarding type of activity (Trimpop 1994).

The Self-Determination Theory (Deci and Ryan 1985) views motivation as a continuum with poles represented by intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Outside this continuum, there is amotivation (non-regulation). Behind every intrinsically motivated action, there is curiosity, spontaneity and interest, and it is characterised by autonomy. Extrinsic motivation is based on tasks and challenges from the external environment and is thus characterised by external control. Moving from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation (self-determination), behaviour is influenced by different types of regulation: external, introjected, indentified, integrated, and intrinsic regulation. Amotivation is characterised by unregulated behaviour (Ryan and Deci 2000).

Some authors claim that an individual's performance during training and later in the workplace is fundamentally influenced by both cognitive abilities and personality traits, including motivation (Beier, Villado and Randall 2017). Barrick and Mount (2005) divide the personality factors that have the greatest impact on success in a particular task and in the profession into: performance factors (general cognitive abilities) and volitional factors (personality traits, for example, motivation, self-confidence, goal orientation).

The last few decades have seen an increase in findings on the influence of personality on academic and occupational success (Ree and Earles 1992; Schmidt and Hunter 1998; Beier, Villado and Randall 2017). Meta-analyses of research on the relationship between personality traits and occupational success suggest that conscientiousness and emotional stability are generally reliable predictors of overall occupational performance (Barick, Mount and Judge 2001). However, it is still generally believed that cognitive ability has somewhat greater predictive power in this regard, that is, people tend to choose professions with cognitive demands matching their intellectual abilities (Beier, Villado and Randall 2017).

2.1 Motivation in interpreting

Research on motivation in interpreting has focused predominantly on students, marginally on (translation and) interpreting graduates, and professional interpreters, respectively. Dodds (1990) underlines the complexity and importance of (de)motivation in interpreter training. In their study on aptitude, Timarová and Salaets (2011) point to skills and personality traits as possible predictability factors but at the same time they stress that it has not been systematically researched. Wu (2016) also highlighted the lack of proper attention devoted to interpreting students' motivation. According to the author, research on interpreting students' motivation could be divided into three strands: motivation as a predictor of aptitude, motivation as the reason for studying interpreting, and the role of motivation in interpreter training (Wu 2016). In the following review, we first examine research on motivation among students.

Shaw (2011) conducted a study on a sample of interpreting students from four universities (Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands), further differentiating the sample into entry-level and advanced students of spoken and signed language interpreting. The author examined selected cognitive and motivational aspects. As regards motivational aspects, she found that there were significant differences between spoken and signed language interpreting students in the areas of flow (intense focus, concentration) and internality (the belief that success is due to internal causes). The sign language interpreting students showed a greater ability to focus intensely, while the spoken language interpreting students attributed their achievements to their own efforts to concentrate and avoid distractions to a greater extent. Shaw (2011) also identified significant differences between entry-level and advanced students in the areas of eagerness to learn and flow. Advanced students scored higher than entry-level students in both areas. As the length of study increased, so did the willingness to acquire and expand knowledge on the one hand, as well as the ability to focus intensively by eliminating distractions on the other (Shaw 2011).

Hodáková's study (2021) focused on the influence of motivation and anxiety on the students' interpreting performance. The Performance Motivation Questionnaire (Pardel et al. 1984), a modification of the Questionnaire Measure of Achievement Motivation (Hermans 1970), was used to examine three factors of motivation: performance motivation (the overall intensity of motivation), facilitating anxiety, and debilitating anxiety (motivational orientation). The students in the group of 'better' interpreters scored higher on performance motivation, demonstrating motivational intensity. They also scored higher on facilitating anxiety, demonstrating the positive effect of stress on their performance. In contrast, students in the group of 'worse' interpreters scored higher on debilitating anxiety, which demonstrates the negative impact of stress on their performance. Hodáková (2021)[1] also identified significant differences between 'better' and 'worse' interpreters in motivational orientation. While in the group of 'better' interpreters, higher debilitating anxiety leads to a lower quality of their interpreting, in the group of 'worse' interpreters, it was the facilitating anxiety that led to a lower quality of interpreting. The author concludes that the right intensity and orientation of motivation is not the only decisive factor for ensuring high quality and stability of interpreting performances. Appropriate interpreting competences (linguistic, translational, and cognitive skills) are also important, for motivation alone cannot guarantee success. If an adequate combination of these variables is not ensured, a high level of motivation may even be counterproductive (Hodáková 2021).

The correlation between motivation and the quality of consecutive and simultaneous interpreting of students was the subject of another empirical study (Melicherčíková and Dove 2021). The authors defined motivation as a preference for interpreting rather than translating. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the performance of motivated and unmotivated students. The performance of motivated students was better in both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting.

Students' learning motivation and performance in the context of Covid-19 was the subject of a quasi-experimental study by Cui et al. (2022). The authors designed a questionnaire that examined six dimensions of motivation and also conducted experimental teaching that included the Covid-19 context for the experimental group but not for the control group. Data analysis showed that (self-)actualization (the need to fully deploy one's potential) and transcendence motivation (one's consideration of society other than oneself) increased significantly after the experimental teaching in the experimental group but not in the control group. The experimental group also scored higher on the final test. These findings imply that the dimensions of (self-)actualization and transcendence are closely related to the students' performance.

The bidirectional relationship between psychological factors (including motivation) and interpreting performance was investigated by Cai, Lin and Dong (2023). Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses showed that in undergraduate students, motivation decreased between the beginning and end of the first year of training, while anxiety remained relatively stable. Interpreting-specific anxiety was negatively correlated with interpreting performance at both the beginning and the end of training. Motivation at the beginning of training contributed significantly to the development of interpreting competence. Master's students showed higher learning motivation and lower anxiety than undergraduate students. These findings suggest a different development of psychological factors and their relationship to the level of interpreting competence.

All of the aforementioned studies have focused on interpreting students. The motivation of translation and interpreting graduates was investigated in an empirical study by Horváth and Kálmán (2021). The authors' findings suggest that intrinsic motivation is the strongest motivational aspect. Correlation and regression analyses confirmed that intrinsic motivation contributes to motivated learning. At the same time, altruism seemed to contribute negatively to motivated learning. According to the authors, this might be due to the fact that respondents who have a helping attitude may not want to become professional interpreters or may lose the capacity to focus on their own professional development compared to peers who are more achievement-oriented. This somewhat unexpected finding would require further research.

Research on students and professional interpreters shows that personality traits are crucial for success in studies and the profession. Shaw, Grbić and Franklin (2004), in interviews with both spoken and signed language interpreting students, found that students consider self-confidence and willingness to take risks to be the most important qualities for success in their studies and later in the profession.

Research on the motivation of professional interpreters is less common than research on student interpreters. Badalotti (2011) worked with the concept of the multilingual professional[2] and applied it to the sample of professional translators and interpreters. The author did not differentiate the sample further, so the findings are rather general and cannot be applied only to interpreters. Hlavac and Commons (2023) categorised Badalotti's (2011) data according to a self-determination continuum. Analyzing the paricipants' responses intrinsic motivation was confirmed as the main determinant in most cases, followed by extrinsic motivation with a strong intrinsic source, and integrated regulation.

Hlavac and Commons (2023) attempted to compile a profile of interpreters, specifically professionals and students of community interpreting. Motivation was one of the aspects investigated, and the authors also drew on the aforementioned self-determination theory. Other aspects examined were work experience and work volume. The results indicated that the students were dominated by extrinsic motivation with a focus on community activism; the motivation of professional interpreters was more intrinsic. We can see some parallels with previous research (Badalotti 2011) in which intrinsic motivation also emerged as dominant in professional interpreters.

3. Method

We conducted empirical research to collect quantitative data and qualitative reflections on the issue of motivation among professional interpreters. We were further interested in whether the length of the interpreting experience has a different influence on the motivation of professional interpreters and whether there are differences in the dimensions of motivation using a psychological self-report inventory, the Achievement Motivation Inventory (Schuler et al. 2011), between professional interpreters, interpreting students and the general (reference) population.

The main objective of our research was to find out:

a) what specifically motivates professional interpreters in their profession;

b) whether there are differences in the motivational profile between the group of professional interpreters with longer experience (seniors) and shorter experience (juniors);

c) whether there are specific aspects and dimensions of professional interpreters' motivation that distinguish them from interpreting students and the general population of "non-interpreters".

The research was conducted anonymously with participants' informed consent preceding the completion of the individual tasks. Participants and researchers signed a data protection form for GDPR compliance. This type of research did not require the approval of the Ethical Committees at the researchers' universities.

3.1 Participants

Due to the specificity of the research sample, the selection of participants was intentional, and we opted for convenience sampling in the case of professional interpreters and interpreting students.

3.1.1 Professional interpreters

The basic requirement for inclusion in the study was that the participants had to be professional interpreters who were actively engaged in the profession and who interpreted regularly. As the research also focused on possible differences that may be related to the length of experience or expertise, part of the research sample consisted of subjects with at least 10 years of continuous interpreting experience. One of the members of the research team approached interpreters who met the required criterion through his network of contacts and professional associations. A financial incentive was offered to participation in the research. Nine of the interpreters contacted agreed to participate in the research. The mean age of the participants was 38.4 years (28 – 54 years); they were 6 women and 3 men. All of them had Slovak both as their mother tongue and their working language in interpreting and all of them also reported English as their working language. With the exception of one participant, the others also work with other foreign languages. Table 1 below summarises educational and professional background of our sample.

Table 1: Characteristics of professional interpreters

Legend: T&I – (Master's degree in) translation and interpreting, I – (Master's degree in) interpreting, L – Master's degree in linguistics, Te – Master's degree in teaching, Eng – Master's degree in engineering, FL – freelance work, EU – accreditation for EU institutions, FLT – foreign language teaching, PR – public relations management, SC – speaker coaching, J – junior, S – senior

Eight participants received philological education, one has a technical background. One interpreter is a full-time staff member of the European Commission and interprets exclusively for institutional needs. Four interpreters currently work as freelancers both on the private market and for the EU Institutions, and four interpreters work exclusively on the private market as freelancers. Seven interpreters also work as translators. All participants report continuous interpreting experience (with possible interruptions during maternity or parental leave) ranging from 6 years to 25 years, the average being 14.22 years. Regarding the average monthly amount of interpreting expressed in working days (one day = 8 hours), one respondent is a full-time interpreter, another one states that s/he works less than a full-time job, and one interpreter was on parental leave, interpreting occasionally. The remaining professionals report a workload related to interpreting of between 2 and 12 working days per month. Considering the potential impact of the length of the interpreting experience on motivation, we further divided this sample into professional interpreters with shorter experience (juniors, 6-10 years of experience, N=5) and professional interpreters with longer experience (seniors, 20-25 years of experience, N=4). We assumed that longer interpreting experience must indicate more expertise and may be reflected in different individual dimensions of motivation compared to shorter interpreting experience.

3.1.2 Interpreting students

The second group consisted of interpreting students, namely second-year students of a master’s degree in philology with a focus on translation and interpreting (N=5), who, according to their own statements, inclined towards interpreting and would like to pursue it professionally in the future. These were graduating students who had performed well in interpreting seminars during their studies and were willing to volunteer for the same complex testing as professional interpreters. The students participated in the research without remuneration.

The mean age of the group of interpreting students (N=5) was 22.8 years, there were 3 women and 2 men. As in the case of professional interpreters, Slovak was the mother tongue of all interpreting students, and English was one of their working languages. Most students (N=4) had experience with interpreting outside of interpreting seminars; this was interpreting as part of a compulsory school placement or as part of their own professional practice.

3.2 Materials

3.2.1 Achievement Motivation Inventory

Several tools have been used to assess achievement motivation in Slovakia. In order to quantitatively investigate specific dimensions of motivation, we chose the Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI – Schuler et al. 2011), because it provides more comprehensive information (a broader spectrum of achievement motivation) and has standards for the Slovak population compared to other instruments. We used the official Slovak translation of the full version. This research instrument has been used in personnel selection, personality and motivation research, psychology of sports, and other fields that focus on the psychological aspects of achievement motivation. A study by Byrne et al. (2004) suggested that AMI, as a comprehensive measure of achievement motivation, can be used cross-culturally,

The AMI consists of 170 items that are assigned to the following 17 dimensions:

1. Persistence refers to stamina and large amounts of effort to cope with tasks.
2. Dominance represents the tendency to display power, influence others, and lead them.
3. Engagement describes an individual's willingness to perform, put in the effort, and get the task done.
4. Confidence in success refers to the anticipation of the outcomes of specific behaviors.
5. Flexibility describes the way one copes with new situations and tasks; its high values indicate openness, interest, and willingness to adapt to different conditions in the profession.
6. Flow expresses the tendency to pursue problems with high intensity, while excluding all distractions; high scores characterize individuals who can become so involved in their work that they cease to perceive what is going on around them.
7. Fearlessness refers to the anticipated outcome of an action in terms of potential failure or success; high scores are indicative of individuals who do not experience fear of failure and negative evaluation and therefore can be characterized as emotionally stable.
8. Internality is related to the way in which the results of an activity are interpreted; high scores indicate that the individual attributes achievement or failure to self, own behaviour, and effort.
9. Compensatory effort represents the personal effort that is conditioned by fear of failure; high-achieving individuals minimize fear of failure through intensive preparation.
10. Pride in productivity represents a positive emotional state as a consequence of one's own performance; high scores indicate that individuals are satisfied if they have delivered maximum performance.
11. Eagerness to learn refers to the effort to acquire new knowledge and expand knowledge.
12. Preference for difficult tasks corresponds to choosing challenging tasks; high values imply that individuals prefer difficult tasks, increasing their own level of demands.
13. Autonomy refers to the tendency to behave autonomously; high scores indicate independent decision-making.
14. Self-control characterizes how tasks are organized and carried out. Individuals who achieve high scores are able to concentrate more easily on tasks, do not postpone them until later, and are characterized by disciplined and focused work.
15. Status orientation reflects the efforts made to achieve a significant role in the social environment. Individuals with high scores seek social recognition for their achievements, want to hold positions of responsibility, and secure professional advancement.
16. Competitiveness is understood as encouragement and motivation for professional performance; high scores point to comparing oneself with others and striving to be better.
17. Goal setting relates to the future; high values are characteristic of individuals who have long-term plans, set high goals, and know how they want to move forward (Schuler et al. 2011: 20-23).

Each dimension in the test consists of 10 items, respondents are provided with a seven-point scale expressing the strength of agreement (ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree), therefore the minimum score is 10 and the maximum score is 70. There are no time limitations; the test usually takes 30 to 40 minutes to complete. As part of the instructions sent to our participants, we asked them to complete a psychological test to explore their attitudes towards work, employment and performance. We stressed that only their personal opinion was important and that there were no right or wrong answers.

3.2.2 Semi-structured individual interviews

The researchers had prepared a basic interview structure (cf. Appendix 1) according to each topic area with specific questions, which were modified, supplemented, or changed depending on the course of the actual interview.

In our interviews with professional interpreters, we were interested in various aspects related to their profession, such as educational background and beginnings in the interpreting profession; their current occupation (professional focus, type of employment, workload, thematic focus, types of interpreting); psychosocial factors in the interpreting profession (motivation, coping with stressful situations, influence of personality traits on the performance of the profession).

3.3 Procedure

In the first stage of the research, between November and December 2021, the participants, both profesional interpreters and interpreting students, completed the online version of the Achievement Motivation Inventory. Data on the different dimensions of motivation of both groups were evaluated quantitatively and compared with the mean score of a reference population (the general population).

In the second stage of the research, in February 2022, semi-structured individual interviews with professional interpreters were conducted online via the Zoom platform. The interviews lasted between 30 and 45 minutes and they involved one researcher and one participant at a time. The researcher, who did not know the participants personally, also acted as moderator in the interviews. Participants were asked to indicate the code under which they completed the entire research. Using this anonymised code, the results of the other tests in the research were subsequently matched to the analysis of the interview responses. During the interview, the participants were asked about motivation in different contexts (long-term, short-term, etc.); we did not duplicate the AMI so that they would have the opportunity to express anything related to motivation. Anonymized transcripts of the recorded interviews were subsequently produced and subjected to qualitative analysis.

Coding within the qualitative analysis was based largely on thematic analysis of particpants' responses to interview questions and was accomplished through the identification of basic units of analysis, that is, segments of text that contained a particular piece of information relevant to our research problem (cf. Appendix 2). This was done rather intuitively and was not founded on a theoretical model. Thematic analysis allowed us to identify key areas or themes. Subsequently, we determined the identified units by assigning specific features to be able to categorize individual phenomena. After coding, we looked for analogies with AMI (e.g., intrinsic motivation, performance, success, failure, etc.).

To ensure reliability, we validated the coding method chosen by the researcher; 10% of the total data in the transcripts of the recordings were coded simultaneously by another researcher, and a high degree of agreement (95%) was confirmed in the method and execution of the thematic analysis between the researchers.

4. Results and discussion

First, we present results from the first stage of the research (Section 4.1). Here, we were interested in the motivational structure of the personality of professional interpreters and interpreting students, which is measurable and quantifiable in the form of individual dimensions of motivation (AMI). Then we proceed to present and discuss the results from the second stage of the research, in which we attempted to support the quantitative data obtained (AMI) with subjective qualitative statements from semi-structured interviews with professional interpreters about their perceptions of their own motivation in the profession (Section 4.2). Finally, we will outline several research limitations (Section 4.3) and draw some conclusions (Section 5.).

4.1 Dimensions of motivation: quantitative data analysis and interpretation

In the evaluation and interpretation of the AMI inventory, we used the means of the raw scores of the participants on each dimension to investigate which dimensions of motivation play a greater and which play a lesser role in performance motivation. We compared the scores of professional interpreters, interpreting students, and the Slovak reference population (N=1148; Schuler et al. 2011). In this section, we present a basic analysis of the data. The means of the raw scores (together with the standard deviation) of the three comparison groups for the individual dimensions of performance motivation are presented in Table 2.

Table 2: Mean scores of the dimensions of motivation

A comparison of the raw scores for all 17 dimensions in the AMI shows what follows. Persistence is highest among senior interpreters. Compared to students, both groups of professionals (junior and senior) appear to be more persistent, determined, and focused. Overall, all groups show higher mean scores than the Slovak reference population. Senior interpreters also appear to be the most dominant. A score comparable to the Slovak reference population was achieved by the group of students. Junior interpreters were the least dominant in the comparison between groups. The results further show that students appear to be the most engaged. They show to be more ambitious and aspiring than the professional interpreters’ groups and also than the Slovak reference population. Senior interpreters appear to be the most confident in expecting success of their activities. The means of the other two groups are relatively comparable, with both junior interpreters and students scoring lower than the Slovak reference population. In our research sample, flexibility scores were comparably high in two groups, students and senior interpreters. Flow, intense concentration, is highest in the group of students. This dimension also proved to be distinctive in the research conducted by Shaw (2011). The interpreting students in our sample achieved even higher mean flow scores (54.00, SD 6.82) than the interpreting students in Shaw’s research (50.47, SD 6.21). Both groups of professionals achieved comparable scores in flow. Of all groups, the students scored the highest in fearlessness. Senior interpreters also appear to be decisive and stable. On the contrary, the junior interpreters scored the lowest. However, all groups scored higher than the Slovak reference population on this dimension. In internality, we observe high mean scores for all groups, that is, they believe that most events depend on their behaviour and effort. Senior interpreters were the most likely to agree with this perception. Similar to internality, we observe higher group means for compensatory effort compared to the reference population. The highest scores were achieved by junior interpreters. In our research sample, pride in productivity is most evident in the group of junior interpreters. Among the mean scores of all dimensions of the Slovak reference population, pride in productivity is the highest and the only dimension that exceeds the value of 50. Only students scored lower compared to the reference population on this dimension. On average, junior interpreters showed the highest eagerness to learn, followed by students. In a comparison between groups, senior interpreters show the highest scores in preference for difficult tasks. Junior interpreters scored the lowest on this dimension, even markedly lower than the reference group. Senior interpreters show the highest independence compared to other groups. Junior interpreters scored the highest on self-control, followed by students. When comparing individual groups on status orientation, it is evident that junior interpreters have the highest mean scores on the dimension, followed by students and senior interpreters. Interestingly, however, none of the examined groups reaches the average of the Slovak reference population. For senior interpreters, this is even their absolute lowest score of all dimensions, which may be related to the declining prestige and general recognition of the interpreting profession as Mackintosh's (2003) study suggested earlier. This trend is most likely related to technological advances and the use of artificial intelligence. In the dimension of competitiveness, similar to the previous dimension, none of the groups reached the average of the Slovak reference population. The students scored the lowest of all groups on competitiveness, which is also their lowest score across all dimensions. The junior and senior interpreters scored comparably. For goal setting, we observe the smallest overall intergroup differences across all dimensions. That is, all groups are equally goal-oriented and ambitious about the future. At the same time, goal setting in all examined groups is close to the average of the Slovak reference population.

Focusing on the specific motivational profiles of each group, it is possible to identify the dimensions that most strongly influence the motivation of senior interpreters, junior interpreters, and students inclined towards interpreting. As an indicator for this type of analysis, we chose to identify the dimensions in which each group achieved a mean raw score higher than or equal to 50. Students preferring interpreting showed the highest mean scores on the dimensions of compensatory effort, flow, internality, pride in productivity, and flexibility. Conversely, the lowest scores, by a large margin, were achieved in competitiveness (cf. Appendix 3). Professional interpreters with shorter experience scored highest on the dimensions of pride in productivity, internality, compensatory effort, self-control, and persistence. On the contrary, they scored lowest on preference for difficult tasks (cf. Appendix 4). Professional interpreters with longer experience had the highest mean raw scores on the dimensions of internality, pride in productivity, persistence, compensatory effort, flexibility and confidence in success. They scored lowest (but with a negligible difference compared to the other dimensions) on status orientation (cf. Appendix 5).

Figure 1 shows a comparison of the motivational profiles of all groups examined (students, junior and senior interpreters) with the mean values of the Slovak reference population (Schuler et al. 2011: 85).

Figure 1: Dimensions of motivation: comparison of the groups to the general population

Overall, if we look for peculiar features in the motivation of future and professional interpreters, higher persistence, greater compensatory effort, higher levels of internality and fearlessness, and higher flow are noticeable in all groups compared to the Slovak reference population. Thus, both interpreting students and professional interpreters, whether with shorter or longer experience, are characterized by better stamina and greater effort to cope with professional tasks, higher commitment, focus, and engagement. At the same time, they invest more effort in their work activities, which is conditioned by the fear of failure. They attribute potential success and failures more to themselves and their skills than to other factors. They perceive difficult situations less negatively and see them more as a professional challenge. The motivation of these groups is therefore very likely to be intrinsically determined, they are characterised by high stamina and commitment in their work, they look for the cause of their success or failures within themselves, and they are not discouraged by difficulties and challenging activities.

Compared to the Slovak reference population, all groups are characterised by an average goal setting in relation to the future, that is, on average they are neither noticeably more goal-oriented nor noticeably less ambitious. Therefore, they are probably not strongly motivated by the long-term pursuit of their ambitions.

Regarding the dimensions in which all groups scored lower than the Slovak average, it can be seen that both interpreting students and professional interpreters (both groups) are characterized by lower competitiveness and status orientation in the profession compared to the Slovak reference population. Therefore, their motivation is not determined by the pursuit of status or competitiveness. This piece of information confirms the assumption of a predominantly intrinsic determination of motivation in (future) interpreters.

In addition to a general comparison of (future) interpreters with the Slovak average, we were also interested in a more specific comparison of the individual groups with each other. Since motivation is one of the dynamic aspects of personality, it is possible in this context to assume that some of the differences between the groups can be attributed to the growing experience of professional interpreters, the maturation of personality, or the changing working conditions. We are aware that because of the small number of participants in each group, it is not possible to make generalisations, but the results may offer suggestions for further research that can later be statistically verified on a larger sample.

In this regard, it was interesting, for example, to find that professional interpreters (juniors and seniors), compared to students, were characterized by higher persistence, but conversely, lower flow, that is, lower levels of concentration and engagement in activities. We can assume that the higher persistence of professional interpreters may be related to personality maturation. At the same time, with age and greater work experience, routine in performing work activities also increases, and thus a certain mental or psychological stamina and endurance in activities increase. Conversely, professional interpreters’ lower concentration (but not at all low compared to the general population) and flow may also be related to the fact that with increasing experience, their work may require less mental energy and lesser need to concentrate unconditionally on their performance.

Senior interpreters were characterized by higher dominance and confidence in success compared to their younger colleagues and students. Higher scores on both dimensions may again be related to the length and amount of their work experience; it is likely that they have learned to draw on their professional experience, have more confidence in their own skills, and/or pass on their experience to younger colleagues.

4.2 Subjective perceptions of motivation: qualitative data analysis and interpretation

Thematic qualitative analysis of data collected in the individual semi-structured interviews with both groups of professional interpreters (with shorter and longer experience) revealed that interviewees approached the issue of motivation from a number of angles. On the one hand, they reflected on their own intrinsic motivations and motives for choosing and pursuing the profession of interpreting[3] and for wanting to be good at their profession. On the other hand, some also mentioned extrinsic motivations, such as financial and time considerations. In the qualitative analysis of the interview data, no major differences were identified between junior and senior interpreters; rather, these were individual opinions and perspectives.

From the interviews with the interpreters, it was evident that they all found their work interesting and felt motivated to stay in their profession in the long term. One interviewee (I8) expressed concern about the future prospects of interpreting due to technological advances and overall changes in society, but nevertheless felt motivated and fulfilled by interpreting.

Eight participants (I1, I3, I4, I5, I6, I7, I8, I9) described the nature of their motivation as more of a tendency to achieve success, overcome challenges, and continually improve. One interviewee (I2), in his own words, felt motivated more by the desire to avoid failure. These statements are consistent with the motivation dimension of confidence in success in the AMI, which was highest among senior interpreters.

Seven interpreters (I1, I4, I5, I6, I7, I8, I9) agreed that what motivated them was the dynamic nature of the job, the need to continue improving, they liked to learn new things and they had a desire to have a broad perspective: “I enjoy the work itself and it's so interesting, it's dynamic with people and that's why I enjoy the world events, the current events” (I5). Even more specifically in this regard, two of them (I5, I7) reported that what they enjoyed was being in settings and getting familiar with information and contexts that were not normally accessible or known to the public: “And I'm always learning something new or a different angle or seeing how an area is evolving or which way it's going, and I'm learning things that other people either don't learn about because they just don't have a reason to care that much, or I'm getting into environments physically, i.e. before the pandemic, where other people wouldn't have been able to get to, and it's very interesting” (I7). These statements are consistent with the motivation dimension of eagerness to learn in the AMI, which was highest among junior interpreters.

Three interviewees (I4, I5, I9) highlighted that contact with people motivated them. These considerations may be related to the fact that at the time of the interviews, most of the interpreted events were conducted in the virtual environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a lack of social contact and interaction with colleagues as well as with delegates or attendees at conferences (cf. Mahyub Rayaa and Martin 2022). This finding indicates that motivation is more than an individual personality trait but can be determined (achieved or denied) by others. In the case of students or novice interpreters, contact and support from a more experienced colleague appears to be necessary. Reflections on the importance of human contact from interviews can be linked to the AMI dimension of competitiveness, in which both groups of interpreters scored lower than the Slovak reference population, suggesting that their motivation is not derived from competing with others but rather from working with them in a team.

One interviewee (I4) explicitly stated that she liked to present herself and to perform in front of an audience and similarly another one (I3) mentioned as the strongest intrinsic motivation, ambition, the desire to present oneself in the best possible light. Another participant (I6) stated that a reason for losing motivation was the possibility of receiving negative feedback on his interpreting performance: “For example, in Brussels, they regularly write reports on freelancers, and when I know in advance that there is going to be a report, I get quite nervous, and it happened to me once that I had a less than ideal day, and just then a colleague wrote a report on me, and after that day she also told me some suggestions for improvement, let's say, and she didn't write any serious criticism in the report, and I know I was demotivated by that. I'm rather demotivated by that criticism”. Financial motivation was highlighted by three respondents (I7, I8, I9) in the interviews. For them, the autonomy and time flexibility offered by the interpreting profession was also motivating. These statements are in line with the dimensions of independence and flexibility, which were highest among senior interpreters in the AMI.

Related to the issue of motivation is the issue of desirable qualities, skills, or traits that participants believed interpreters should possess in order to be satisfied, successful, or respected in their profession. Interviewees mainly reflected on what characteristics they themselves possessed or would like to possess because they saw them as desirable, or they noticed them in other interpreters whom they rated as successful. Four interpreters in our sample (I1, I3, I7, I8) considered it necessary for interpreters to be naturally curious, interested in the current affairs, and eager to learn. This confirms the findings of the quantitative part of this research work on the strong internal determination of motivation in interpreters, attributing success/failure in the profession to their own abilities, skills and competence. Both groups of interpreters (junior and senior) scored high on internality in the AMI. In addition, four particpants explicitly emphasised their belief that everything can be learned. These statements are consistent with the motivation dimension of persistence in the AMI, which was high in both groups of interpreters.

Four interviewees (I2, I3, I5, I6) stressed that interpreters should be mentally resilient, considerate, calm in nature, and should be able to keep a cool head: “I think it helps me quite a lot that I don't stress so much when it comes to work. So, if there is a difficult situation, sometimes in interpreting you have to make a decision very quickly, even if it's a high-level interpreting or with a lot of listeners, I think it's good to be able to keep a cool head and to be able to make a decision and not to panic somehow” (I5). In this regard, two other participants (I4, I7) added that interpreters should not be afraid to make mistakes and accept that their performance also has imperfections. These statements are in line with the AMI dimension of fearlessness; both junior and senior interpreters' scores on this dimension confirmed their emotional stability.

Some interviewees also considered personality temperament to be key. One of them (I3) thought that interpreters should be more introverted, be able to stay in the background, and not show their personality as they convey other people's thoughts. Another one (I4), on the other hand, thought that interpreters should be more extroverted, not afraid to present themselves and speak in public. One interviewee (I8) also based her answer on her own research, since she had dealt with a similar topic as part of her thesis. She assumed that interpreters should be neither strong introverts, as they interact with people and make public appearances, nor strong extroverts, because she believed that extroverts tended to be superficial in their analysis of information. Although some research, such as Dörfler and Hornke (2010), confirmed that extroverts respond more quickly but less accurately than introverts when reasoning, which can be interpreted on the basis of Eysenck's (1994) arousal theory, research findings on the correlation between extraversion and superficial analysis are inconclusive.

Being communicative was highlighted as a desirable characteristic by two participants (I4, I9) while the second interviewee (I9) added the importance of building relationships with clients: “This is basically my business and I have to deal with customers somehow, I have to build relationships somehow and often it's not just the quality of the interpretation that determines whether they call me next time, it's everything around that”.

In summary, the interpreters in our research felt motivated, enjoyed their work, and wanted to stay in the job. The importance of intrinsic motivation, natural curiosity, eagerness to improve, desire to learn new things, and to having knowledge of the world was also underlined. Most interperters felt motivated by the desire to overcome challenges, to achieve success, and to continuously improve. Here, they had in mind their own development, specialisation, improvement of individual skills and competences. Our findings from the thematic analysis of individual semi-structured interviews are also consistent with the findings by Badalotti (2011) and Hlavac and Commons (2023). In their research, intrinsic motivation was also dominant among professional interpreters.

None of the participants mentioned status orientation, striving for career advancement as motivating. This finding – the absence of status orientation – is consistent with the observations in the quantitative analysis of the AMI data. This result may also be related to the fact that in the interpreting profession, in most cases, there is a lack of a particularly differentiated hierarchy of positions and interpreters receive recognition for good performance in interpreting in general rather than for interpreting in particularly challenging situations and/or settings. The findings by authors of other similar research work are mixed. For example, Dam and Zethsen (2013) did not confirm their assumption that professional interpreters would view themselves as having a higher status than professional translators. On the contrary, Gentile (2013) found that conference interpreters perceived the prestige of their profession as comparable to that of doctors, lawyers, and university professors. We assume that the different self-perceptions of the interpreter's status may be related to the changed socio-economic conditions in the last decade(s) as well as to the specifics of individual interpreting markets.

In conclusion, it can be assumed that a positive perception of one’s own role and one’s own importance in achieving success/failure in the interpreting profession, a belief in the possibility of improving one’s abilities, skills and competences, and thus a highly internalized form of motivation is very likely to be a strong driver in the interpreting profession. We also view these findings positively in the context of educating future interpreters, as they suggest that one of the crucial factors for success in the interpreting profession is precisely the willingness to learn and continuously improve.

4.3 Research limitations

Despite the attempt to take a rigorous approach, our research design undoubtedly has limitations. One of them is the sampling selection, that is, approaching potential participants through direct contact or through a specific professional association. Given the specificity of the research sample, it was not realistic for us to opt for a random sampling. At the same time, with this type of sampling, we assumed a greater willingness to participate in the research, which was very complex, time-consuming, and often revealed quite private aspects of the participants’ personality and life. Therefore, the convenient sampling may have influenced the structure and representativeness of our research sample.

Another limitation of the research is the size of the sample, which is related to the design of the research, its complexity, and the time-consuming nature of the research on the part of both the participants and the researchers. Since the overall research not only focused on the issue of motivation, but also investigated other aspects of interpreters' personality and their interpreting performance, the participants in the research completed quite a large number of test tasks. This may explain the willingness by only a small group of professional interpreters (N=9) to participate in the research. We are aware of the fact that it is also problematic to make quantitative statements with such a small sample.

A third limitation is also the fact that there is a gap of more than a decade between the standards available for the AMI and data collection in our research, during which there have been significant changes in the interpreting market and in the interpreting profession.

A fourth limitation, which according to Gile (2017: 27) is often ignored in translation and interpreting studies, is social desirability bias, “a tendency by respondents to consciously or subconsciously answer questions in a way which they assume will reflect a more favorable image of them and their action“. This implies that in both the AMI and the interview, the respondents might have provided the answers they perceived to be desirable for the research purpose.

In addition, the nature of this type of research increases the degree of subjectivity in the data collected. At the same time, participants could talk about their own motivations quite freely; the interview questions (aligned to the quantitative analysis) were designed to be open-ended, that is, each subject could reflect on different aspects, or only on some aspects. However, since the quantitative analysis was conducted first, we believe that the qualitative data obtained have quite a great deal of supporting power in providing a comprehensive view on the motivation of professional interpreters.

Due to these limitations, we have no ambition to generalise our findings to all professional interpreters in Slovakia. However, by complementing the quantitative analysis of a self-report inventory with qualitative data obtained from interviews, we believe that we can at least offer suggestions worthy of further investigation.

5. Conclusion and recommendations

The interpreters in our research sample consider specific personality traits more important and desirable than general giftedness or talent. In particular, they value curiosity and general interest in the world around them, and they enjoy new challenges.

In general, the interpreters in our research believe that skills can be acquired through practice and experience if one is sufficiently motivated. The aforementioned sufficient level of motivation is demonstrated as intrinsic motivation in both professional interpreters and students who are inclined to interpreting. The dominant dimensions in the three groups, which distinguishes them from the reference population, are persistence, compensatory effort, internality, fearlessness (emotional stability) and flow.

As we also compared the motivational profiles of the groups with each other in the research, we found that senior interpreters are characterised by higher persistence, dominance, and confidence in success. Since these characteristics are found in the senior group, they are likely to be acquired in the process of gaining experience, having more advanced routines, erudition and, therefore, confidence in one’s own abilities.

In contrast, none of the interviewees reported feeling motivated by status orientation or the pursuit of career advancement. These statements were supported by data from quantitative analysis (AMI). This finding would be worth verifying on a larger sample, as the results of research on the professional status within interpreting studies are mixed.

As we have already pointed out, due to the small number of participants, our findings cannot be generalized. Replication of the research on a larger sample with an equal representation of participants (professionals with longer experience, professionals with shorter experience, interpreting students) could confirm or refute our findings. The research conducted has also provided us with several ideas, which we present below, that can be applied in the training of future interpreters.

Both interpreting students and professional interpreters were characterised by high fearlessness (emotional stability) and internality. Strong intrinsic motivation and the conviction that one's own skills and competences can be improved through training and experience are undoubtedly a beneficial mindset that enables interpreters to remain satisfied and successful in their profession for a relatively long time. The higher stress resilience of these groups compared to the general population may represent higher emotional stability, which is generally considered a reliable predictor of (not only) the interpreting profession. We believe that personality characteristics such as emotional stability (Bontempo et al. 2014; Rosiers and Eyckmans, 2017) and intrinsic performance motivation can help both professionals and interpreting students compensate for possible performance deficiencies, for example, by more intensive training, more rigorous preparation, a more motivated approach to (self-)study, and a willingness to improve and work on oneself. At the same time, these findings provide interpreting trainers with good grounds for encouraging students, for pushing them further in terms of competences and personality traits that are already intrinsically present, as these findings point precisely to the importance of motivation and training for success in their professional future.

About the author(s)

Soňa Hodáková works as a translator and conference interpreter for national and international companies and institutions. She teaches seminars on translation, interpreting and mental health at Constantine the Philosopher University in Slovakia. Her scientific activities focus mainly on research related to cognitive aspects in interpreting and research on the application of specific competences in the education of future translators and interpreters. She is a member of the international EMT working group on public service interpreting and translation (PSIT). She is the principal investigator of several research projects and the Slovak coordinator of international project funded by the European Commission's Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) entitled Mental Health 4 All: Development and implementation of a digital platform for the promotion of access to mental healthcare for low language proficient third-country nationals in Europe.

Miroslava Melicherčíková completed her studies in translation and interpreting at Matej Bel University in Slovakia. She teaches courses focused on improving students’ interpreting and translation skills. Her research and publishing activities focus on selected aspects of consecutive and simultaneous interpreting, interpreters’ personality and cognitive characteristics as well as didactics of interpreting. She has actively participated in several national research projects dealing with translation and interpreting. She was the principal investigator of the national research project called Reflection of Cognitive and Personality Traits in the Interpreting Performance of T&I Students and Professionals in Real and Virtual Environments.

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