A Year After Covid, Belgian Interpreters Continue to Reel From Lost Income

一年过去了,比利时口译员仍因收入减少而疲于奔命

2021-03-29 17:25 slator

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The twin blows of Covid and the seasonality of work to begin with have severely affected the livelihood of conference interpreters, according to the latest annual report released by the Belgian Chamber of Translators and Interpreters (CBTI-BKVT). Published on March 17, 2021 in French and Dutch, the report highlighted the results of a survey that showed conference interpreters seeing their income decline by about 50% in the months following the pandemic. Translators, although not as badly hit, still saw their income shrink by 15% over the same period. The results, released in December 2020, were from a survey conducted the month prior, which drew over 250 respondents, most of whom belonged to participating translators / interpreters associations. The majority of respondents rely on translation (150) as their main source of livelihood. The rest said most of their income comes from either interpretation (91), sworn translation (4), sworn interpretation (5), or reported no major source of income among the choices (5). The study cited conference interpreter, Max De Brouwer, who described the situation as “catastrophic” made even worse by the seasonality of assignments. De Brouwer pointed out that an interpreter does not work 12 equal months; so when work from the strongest months (i.e., October and November) is cut in half, interpreters will be sorely lacking funds by the time January and February roll around. The situation in Belgium mirrors that of the rest of Europe. As Slator reported back in June, a number of interpreters from the more than 3,200 contracted by EU institutions (some 40% of whom have regular contracts), said they were “puzzled” and “hurt” by government measures undertaken to alleviate their situation. Affiliated groups of FIT Europe, which conducted its own Covid impact survey, have lobbied government authorities for financial support — as has the CBTI-BKVT. Sébastien Devogele, Chairman of the CBTI-BKVT, told Slator, “The Covid crisis really demonstrated the importance of associations like ours, which defend the interests of our profession.” Devogele said they created two sector committees to lobby the government on behalf of their members. “Basically, we lobbied in two areas: on a general level, mainly for conference interpreters, and on a more specific level, for sworn translators and interpreters.” The first committee is lobbying for interpreters to obtain droit passerelle (lit. “gateway right) from government, which includes financial aid. According to Devogele, the committee met with authorities just a couple of weeks ago. The second committee, meanwhile, has been lobbying the Belgian Justice Department for better working conditions for sworn translators and interpreters. The CBTI-BKVT also works in synergy with other groups, such as the Federation of Liberal Professions in Flanders (FVB), which successfully fought for the inclusion of conference interpreters in the Flemish relief grant or hinderpremie. As pointed out in the CBTI-BKVT annual report, as nearly all their assignments were canceled after Covid hit, conference interpreters are no different from workers in the events sector. But while events workers benefited from the hinderpremie, conference interpreters have not and were instead given “other (more limited) support.”
根据比利时笔译和口译员协会(CBTI-BKVT)发布的最新年度报告,贪婪和工作季节性的双重打击严重影响了会议口译员的生计。 该报告于2021年3月17号以法语和荷兰语发表,报告强调了一项调查的结果,该调查显示,会议口译员在大流行后的几个月里收入下降了约50%。翻译人员,虽然受到的打击没有那么严重,但他们的收入在同一时期仍然缩水了15%。 2020年12月公布的结果来自于前一个月进行的一项调查,调查吸引了250多名答卷者,其中大多数属于参与笔译/口译协会。 大多数受访者依靠翻译(150人)作为主要生活来源。其余的人说他们的大部分收入来自口译(91),宣誓翻译(4),宣誓口译(5),或者在选择(5)中报告没有主要收入来源。 该研究引用了会议口译员马克斯·德·布鲁尔的说法,他形容这种情况是“灾难性的”,由于任务的季节性,情况变得更糟。德布鲁威尔指出,一名口译员工作的时间不等于12个月;因此,当最强月份(即10月和11月)的工作量减少一半时,到1月和2月时,口译员将严重缺乏资金。 比利时的情况反映了欧洲其他国家的情况。正如Slator六月份报道的那样,欧盟机构签约的3200多名口译员(其中约40%拥有正规合同)中的许多人表示,他们对政府为缓解他们的处境而采取的措施感到“困惑”和“伤害”。 FIT European的附属组织进行了自己的Covid impact调查,他们已经游说政府当局提供财政支持,CBTI-BKVT也是如此。 CBTI-BKVT的主席Sébastien Devogele告诉Slator,“Covid危机确实证明了像我们这样的协会的重要性,它们捍卫着我们职业的利益。” 德沃格勒说,他们创建了两个部门委员会,代表他们的成员游说政府。“基本上,我们在两个方面进行游说:在一般层面上,主要针对会议口译员,在更具体的层面上,针对宣誓笔译员和口译员。” 第一委员会正在游说口译员从政府获得droit passerelle(lit.“gateway right),包括财政援助。据Devogele说,该委员会仅在几周前与有关当局进行了会晤。 与此同时,第二委员会一直在游说比利时司法部为宣誓笔译员和口译员提供更好的工作条件。 CBTI-BKVT还与佛兰德自由职业联合会等其他团体协同工作,该联合会成功地争取将会议口译员纳入佛兰德救济赠款或HinderPremie。 正如CBTI-BKVT年度报告所指出的,由于在Covid hit之后,会议口译员几乎所有的任务都被取消了,因此会议口译员与活动部门的工作人员没有什么不同。但是,虽然活动工作者从这一障碍中受益,但会议口译员却没有,反而得到了“其他(更有限的)支持”。

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