I find psychology and all its related processes so fascinating, so this is definitely an interesting topic to me ?
It's hard to grasp the reasonS why each and every translator feels demotivated or underappreciated... There is a whole mix of personal reasons vs. professional reasons vs. society vs. family and so on and so forth. But you're right: among freelancers, translators look like the category most inclined to having the blues. No wonder nobody loves us. ?
Anyway, I think the two main reasons are:
1) We're invisible to society and everybody thinks they can do what we do
ClaudiaBefu Is it a question of money, of getting more recognition, of creating more awareness about the contribution of translation to society?
2) Loneliness. Piles of studies confirm loneliness is one of the biggest issues for humans nowadays, and our job is different from what most entrepreneurs do: they run shops/companies, they create and sell things, they need to leave their house for their job... people actually SEE them around. We're almost never to be seen. We can work in a random room of our house, even with little light, and we potentially never need to leave the house. We only get in touch with PMs and clients to provide services and we definitely don't engage enough in conversations that are not about the weather or the holidays ? How can we feel powerful and proud if no one is even there listening to us when we brag?
OK. I think I just described my problem LOL