La percepció del camp de la traducció jurada per part de l'estudiantat de Dret de la Universitat Jaume I [The Perception of Law Students of the Field of Certified Translation in the Context of the Universitat Jaume I]

This paper presents the results of a study carried out at the Universitat Jaume I on the perception of the field of sworn translation held by the Law students from this university. The main goal of my research, following the lines of the ACTIVE group’s research, is to find out weak points and possible improvements in order to promote a professional view of sworn translation. I believe this profession is generally unfamiliar even to professionals of the field of Law and, as a consequence, it is also undervalued. However, the study of society offers possibilities for raising its status so that it can be granted the importance and prestige it deserves in our society.This paper offers an introduction to this study, followed by an exposition of the goals set and the research methods used. Next, a hypothesis is formulated, grounded on a particular theoretical framework based on proposals arising from the ACTIVE (Analysis of the Specialised Areas of the Translation and Interpreting Fields) project and Pierre Bourdieu’s social analysis. To test our hypothesis, we carried out an empirical study for which we selected a corpus made up of Law students from the Universitat Jaume I. The study implied the administration to students of several surveys designed to find out the attitudes and knowledge that they have about the field of sworn translation. Finally, the results obtained and the conclusions drawn are presented. Our findings show that the Law students from this university have neither any knowledge nor any acknowledgment of the sworn translator as a social agent. The research conducted revealed itself as particularly interesting and enriching as a preliminary pilot approach. However, it must be continued with similar studies to strengthen our perception of the social conditions affecting this field.