A Quantitative Exploration to Directionality Among Sworn Translators and Interpreters in Colombia

Abstract

The high influence of sworn translators and interpreters (sti, henceforth) on the professional context of translation in Colombia is undeniable. However, the lack of institutional support and the poor documentation and research that exist among stis in the country makes it difficult to read it in an informed, comprehensive, and historical manner. Considering the abovementioned, this article aims at presenting the results of a sociological case study from a quantitative research that reflects, in a diagnostic or preliminary way, on the current situation of the Colombian stis, their status, and their working conditions. This study used techniques mainly from inferential statistics on data collected from a survey conducted to 200 informants. In this paper, special emphasis is placed on the results related to directionality and its influence in the market behavior. In general, there was a large plurality in the informants' profiles even though it was found that more than half of them were women and that English remained the main working language among translators with a particular strong presence of reverse translation/interpretation (towards a language other than Spanish). Likewise, through this research, it was concluded that several understudied professional and market-related aspects crucial for reading and understanding the work done by translators and interpreters in Colombia more judiciously were identified, described, and problematized.

Full text

ISSN 2011-799X
Received: 11/02/2021
Accepted: 26/04/2021
doi: 10.17533/udea.mut.v14n2a15
A Quantitative Exploration to Directionality
Among Sworn Translators and Interpreters
in Colombia1
Juan Felipe Zuluaga Molina
juanf.zuluaga@udea.edu.co
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8751-4992
Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia
Antonio Tamayo Herrera
antonio.tamayo@udea.edu.co
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5984-7463
Instituto Politécnico Nacional, México / Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia
Abstract
The high influence of sworn translators and interpreters (sti, henceforth) on the professional context
of translation in Colombia is undeniable. However, the lack of institutional support and the poor
documentation and research that exist among stis in the country makes it difficult to read it in an
informed, comprehensive, and historical manner. Considering the abovementioned, this article aims
at presenting the results of a sociological case study from a quantitative research that reflects, in a
diagnostic or preliminary way, on the current situation of the Colombian stis, their status, and their
working conditions. This study used techniques mainly from inferential statistics on data collected
from a survey conducted to 200 informants. In this paper, special emphasis is placed on the results
related to directionality and its influence in the market behavior. In general, there was a large plurality
in the informants’ profiles even though it was found that more than half of them were women and
that English remained the main working language among translators with a particular strong pres-
ence of reverse translation/interpretation (towards a language other than Spanish). Likewise, through
this research, it was concluded that several understudied professional and market-related aspects cru-
cial for reading and understanding the work done by translators and interpreters in Colombia more
judiciously were identified, described, and problematized.
Keywords: sworn translation and interpretation; directionality; translation market; translation in Co-
lombia.
1 This article is an outcome of the research project “A Neo-institutionalist Study from the Sociology of the
Professions to the Current Situation of Sworn Translators and Interpreters in Colombia” nanced by the
codi (Committee for the Development of Research) from Universidad de Antioquia. It was approved by
means of Act n° 2019-25530 from November 14, 2019. This article is also the result of some reections
taken from a M. A. dissertation entitled “Situación actual de los traductores e intérpretes ociales en Colombia: una mi-
rada desde la sociología de las profesiones” [The Current Status of Sworn Translators and Interpreters in Colombia:
A Sociology of the Professions Approach] carried out by the rst author with the help of Gabriel Quiroz as
his main advisor. It can be accessed in http://bibliotecadigital.udea.edu.co/handle/10495/16727

Juan Felipe Zuluaga Molina & Antonio Tamayo Herrera
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Nuevas perspectivas de investigación en la traducción especializada en lenguas románicas:
aspectos comparativos, léxicos, fraseológicos, discursivos y didácticos
Exploración cuantitativa sobre la direccionalidad entre traductores
e intérpretes ociales en Colombia
Resumen
La gran influencia de los traductores e intérpretes oficiales en el contexto profesional de la traducción
en Colombia es innegable. No obstante, la falta de apoyo institucional y la incipiente documentación
e investigación que existe sobre esta profesión en Colombia dificulta una lectura informada, amplia e
histórica de su labor. Teniendo en cuenta lo anterior, este artículo se propone presentar los resultados
de un estudio de caso sociológico desde un enfoque cuantitativo que reflexiona, de forma preliminar
o diagnóstica, sobre la situación actual de los traductores e intérpretes oficiales en Colombia, su es-
tatus y condiciones laborales. El presente estudio se basó principalmente en técnicas de la estadística
inferencial para procesar datos de una encuesta realizada a 200 informantes. En este artículo, se hace
especial énfasis en los resultados relacionados con la direccionalidad y su influencia en el comporta-
miento del mercado. En general, se encontró una amplia pluralidad en los perfiles de los informantes,
aunque más de la mitad de la muestra estaba representada por mujeres y el inglés se mantuvo como
la lengua de trabajo más recurrente entre los traductores con una presencia particularmente fuerte de
la traducción/interpretación inversa (hacia una lengua diferente al español). Así, esta investigación
identificó, describió y problematizó de manera preliminar varios aspectos relacionados con el merca-
do profesional que no habían sido estudiados y que son cruciales para leer y entender, de forma más
exhaustiva, el trabajo que realizan los traductores e intérpretes en Colombia.
Palabras clave: traducción e interpretación oficial; direccionalidad; mercado de la traducción; tra-
ducción en Colombia.
Une exploration quantitative de la directionnalité chez les traducteurs
et interprètes assermentés en Colombie
Résumé
La grande influence des traducteurs et des interprètes agréés dans le contexte professionnel de la
traduction est indéniable. Cependant, le manque de soutien institutionnel, ainsi que la pauvre émer-
gence de documentation et de recherches à leur sujet au pays fait en sorte qu’une lecture informée,
ample et historique sur leur activité devienne ardue. Ainsi, cet article vise à présenter les résultats
d’une étude de cas sociologique exploratoire, menée en suivant une approche quantitative, qui ré-
fléchit d’abord sur la situation actuelle des traducteurs et des interprètes agréés en Colombie, leur
statut et leurs conditions de travail. Cette étude s’est servie principalement de techniques propres à la
statistique inférentielle sur des données récoltées par l’entremise d’un sondage auprès de 200 langa-
giers au pays. Dans cette contribution, nous mettons l’accent sur les résultats liés à la directionnalité
et à l’impact de cette dernière sur le marché. En général, nous avons trouvé une grande pluralité en
termes de profils des participants. Cela dit, nous avons constaté que les femmes représentent plus de
la moitié de l’échantillon et que l’anglais constitue la langue de travail la plus récurrente parmi les
langagiers, avec une présence particulièrement forte de la traduction/interprétation vers une langue
seconde (c’est-à-dire, différente à l’espagnol). En outre, grâce à cette étude, nous avons identifié,
décrit et problématisé de façon exploratoire plusieurs aspects professionnels liés au marché n’ayant
jamais été étudiés jusqu’ici, et qui sont déterminants pour lire et comprendre de façon exhaustive le
travail développé par les traducteurs et les interprètes en Colombie.
Mots-clés : traduction et interprétation agréée ; directionnalité ; marché de la traduction ; traduction
en Colombie.

A Quantitative Exploration to Directionality Among Sworn Translators and Interpreters in Colombia
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Introduction
Sworn translators and interpreters (stis) are a
group of professionals known also as legal or
court translators/interpreters, because of their
specific acting scenarios (i.e., mostly legal or
governmental situations; Pym et al., 2012,
p. 26). They are a worldwide recognized re-
munerated group of professionals (Mayoral,
2000; Monzó, 2002; Pym et al., 2012), which
means that many institutions and individu-
als know they exist, that some laws recognize
them, and that, in some cases, associations, gov-
ernments, or schools regulate them (Stejskal,
2003, 2005). This recognition or authorization
makes them crucial for many bilingual inter-
actions between institutions and governments
around the world. Furthermore, it puts them in
an essential position for most contacts between
two cultures and languages in specific types of
documents and scenarios (Mayoral, 2000). In
addition, it differentiates them from other types
of translators/interpreters and places them at a
different level compared to other specialists in
translation/interpretation (Monzó, 2002).
Given the above stated recognition of stis, the
academia, as well as associations and gov-
ernments in many countries, have carried out
different studies and initiatives about them.
These studies and initiatives have described
stis, their behavior, their functions, and their
acting scenarios and tried to understand their
influence and status (Mayoral, 2000; Monzó,
2002; Stejskal, 2003, 2005). Additionally, they
have made the importance of this social group
in our society clear (Heras, 2017; Galanes,
2010; Vigier et al., 2013) and have helped offer
better alternatives for their training, associa-
tion, and regularization (Ordoñez, 2009; Orte-
ga, 2011; Zamora, 2005). By the same token,
they have explored the certification procedures
(Galanes, 2010; García, 2007; Ortega, 2011;
Vigier, 2010) and the historical aspects related
to the activity (Feria, 2007; Peñarroja, 1989;
Peñarroja & Cardona, 1993). Moreover, in
Spain2, they have examined the status of stis
from sociological, market-oriented, economic,
as well as other points of view (Biguri, 2007;
de las Heras, 2017; El Ghazouani, 2008; Gil
& García, 2015; Lobato, 2007; Mayoral, 1999,
2000; Monzó, 2002; Perdu & Ridao, 2014;
Salvador, 1996). Furthermore, they have con-
tributed to the reflection about stis in their cor-
responding countries which, at the same time,
contributes to the reflection of translation and
interpreting in general in the specific territory.
Examples of this are Zamora (2005) in Costa
Rica, Guzmán (2008) in Russia, Barceló and
Delgado (2016) in Spain and France, Martínez
and Guilman (2005), and Cortés (2000) in
Argentina, Livio (2000) in Brazil, and Hlavac
(2013) in Canada, among others.
Contrasting this wealth of initiatives and studies
in the world related to stis, in Colombia there
are only six academic studies dealing with this
segment of translators/interpreters (Clavijo,
2011; Martín, 2013; Quiroz et al., 2013, 2015).
As the previous studies made in countries dif-
ferent from Spain, they are merely demographic
or descriptive. Quiroz et al. (2013), for example,
focused on defining the profile of candidates to
become stis that were more likely to pass the
exam while Quiroz et al. (2015) focused on some
general aspects about stis as an occupational
group. On the other hand, Quiroz and Zulu-
aga (2014) made a quantitative description of
the performance of candidates to become stis,
while Clavijo (2011) and Martin (2013) made
a description of some general issues related to
the status of stis in the law and in the practice.
Thus, as can be seen, studies and initiatives on
this segment of translators in Colombia have
not deeply and recently explored any specific
2 Notice that Spain is a very prolic country in
terms of research related to sworn translation
and interpretation.

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process related to their current status nor any
particular reflection about the market behavior
has been made.
In reality, there are very few studies around the
world concerning the market behavior of sworn
translation and interpretation services. Some
of the main topics that have been left apart are
rates, professional offers, number of translators
or interpreters in organization, among others.
This reality is something that can also be seen
in Colombia where only some projects or ini-
tiatives have tried to carry out research projects
related to market behavior and status in this
segment of professionals.
Accordingly, the present article intends to pres-
ent some updated reflections on the current sit-
uation of sworn translators and interpreters in
Colombia and some important aspects related
to market behavior, with special emphasis on
directionality. Consequently, the paper aims at
doing the following: (a) describe what the cur-
rent state of Sworn Translators and Interpret-
ers in Colombia is; (b) describe the main aspects
related to directionality in this group of profes-
sionals; (c) explain, by means of quantitative
analysis, the main traits of the market in sworn
translation and interpreting in Colombia; and,
(d) make some general comments on the find-
ings of this study compared to the reality of the
profession of translators/interpreters in Colom-
bia and the world.
In the following sections, the reader will find
a brief description of details about stis such
as the various ways in which they are denom-
inated, regulated, or organized in the world
and in Colombia. In addition, they will find
a brief summary of key aspects related to di-
rectionality principles and theories that this
study will draw on. Subsequently, the reader
will see the main methodological aspects tak-
en into account for the design of this research
such as participants and data gathering sources.
Finally, the reader will find a brief summary
of the findings and general discussions and
interpretations related to market behavior and
directionality.
2. Theoretical Framework
This study draws on the directionality theories.
Specifically, it draws on key aspects or princi-
ples within this perspective. That is why, the
following paragraphs provide key aspects about
the concept of directionality and, specifically,
about the current thoughts, beliefs, and reflec-
tion on this topic. However, before that, the sec-
tion will provide some details concerning the
specific ways in which stis are denominated,
regulated, and organized around the world and
in Colombia so that a better comprehension of
the international market behavior and beliefs
are stated.
2.1. Sworn Translators and Interpreters
around the World
Sworn translators and interpreters are a group of
individuals that are also known as legal or court
translators/interpreters because of their specif-
ic acting scenarios (i.e., mostly legal or govern-
mental situations; Pym et al., 2012, p. 26). They
exist almost all around the world and their ac-
tivity, denominations, and regulations are very
diverse. In terms of activities, what can be seen
is that, while their main task in countries such
as the United States is to translate/interpret
from and into languages like Spanish, Chinese,
and Italian (Hammond, 1990), in some South
American countries, their task is to translate/
interpret from and into indigenous languages
(Quiroz et al., 2015). Concerning regulation,
while in Canada their activity is regulated by
associations (Hlavac, 2013), in Spain they are
regulated by the government (Heras, 2017;
Mayoral, 2000; Ordoñez, 2009), and in Colom-
bia, according to Decrees 382 and 2257 (Colom-
bia, Diario Oficial, 1951b; Colombia, Diario

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Oficial, 1951a), they are overseen by two pub-
lic universities (Universidad de Antioquia and
Universidad Nacional, as reported by Clavijo,
2011). Finally, regarding denominations, while
in countries such as the United States and Can-
ada they are called certified, in Europe they
are called legal, sworn or authorized transla-
tors (Pym et al., 2012), while in some South
American countries they are called juramenta-
dos (Peru, Brazil), públicos (Venezuela, Argenti-
na, Uruguay, Paraguay), or oficiales (Colombia,
Chile; see Figure 1).
According to Pym et al. (2012, p. 26), all those
differences in denominations, specifically certi-
fied, sworn, and academically authorized translators/
translations, show, at the same time, a specific
way of understanding their actions. Certified is
normally a term referring to translations made
by a notary-accepted or government-approved
translator who is not necessarily a stis (see
the case of Honduras where there is a specific
section in the general secretariat that certifies
translations). Sworn, a very old term referring to
the moment in which translators literally swore
before a notary to be faithful to their work,
represents the group of translators who have
approved tests administered or ruled by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Justice to prove
or guarantee their degree of high performance
when translating (Stejskal, 2003; see the case
of Venezuela or Colombia where exams are
the only way to access the profession). Finally,
academically authorized is a group of translators
who, given their specific training in translation
and specifically in legal translation, are accept-
ed by the government to develop these tasks.
2.2. Sworn Translators and Interpreters
in Colombia
Sworn translation and interpreting is also a
very diverse reality in the Colombian context.
Actually, the designation of traductor e intérprete
oficial, which is the designation found in laws,
could cover three main groups of professionals.
The first group is that of translators and inter-
preters from and to oral languages that are not
official in the territory, such as French, Italian,
English, among others, who are authorized to
perform this activity after approving an exam,
according to Decrees 382 and 2257 (Colom-
bia, Diario Oficial, 1951a; Colombia, Diario
Oficial, 1951b). In many places around the
world, this group is usually known as sworn,
so that all ambiguities with other professionals
within the field of translation/interpretation
can be avoided. The second group are inter-
preters from and into the Colombian sign lan-
guage who already have a specific regulation
according to Decree 2369 (Colombia, Diario
Oficial, 1997) and Resolución 05274 (Colom-
bia, Diario Oficial, 2017) and who, now, must
access the profession by means of a certifica-
tion or a university-level training program. In
addition, the third group are translators and
Figure 1. Designations for Sworn Translators /
Interpreters in Latin America

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aspectos comparativos, léxicos, fraseológicos, discursivos y didácticos
interpreters from and into native languages
that are co-official in the Colombian territory
who already have a specific regulation in Law
1381 (Colombia, Diario Oficial, 2010). In this
last group, the particularity is that they are nor-
mally recognized by their communities and the
government and not by means of a certifica-
tion or a training process, as is the case of the
first two groups.
stis, the group in question for the present study,
referred as official in Colombia, are regularized
by Decrees 382, 722 and 2257 (Colombia, Di-
ario Oficial, 1951b, 1951a, 1982) and Law 962
(Colombia, Diario Oficial, 2005). Nowadays,
there are more than 900 stis registered in the
Directory of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs3.
These two previous facts contrast with the fact
that only one academic course is offered in the
country for candidates to become stis (see Curso
de preparación para el examen para traductor e intér-
prete oficial from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana4)
and that there is not any current association,
ministry, department or institution to regulate
them. In addition, even though there is the norm
ntc 5808 from icontec (2010) which defines
some translation activities (see icontec, 2010),
only one page is dedicated to stis and its content
is still merely informative.
2.3. Directionality
The concept of directionality in languages has
always been problematic (T. Pavlović, 2013). In
the translation industry and theory, some of the
main issues this discussion has risen are the fol-
lowing: (a) denomination (N. Pavlović, 2016),
which stands for the ideological, philosophical
and practical way of naming languages depend-
3 Consulted on May 3, 2015, https://tramites.can-
cilleria.gov.co/ApostillaLegalizacion/directorio/
Traductores.aspx
4 https://educacionvirtual.javeriana.edu.co/
traductor-ocial-del-ingles
ing on the use, degree of handling, and control,
among others; (b) definition, which relates to
some issues in which aspects such as preference
or control over some languages when translat-
ing or interpreting are tackled (Pokorn, 2005);
(c) influence of directionality in the quality of
translations, which is a historic issue first prob-
lematized by Newmark (1988), but further ana-
lyzed by several authors (Beeby, 1998; Campbell,
1998; Gile, 2005; Godjins & Hindaedael, 2005;
Kelly et al., 2003; Kiraly, 2000; Marmaridou,
1996); (d) influence of directionality in trans-
lators/interpreters training (Dollerup & Lod-
degaard, 1992; Donovan, 2003; Fernández,
2003; McAlester, 1992; among others); and (e)
the relation between directionality and mar-
ket behavior (Grosman et al., 2000; Lorenzo,
1999, 2002).
For the purposes of this study, only some of the
reflections around the concept of directionality
will be covered. This study will understand lan-
guage pairs as follows: “language A” will stand
for “Spanish” and “Additional language(s)” will
stand for any other language different to Span-
ish in which a sworn translator or interpreter is
certified.
2.4. Key Aspects to Be Taken
Into Account in a Market-Oriented
Perspective to Directionality
Market-oriented studies in the context of di-
rectionality are some of the more productive.
In fact, the following are some of the main as-
pects analyzed in this kind of studies: language
status (McAlester, 1992), geopolitical situation
of the market in question (Campbell, 1998);
mother tongue, native tongue and other ideo-
logical and philosophical issues related to de-
nominations (Kelly et al., 2003), cognitive and
linguistic effort, among others. As stated by
Gallego (2014, p. 230), when discussing some
aspects related to ideological beliefs in direc-
tionality, he observes that “la traducción inversa

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en el mercado profesional existe y puede enmarcarse
como una actividad social funcional [reverse trans-
lation in the professional market exists and can
be framed as a functional social activity].” He
also analyzes the fact that reverse or inverse di-
rectionality, which means translating from your
first language to a second tongue, is actually a
very common activity among language service
enterprises and professionals, and it has some
implications for the practice of translation itself
such as the increase of cognitive effort or the
lack of quality of the final translation.
By the same token, some other authors such
as McAlester (1992) reflect on the fact that this
behavior of the market is very often due to the
lack of competent translators in minority (in
terms of number of speakers) languages such as
Finnish, Danish, or some other Scandinavian
languages. Both reflections, the one concerning
the fact that reverse or inverse directionality is
a very active area in many enterprises as well
as the one explaining this reality with aspects
such as number of speakers or languages status,
can also be seen in Colombia. As will be fur-
ther discussed, Colombia is a very interesting
place to describe when it comes to directional-
ity. First, because for years, Colombia has had a
very modest economic opening to countries in
which Spanish is not the lingua franca. Second,
because of the number of native or co-official
languages co-existing with Spanish, that is,
more than 65 languages.
As stated by Ferreira et al. (2016):
directionality in translation has recently re-
sulted in an increase in the number of studies
that contribute to understanding the cognitive
mechanisms that are involved in the transla-
tion process (e.g., Alves & Gonçalves 2013;
Ferreira 2012, 2014; pacte 2011; Pavlović &
Jensen 2009). There remain several gaps in
what we know about the practice of inverse
translation (it) in contrast to direct translation
(dt), and as such, additional studies are nec-
essary to make further advancements in tpr.
(p. 63)
The aforementioned reflection on the lack of
studies carried out on inverse translation (it)
has also been emphasized by some other au-
thors. Pavlovic and Jensen (2019) for instance
described cognitive and physical aspects in a
group of Croatian translators finding interest-
ing patterns in their behavior which indicates
a higher effort when doing inverse translating.
Ferreira’s studies showed a similar thread when
exploring the topic of effort of inverse trans-
lating, a topic of interest for the present study.
Not only does inverse translating require a high-
er cognitive and physical effort, it also uprises
social issues related to language status and pro-
fessional status. For this research, these three
aspects will be observed and problematized in
the segment of sworn translators and interpret-
ers in Colombia.
3. Research Design
The present article is part of a larger project that
can be categorized as a sociological case study.
The following paragraphs will describe the de-
tails of this sociological case study, the partici-
pants that took part in this project, and the data
collection procedures that were carried out.
3.1. Method
Firstly, this study followed a quantitative ap-
proach, since its main purpose was to analyze
a particular reality by means of the explora-
tion of different variables connected to it, and
secondly, because data was analyzed by deduc-
tive processes and it aimed at having a linear
sequence for the comprehension and analysis
of the phenomenon. This study was meant to
describe the phenomenon so that an objective
comprehension or diagnosis of what is hap-
pening in the context of stis and directionality

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Nuevas perspectivas de investigación en la traducción especializada en lenguas románicas:
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in Colombia is reached. It is worth mentioning
here that further aspects related to some con-
clusions drawn from qualitative data are also
part of the larger project; thus, for the purposes
of this article, only the quantitative perspective
and results from the study will be presented.
This research study followed a method of so-
ciological case studies. These, as defined by
Hancock & Algozzine (2006), focus on “soci-
ety, social institutions, and social relationships,
examining [sic] the structure, development, in-
teraction, and collective behavior of organized
groups of individuals” (p. 32), which is the
main emphasis of the present study. Accord-
ingly, this article presents some reflections on
directionality in the context of the social group
of the stis.
3.2. Participants
The participants of this study are Colombian
stis. According to the Directory of Sworn Trans-
lators and Interpreters of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, there are around 900 registries of stis in
the country. According to the same Directory,
from those 900 registries, 70 % correspond to stis
certified in English–Spanish, about 7 % to stis in
French-Spanish, 7 % to stis in Italian-Spanish,
while the rest of the sample correspond to stis
in different languages, such as German, Portu-
guese, Russian, and others. The present study
took the total number of stis as the universe
and subsequently took a representative sample
proportional to the size of that universe
(Kuznik et al., 2010) of 200 responders for the
implementation of a survey. This sampling
process was carried out with a confidence level
of 94 % and a margin of error of 6 %. The only
criterion for the selection of the participants is
that they were holders of the certificate of sti
delivered by Universidad Nacional, Instituto Elec-
trónico de Idiomas, the Ministry of Justice or Uni-
versidad de Antioquia.
3.3. Quantitative Analysis Implemented
All data was organized and described statisti-
cally, and then processed and analyzed with
some inferential statistical tests assisted by the
program RStudio (“RStudio: Integrated devel-
opment for R”, 2015). It is important to men-
tion that this study took an alpha value (α) or
a significance value of 0.06 as reference for all
the implemented tests. The main characteris-
tics of the data are:
• Quantitative variable: The only quantitative
variable examined in this study is denomina-
ted here as “percentage of work dedication
Figure 2. Boxplot for the Distribution of the Quantitative Variable: Percentage of Translation/
Interpreting Into Language A (Spanish) From Any Additional Language Among stis.

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to translation or interpretation into language
A (Spanish).” In order to get this informa-
tion, translators were asked to indicate the
percentage of work they dedicated to trans-
lating or interpreting from the additional
language of their certification into Spanish.
When examining this variable, we applied
the Shapiro-Wilk test to determine whether
this variable had a normal distribution or
not; and the result of the test, with a p-value
of 2.926e-05, led this study to conclude that
indeed this variable could only be explored
by means of non-parametric statistics tests
since it does not comply with one of the as-
sumptions parametric tests have to be used:
that the quantitative variable(s) must have a
normal distribution. As can be observed in
Figures 2 and 3, the distribution of this varia-
ble is very irregular when comparing it to the
Gaussian Curve. To conclude, it is crucial to
mention the process of imputation used in
this variable. In order to get as much informa-
tion as possible from the sample, a process of
imputation for statistical mean for all the ca-
ses in which there was not information about
the percentage when crossed with the qualita-
tive variable was made in this study. In almost
all cases, a maximum of 11 imputations were
made. The statistical mean for this variable
was 39.3 %.
• Qualitative variables: All the qualitative vari-
ables were defined by examining the ques-
tions proposed for the survey. All of them
were organized as follows: (a) demographic
aspects (certified pair of languages, decade of
certification, place of certification, age, birth
place, field of knowledge according to their
bachelor’s degree, sex, place of residence,
specific training in translation/interpreting);
and (b) clientele (time dedicated to projects
related to sworn translation/interpretation
during a regular week, source of employ-
ment, client profile, promotion of services,
and interpreters only vs translators and inter-
preters). During the study, those registries in
which no data were available in the qualita-
tive variables were eliminated. This decision
was made to guarantee that there would not
be any manipulation of the data. In almost
all cases, the maximum number of elimina-
tions was 15 out of 200.
• Tests made crossing qualitative variable with
the quantitative variable: Taking into account
that the quantitative variable did not have a
normal distribution, all applied tests were
Figure 3. Density Plot for the Distribution of the Quantitative Variable: Percentage of Translation/
Interpreting Into Language A (Spanish) From Any Additional Language Among stis

Juan Felipe Zuluaga Molina & Antonio Tamayo Herrera
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Nuevas perspectivas de investigación en la traducción especializada en lenguas románicas:
aspectos comparativos, léxicos, fraseológicos, discursivos y didácticos
non-parametric. The following were the main
tests applied for the present study:
— Mann-Whitney U-test or Wilcoxon
Ranks sums test: This test was applied
for the qualitative variables “sex” (man
or woman), “place of residence” (Cun-
dinamarca or a place different from
Cundinamarca), whether stis had any
specific training in translation or not,
whether stis promoted their work or not,
and finally, whether stis worked as inter-
preters too or not.
— Kruskal-Wallis test: For this test, sev-
eral hypotheses were made and proven
within the same group of sworn transla-
tors, all of the remaining variables men-
tioned before were used here.
• Tests made with qualitative variables: In or-
der to prove or disprove some hypotheses
related to the association or dependence of
two qualitative variables that were import-
ant for this study, the Chi-square test was ap-
plied. The comparisons were made between
the following variables: (a) language pair
certified and sex, (b) language pair certified
and year of certification, and (c) language
pair of certification and age. These compar-
isons were made to determine if there were
any specific behaviors depending on the addi-
tional language certified.
4. Results and Discussion
As stated before, there were two main aspects
examined by means of statistical inferential tech-
niques for this paper: (a) demographic aspects,
and (b) clientele and market-related translator
profiles. In this segment of the paper, the infor-
mation will be presented as follows: general de-
scriptive statistical data found in the variables
explored for that group of aspects, tables and
figures of the variables combined by means of
inferential statistical tests, and general comments
about the previous two inputs including some ref-
erences to the existing literature in the field.
4.1. Demographic Aspects
After observing the descriptive analysis of
questions related to this issue, some general
demographic aspects of the market of sworn
translation and interpretation in Colombia
are as follows: (a) 60 % of sworn translators
and interpreters are women; (b) 70 % of
the translators of the sample are located in
Cundinamarca, the province where the cap-
ital city of Colombia (Bogotá) can be found;
(c) 70 % were born in Colombia; (d) half of
them —50 %— are over 50 years old; (e) 70 %
of them are certified in the language pair En-
glish-Spanish; (f) 95 % of them are active in
translation and interpretation; (g) 90 % of them
completed an undergraduate training process;
and, (h) 60 % of them completed a graduate
training process; (i) even if only 10 % of them
are part of an association related to translation
or languages, 80 % of them are in favor of cre-
ating an association related to sworn transla-
tion/interpretation in Colombia; (j) 90 % of
them currently interact or have interacted with
other sworn translators/interpreters for differ-
ent purposes.
4.1.1. Inferential Statistical Tests Applied
and Their Results
After having looked at the descriptive data,
some interesting or appealing aspects called
the attention of the researchers. In Tables 1, 2,
and 3, readers can observe some of the inter-
esting information that emerged when explor-
ing two variables, the hypothesis made for that
specific test and, finally, the results and infor-
mation extracted from them.
On the one hand, as can be seen on Tables 1
and 2, the statistical tests show that there is not
a statistically meaningful difference between

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Table 1. Hypothesis, Results, and Conclusions for Tests with Polytomous Qualitative Variables vs. the Quantitative
Variable with Kruskal-Wallis Tests
Test
applied
Description of the polytomous
qualitative variable
Null hypothesis:
H0: There is not a statistically
meaningful difference
between the median of the
percentage of work into
Language A (Spanish)…
Alternative hypothesis:
H1: There is a statistically
meaningful difference
between the median of the
percentage of work into
Language A (Spanish)…
Result
(p-value)
Reference
p-value: 0.05
Conclusion
Kruskal-
Wallis
Certied pair of languages
(a) English; (b) Italian; (c) French;
(d) Other languages (less than
4 sti).
…among 4 different groups
of sworn translators and
interpreters: those certied
in English, Italian, French, or
other languages.
0.9159
The null
hypothesis is
accepted.
Decade of certication
(a) 1960 – 1969; (b) 1970 – 1979;
(c) 1980 – 1989; (d) 1990 – 1999;
(e) 2000 – 2009; (f) 2010 – 2019.
…depending on their
decade of certication. 2.2e-16
The alternative
hypothesis is
accepted.
Place of certication
(a) Universidad de Antioquia; (b)
Instituto Electrónico de Idiomas;
(c) Universidad Nacional - Sede
Bogotá.
…depending on their place
of certication. 0.5136
The null
hypothesis is
accepted.
Age
(a) 25 – 29; (b) 30 – 34; (c) 35
– 39; (d) 40 – 44; (e) 45 – 49; (f)
50 – 54; (g) 55 – 59; (h) 60 – 64; (i)
Más de 65.
…depending on their age. 0.2677
The null
hypothesis is
accepted.
Birth place
(a) Bogotá; (b) cities outside
Colombia; (c) other cities of
Colombia (less than 5 sti); (d)
Barranquilla; (e) Medellín; (f) Cali;
(g) Cartagena.
…depending on their birth
place. 0.3066
The null
hypothesis is
accepted.
Field of knowledge according to
their bachelor’s degree
(a) Language Sciences
(translation, philology, literature,
communications, etc.); (b)
Education Sciences (languages
teaching, teaching of any
science/eld); (c) Social and
Human Sciences; (d) Exact
and Natural Sciences; (e)
Engineering; (f) Health Sciences.
…depending on the eld
of knowledge of their
bachelor’s degree.
0.1623
The null
hypothesis is
accepted.

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aspectos comparativos, léxicos, fraseológicos, discursivos y didácticos
the median of the percentage of work into
Language A (Spanish) and sti certified pair
of languages, place of certification, age, birth-
place, field of knowledge according to their
bachelor’s degree, place of residence or spe-
cific training in translation/interpreting. This
information suggests, at the same time, several
issues than can be more deeply discussed or
analyzed, given that, as stated before, from a
statistically descriptive point of view, the per-
centage of work into an additional language
among sti is superior (60 %) to the amount of
work done into Spanish.
The old belief in many places where issues re-
lated to translation/interpreting are carried out
is that translators should not translate or inter-
pret into an additional language different to
their native language (Newmark, 1988). This
common belief, strongly enrooted in several or-
ganizations, governments, and more evidently,
study programs in universities, is questioned
in this paper due to the data found and tested
for this research study. In Colombia, this is also
a very widespread belief (Clavijo et al., 2006,
p. 63). The question now is whether university
programs should keep focusing their training in
translation and interpreting on Spanish. Should
we rethink training programs taking into ac-
count the fact that inverse translation (into an
additional language) is more commonly de-
manded by the market? Another interesting fact
to analyze in this stage, is the one related to the
special effort translators have to do to inverse
translating (Ferreira et al., 2016). This is im-
portant since, in Colombia, so far, the topic of
directionality and its cognitive implications has
not been tackled nor in the general segment of
translators nor in the segment of sworn transla-
tors and interpreters.
Another interesting aspect related to this find-
ing is that even though there is poor evidence,
if any, on the influence of some languages or
Test applied
Description of
the dichotomous
qualitative variable
Null hypothesis:
H0: There is not a statistically meaningful
difference between the median of the
percentage of work into Language A
(Spanish)…
Alternative hypothesis:
H1: There is a statistically meaningful
difference between the median of the
percentage of work into Language A
(Spanish)…
Result
(p-value)
Reference
p-value: 0.05
Conclusion
Mann-
Whitney
U-test or
Wilcoxon
Ranks sums
test
Sex of sti
(a) Men; (b)
Women.
…depending on their sex (understood as
man and woman). 0.892
The null
hypothesis is
accepted.
Place of
Residence
(a) Cundinamarca
(including Bogotá,
the capital city);
(b) any other city.
…place of residence (reduced to a
dichotomous variable). 0.9138
The null
hypothesis is
accepted.
Specic Training
in Translation/
Interpreting?
(a) Yes; (b) No.
…depending on whether they have
completed a training process in translation/
interpretation or not.
0.5324
The null
hypothesis is
accepted.
Table 2. Hypothesis, Results, and Conclusions for Tests with Dichotomous Qualitative Variables vs. the Quantitative
Variable with Mann-Whitney U-Tests or Wilcoxon Ranks Sums Tests

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foreign cultures in the translation market in
Colombia, it is important to observe the ho-
mogeneity of work dedication among sti re-
gardless of their language of certification. If
we take a look at underrepresented languages
from the Directory (for instance, Arabic, Nor-
wegian, Swedish, Ukrainian, among others),
it will be observed that the translation market
behaves the same or, at least, does not behave
differently in comparison to other overrepre-
sented languages such as English.
Despite the common belief that places like the
capital city, Bogotá, or the touristic capital city,
Cartagena, are two of the cities with the big-
gest amount of work percentage into Spanish,
there is not any statistically meaningful differ-
ence between the demographic area and the sti
interpreting or translation direction.
As can be seen in Table 2, the only test in which
the alternative hypothesis was accepted for the
demographic category was the one in which
Figure 5. Boxplot for the Variable Decade of Certification
Figure 4. Subsequent Test for the Wilcoxon Ranks Sums Test
the different decades of certification among
sti were explored. An interesting aspect of this
finding is that this is not a very common topic
of discussion in directionality research. Nev-
ertheless, for the Colombian context, it could
be said that there is a specific predestination to
translate/interpret more into Spanish or into
English for sti depending on their decade of
certification (Figure 5). When applying the
posterior test to determine or to observe the
differences, we can observe (see Figure 4) that
there are very prominent differences between
almost all segments of sti. As will be clarified
later, the focus of this research was not to de-
termine why this happens. Instead it aimed to
point out that, in fact, some peculiarities in the
context of sworn translation and interpreta-
tion are taking place and should be described
or tackled in the future.
Additionally, another special exploration made
with the data that is worth discussing is how
languages could behave or associate differently

Juan Felipe Zuluaga Molina & Antonio Tamayo Herrera
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Nuevas perspectivas de investigación en la traducción especializada en lenguas románicas:
aspectos comparativos, léxicos, fraseológicos, discursivos y didácticos
Test
applied
Null hypothesis:
H0: There is not a
statistically meaningful
association or
dependence between
the variables…
Alternative hypothesis:
H1: There is a statistically
meaningful association or
dependence between
the variables…
Result
(p-value) /
Effect size (if
applicable)
Contingency table Conclusion
Chi-
square
… language pair
certied (divided into
four sub-groups [English,
Italian, French, and
other languages]) and
sex (men and women)
among sti.
0.8996
Men Women Total
English 60 89 149
Italian 7 9 16
French 8 9 17
Other
languages 916 25
Total 84 123 207
The null
hypothesis is
accepted.
…language pair certied
and year of certication.
* Only the certications
made after 1980 were
taken into account due
to the fact that only 5
registries were observed
after this year, and
according to this test, this
experiment cannot be
made when some of the
values equal “0.”
0.01954
Effect size:
0.2155208
English Other
languages Total
1980 – 1989 25 631
1990 - 1999 42 12 54
2000 - 2009 22 20 42
2010 - 2019 52 19 71
Total 146 57 203
The
alternative
hypothesis is
accepted.
…language pair certied
and age.
* Only the sti older than
25 years were taken
into account due to the
fact that only 7 registries
of sti were observed in
this range of ages, and
according to this test, this
experiment cannot be
made when some of the
values equal “0.”
0.1589
English
Other
languages Total
30 - 34 17 421
35 - 39 13 720
40 - 44 12 315
45 - 49 10 717
50 - 54 8 7 15
55 - 59 25 631
60 - 64 16 521
More than
65 42 850
Total 150 47 197
The null
hypothesis is
accepted.
Table 3. Hypothesis, Results, and Conclusions for Tests with Qualitative Variables with Chi-square

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Test
applied
Description of the polytomous
qualitative variable
Null hypothesis:
H0: There is not a statistically
meaningful difference
between the median of the
percentage of work into
Language A (Spanish)…
Alternative hypothesis:
H1: There is a statistically
meaningful difference
between the median of the
percentage of work into
Language A (Spanish)…
Result
(p-value)
Reference
p-value:
0.05
Conclusion
Kruskal-
Wallis
Time dedicated to projects
related to sworn translation/
interpretation during a regular
week:
(a) 1 to 10 hours; (b) 11 to 20
hours; (c) 21 to 30 hours; (d) 31 to
40 hours; (e) more than 40 hours.
…and the time spent in
projects related to sworn
translation or interpretation
during a regular week.
0.5803 The null hypothesis
is accepted.
Source of employment for stis:
(a) Natural persons; (b) private
enterprises that do not belong
to the linguistic services business;
(c) private or public (ofcial)
enterprises that belong to the
linguistic services business;
(d) public (ofcial) enterprises that
do not belong to the linguistic
services business.
…depending on the source of
employment of stis.0.6867 The null hypothesis
is accepted.
Client prole:
(a) National natural persons; (b)
national private enterprises that
do not belong to the linguistic
services business; (c) foreign
private enterprises that do not
belong to the linguistic services
business; (d) foreign natural
persons; (e) national public
(ofcial) enterprises that do not
belong to the linguistic services
business; (f) national private or
public (ofcial) enterprises that
belong to the linguistic services
business; (g) foreign private or
public (ofcial) enterprises that
belong to the linguistic services
business; (i) foreign public (ofcial)
enterprises that do not belong to
the linguistic services business.
…depending on the client
prole they assist the most. 0.1881 The null hypothesis
is accepted.
Table 4. Hypothesis, Results, and Conclusions for Tests with Polytomous Qualitative Variables vs. the Quantitative
Variable with Kruskal-Wallis Tests

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Nuevas perspectivas de investigación en la traducción especializada en lenguas románicas:
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depending on a series of qualitative variables.
In Table 3, neither age nor sex are determining
or strongly correlated with the language certi-
fied by sti. This finding shows once again a cer-
tain homogeneity in sti profiles when it comes
to language and, at the same time, brings the
discussion to the table about the specific exter-
nal organizational patterns that make sworn
translation and interpreting a very similar ac-
tivity regardless of the language expertise. It is
also important to mention the fact that once
again the year of certification showed a spe-
cial association with a variable. In this case,
according to the second test in Table 3, there is
an association with a size effect of 0.2 between
the language certified and the year of certifica-
tion of sti.
4.2. Clientele and Market-Related Aspects
When observing the descriptive analysis, some
general clientele-related aspects of the market of
sworn translation and interpretation in Colombia
are the following: (a) 40 % of sworn translators
and interpreters use from 1 to 10 hours per week
to tasks and projects related to sworn translation/
interpretation; (b) 61 % of the projects and tasks
carried out by them are made from language A
into the additional language; (c) 60 % of them
have as clients natural persons while 30 % of
them have private enterprises that are not in the
languages services domain as their clients; (d)
60 % of them get their sworn translation/inter-
pretation projects from natural persons; (e) for
50 % of them, the main parameter when defin-
ing the budget of a sworn translation is the final
number of pages or words of the translated paper;
(f) for 50 % of them, the main parameter when
defining how to charge clients for interpreting
services is the number of hours; (g) for 50 % of
them, the main types of documents when trans-
lating are legal or juridical documents, followed
by commercial documents, and in the third
place, academic documents; (h) 60 % of them do
not have a well-defined technique or strategy to
promote their services.
4.2.1. Inferential Statistical Tests
applied and Results
After having looked at the descriptive data,
some interesting or appealing aspects called the
attention of the researchers. In Tables 4 and 5,
Table 5. Hypothesis, Results, and Conclusions for Tests with Dichotomous Qualitative Variables vs. the Quantitative
Variable with Mann-Whitney U-tests or Wilcoxon Ranks Sums Tests
Test applied
Description of
the dichotomous
qualitative variable
Null hypothesis:
H0: There is not a statistically
meaningful difference
between the median of the
percentage of work into
Language A (Spanish)…
Alternative hypothesis:
H1: There is a statistically
meaningful difference
between the median of the
percentage of work into
Language A (Spanish)…
Result
(p-value)
Reference
p-value: 0.05
Conclusion
Mann-Whitney U-test
or Wilcoxon Ranks
sums test
Do you promote
your services as a sti?
(a) Yes; (b) No
…depending on whether
they promote their services
or not.
0.8033
The null
hypothesis is
accepted.
Do you work as an
interpreter?
(a) Yes; (b) No
…depending on whether
they work as interpreters or
not.
0.3437
The null
hypothesis is
accepted.

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readers can observe some of the interesting in-
formation that emerged when exploring two
variables, the hypothesis made for that specific
test, and finally, the results and information ex-
tracted from them.
As can be seen in Tables 4 and 5, statistical
tests show that there is not a statistically mean-
ingful difference between the median of the
percentage of work into Language A (Span-
ish) and the time spent in projects related to
sworn translation/interpretation during a reg-
ular week. The same is true for the source of
employment for stis or the client profile, and
the promotion of services or work as an inter-
preter. This information suggests, at the same
time, several issues than can be more deeply
discussed or analyzed, given that, as stated
before, from a statistically descriptive point of
view, the percentage of work into an additional
language among stis is superior (60 %) to the
amount of work done into Spanish.
5. Conclusions
The present article intended to present some re-
flections and an analysis on the current situation
of sworn translators and interpreters in Colom-
bia, as well as some important aspects related to
market behavior, with special emphasis on di-
rectionality, taken from a larger project in which
a sociological case study was implemented. All
data and analysis presented here were mainly
tackled from a quantitative perspective since the
main data source for this part of the project was
a survey.
In general terms, it is crucial to take a deep
look at the emphasis of training institutions
of translators-to-be in the translation direc-
tionality given the previously stated evidence
from both descriptive and inferential statistics
of the importance of additional languages in the
market behavior in the Colombian landscape. It
is also essential to rethink the different process of
professional updating among translators in Co-
lombia and the lack of training offers for profes-
sionals in this area (something already discussed
by Gómez, 2019). In reality, as previously ana-
lyzed, the fact that inverse translation requires a
specific and, in some cases, specialized set of
skills should be a topic of discussion in trans-
lation studies in Colombia. Authors such as
Pavlovic or Ferreira have already problema-
tized the issue of cognitive effort when inverse
translating, an understudied topic in Colom-
bia in the general segment of translators and
in the segment, as well as among sworn trans-
lators and interpreters.
As could be observed before, the current mar-
ket for sti clients is mostly represented by nat-
ural persons. This allows this study to propose
a reflection on the informality of the activity,
based on the fact that contact with clients, as
confirmed by some other research initiatives
(Quiroz & Zuluaga, 2014), is made directly by
the sti rather than brokered by any agency or
institution to back them up in case of any trou-
bles with the project.
As shown by the inferential statistics tests, there
is a specific behavior among sti depending on
their year of certification. This finding is inter-
esting, but due to the lack of information our
survey collected on this topic, we are unable to
further develop it. However, this finding allows
us to reflect on some differential characteristics
among stis and invites us to determine profiles
between translators themselves and observe
how their practices vary depending on vari-
ables such as year of certification.
It is important to rethink some professional, so-
cial, and organizational aspects of translation
and interpretation in Colombia and specifical-
ly in sworn translation and interpretation. This
process of rethinking should focus on aspects
such as associations and their influence in daily
interactions between stis and clients, structure

Juan Felipe Zuluaga Molina & Antonio Tamayo Herrera
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Nuevas perspectivas de investigación en la traducción especializada en lenguas románicas:
aspectos comparativos, léxicos, fraseológicos, discursivos y didácticos
and offer of training and updating processes,
the need for more cohesive and effective ways
to control and surveil the remunerated activity,
among others. Some other authors have already
reflected on this particularity such as Lupascu
(2015).
5.1. Limitations and Future Projects
Although this project collected and analyzed
data in an organized and consistent way, it is
important to mention a few limitations related
to specific parts of the research process.
In terms of the methodological design, this
paper focused on presenting and analyzing
quantitative data. This focus of interpretation
is evidently not enough to be able to read and
define from more sociological and perceptional
points of view the current state of the profes-
sion. Nevertheless, it does offer a diagnosis of
the situation and draws some lines or directions
to which studies in this area should go. That
is why, this paper accepts that all the informa-
tion given in it should be further inspected from
other points of view so that the discussion can
be more productive in terms of the reading and
understanding of this social group.
In theoretical and practical terms, this paper
focused on directionality despite it was not
conceived to address this topic. Actually, if
readers observe some other studies on this
topic, they will find reflections on native lan-
guages of the translators/interpreters being
part of the sample or life story or linguistic
biography of informants, among others. This
study acknowledges its focus —when initial-
ly structuring the proposal— was not that of
directionality, but rather a general overview
of sworn translation and interpretation in Co-
lombia. Nevertheless, this study urges some
new research and studies to tackle the topic of
directionality in a more organized and deep-
er way, so that the preliminary conclusions or
findings drawn can be discussed in a more de-
tailed manner.
References
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