Tag: education
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Academic Research Documents Poor Job Quality and Intensifying Financial Insecurities Among UK Translators (Albeit with Theoretical and Analytical Weaknesses)
A recent academic study titled “Love’s Labour’s Found? A Data-Driven Exploration of Job Quality among UK-Based Freelance Translators” by JC Penet, Callum Walker and Joseph Lambert offers one of the clearest empirical snapshots to date of the deteriorating working conditions facing freelance translators in the UK. Many of the findings strongly resonate with my own…
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The Role of Outsourcing, Digitalisation, Demographics, and Credentialism in diminishing negotiation power of PSI interpreters.
In the previous articles in this series, we explored how outsourcing, low pay, intensifying financial insecurities, deteriorating working conditions and digitalisation have reshaped Public Service Interpreting (PSI) in the UK. Many interpreters described being paid per minute or per second, or being expected to accept last-minute assignments under increasingly uncertain conditions, which some described as…
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Working conditions in outsourced public service interpreting: meaningful work under market pressures
This third article in the series presents further findings from my PhD research at the University of Leeds on inequalities in outsourced public service interpreting (PSI) in the United Kingdom (UK). PSI is a state-mandated function grounded in legal obligations and funded through public resources. However, the delivery of these services is largely outsourced to…
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Ethical Tensions and Power Asymmetries in Industry–Academic Collaboration: A Reflexive Account
By Fardous Bahbouh, Researcher & Consultant on Labour Rights, Public Policy, and the Political Economy of the Translation Industry Industry–academic collaboration is often framed as mutually beneficial, offering impact, stakeholder engagement, and practical relevance. Yet such collaborations are rarely neutral exchanges of expertise. Drawing on my experience as a doctoral researcher funded by the Arts…
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What Is the Real Cost of Outsourcing? My Letter to the House of Lords Public Services Committee
By Fardous Bahbouh, Researcher & Consultant on Labour Rights, Public Policy, and the Political Economy of the Translation Industry Dear Baroness Morris, I am truly grateful to you and the members of the Public Services Committee for your recent report on interpreting services in the courts. Your inquiry came at a critical time for justice—for…
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Before Setting New Year’s Resolutions: Beware the Trap of CPD for Precarious Workers (AKA Freelancers)
By Fardous Bahbouh, Researcher & Consultant on Labour Rights, Public Policy, and the Political Economy of the Translation Industry As the festive season approaches, a time meant to be joyful can often feel like a storm of financial stress, social anxiety, and forced cheerfulness. For freelancers, especially those in exploitive sectors like the outsourced public…
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Who’s Responsible for the Data Gap About Public Service Interpreters?
In a recent House of Lords inquiry into public service interpreting, the heads of key linguist organisations—the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL), the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI), and the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI)—were questioned on the state of the profession. During the inquiry, a Lord asked a fundamental question: “How…
