초록 열기/닫기 버튼

This paper examines the process of how a fresh graduate interpreter becomes familiarized with her new role as an in-house bank interpreter, using the method of narrative inquiry. For this study, we followed and observed the first three professional years of our participant, Hye-won, who initially started out as an interpreter/language support for a department at a commercial bank, and eventually became the personal interpreter for a board member. The data coding of our in-depth narrative interview with Hye-won identified two main themes, ‘Conflicts and Stress,’ and ‘Familiarization and Rewards.’ Under these two themes, we also identified various sub-themes such as ‘Becoming familiarized with corporate culture,’ ‘Chaos during the transition period,’ ‘Identity crisis and ever-changing roles and responsibilities,’ ‘Difficulties with interpersonal relationships,’ ‘Conflicts with fellow interpreters,’ and ‘Job stress’ for the first overarching theme. The second main theme branched out to ‘Self-satisfaction and rewards,’ ‘Trust and friendship,’ and ‘Self-discovery.’ When Hye-won first started her career, the banking industry in Korea was under a great transition: the traditional Korean banks, who were centered on corporate financing and structured around seniority, were now experiencing an influx of foreign executives along with foreign capital, post-Asian Financial Crisis.