This study analyzes the cultural identities and job satisfaction of married immigrant women working as translators in South Korea. The purpose of this study is to inspect the Korean and native sociocultural and linguistic identities of these translato...
This study analyzes the cultural identities and job satisfaction of married immigrant women working as translators in South Korea. The purpose of this study is to inspect the Korean and native sociocultural and linguistic identities of these translators, and how they affect their job satisfaction. The sample consists of married immigrant women working as Vietnamese and Chinese translators at the Multicultural Family Support Center in South Korea, and the study is composed of a questionnaire and an in-depth interview.
The results of the survey are as follows. For the 80 translators, they were positive towards their native and Korean cultures, and both their native language and Korean. They exhibited bilingual proficiency, and were satisfied with their interpretation activities.
Second, the translators' linguistic identities, but not sociocultural identities, were affected by demographic factors. Lower ages indicated lower linguistic identities, and participation in cultural arts, travelling, or a visit to their native countries increased the linguistic identities. In addition, the only demographic factor affecting job satisfaction rates was the native country visit; if it occurred within the recent 5 years, job satisfaction rates rose.
Third, both sociocultural and linguistic identities had a positive correlation with job satisfaction. Appreciation of social culture of the native country and Korea, and proficiency of and affability towards the native or Korean language resulted in high job satisfaction.
Fourth, we investigated the effects of cultural identities on job satisfaction, and found out that 50.6% of job satisfaction was explained by cultural identities. Among the 6 subfields of job satisfaction, satisfaction regarding the job itself and social recognition/appraisal were high if both sociocultural and linguistic identities were high; satisfaction regarding the working environment and personal relationships (with the boss/colleagues) were high when linguistic identities were high; satisfaction of working conditions and rewards had no correlation with either sociocultural or linguistic identities.
An in-depth interview was conducted with 8 translators in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, which demonstrated that demographic characteristics affected the translators' sociocultural and linguistic identities. Depending on the cultural differences between the native country and Korea, pros and cons regarding their interpretation work were varied, so we concluded that similar to the results of the survey, cultural identities were related to job satisfaction.
As can be seen from this study, married immigrant women working as translators are in the transformation phase from the 'cultural encapsulation stage' to the 'cultural identity clarification stage' and furthermore onto the 'biculturalism stage', according to Banks' stages of cultural development typology. Although they are friendly towards both their country of origin and Korea, they still have a preference of their native culture and language over those of Korea, and a sense of pride towards their mother country. Job satisfaction ratings were sufficient in most areas, especially high in self-esteem, but low in working conditions and rewards. Improvements in temporary worker positions and low wages are necessary. Moreover, from this survey, we examined not only the translators' level of content with their work, but also how well they are adjusting to the Korean society. A more thorough investigation including parameters such as cultural abilities, cultural discord, conflicts regarding working abilities, and work ethics are expected in future research regarding married immigrant women working as translators.