The current situtation of volunteer translation in Turkey and the motivation of volunteer translators

As the phenomenon of volunteering has recently become an agenda item in societies, there have been initiatives to raise awareness on volunteerism and to promote it. Initiatives carried out in cooperation with civil society, public, and private sector stakeholders have started to spread to all areas at individual and social levels. This situation necessitates supporting the volunteer movement and, accordingly, analyzing it within the scope of Translation Studies. Volunteer translation and volunteer translators, which have been discussed in all aspects in foreign literature, have not attracted enough attention of domestic studies until now. On the other hand, since 2019 has been declared as the Year of Volunteering in Turkey, it has become a necessity to approach the subject from the perspective of Translation Studies. From this point of view, this study focuses on the definition and scope of volunteering, types of volunteer translation, and the place of volunteer translation in Turkey. These topics, which were selected as the first dimension of the study, were evaluated with the descriptive method, and the current situation of volunteer translation in Turkey was tried to be revealed. Volunteer translation activities in Turkey are carried out in four sub-fields: emergency and disaster interpreting, translation through web platforms, medical translation, and immigration translation. The second dimension of the study, the motivation of volunteer translators, has not been studied before in the domestic literature. However, it is substantial to ensure the continuity of volunteering as much as to raise awareness on volunteerism. The continuity of volunteer activities depends on volunteer motivation. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the motivations of volunteer translators in order to ensure the continuity of volunteer translation. In this context, a survey was distributed to volunteer translators and the motivations of volunteer translators in Turkey, which were determined by evaluating the data with thematic analysis method, are divided into two categories: individual and social. Individual motivations are gaining experience, improving translation skills, improving language skills, and personal development, while social motivations are supporting the purpose of the organization/project and benefiting the society.