6. Academic degree in linguistics

First of a series of questions aimed at exploring the hypothetical connection between the interest in translating as a casual activity and the formal linguistic education and/or a professional career in translation.

6. Do you have an academic degree in linguistics? (multiple choice)
Number of responses: 76
	respondents	percentage
Student or graduate of Translation Studies (English)	4	5,3%
Student or graduate of English Language and Literature or English Philology, without specialization in Translation	5	6,6%
Student or graduate of Czech or Slovak Language Studies	11	14,4%
Student or graduate of another language related or linguistic program:	4	5,3%
Dutch Studies	1	1,3%
Japanese Studies	1	1,3%
French	1	1,3%
Russian	1	1,3%
I don't have an academic degree in linguistics, but I'm considering pursuing it	6	7,9%
I don't have an academic degree in linguistics and I'm not considering pursuing it	48	63%

Table 5.

The total number of respondents with any formal linguistic education is 24 (31,5%), as opposed to 48 (63%) respondents who do not and probably will not have any academic degree in linguistics.

3.3.7 Translation as a source of income

7. Is translation your source of income (regardless of whether it's full-time or part-time)?
Number of responses: 76
	respondents	percentage
Yes	10	13,2%
No, but I'm considering it	11	14,5%
No and I'm not considering it	55	72,4%

Table 6.

3.3.8 Fan translation and its influence on a study or career choice

This was an open-ended question so as to hear any potentially interesting stories about how fan translation could lead up to a career in translation. The answers were coded into two simple categories Yes (or in part) and No, with almost no borderline or unclear cases.

8. Did translating fanfiction affect your study or career choice in any way? (freeform, open-ended question, 500 character limit)
Number of responses: 76
Yes or in part	8
number of respondents, who declared “yes” or “in part” and for whom translation is also a source of income (see question 7):	6
No	65

Table 7.

Six respondents provided a more detailed answer:

“In part. Thanks to fanfiction translation, I was offered a chance to translate for a professional publishing company, but I only translate for them on an occasional basis and not as part of my main work specialization.”

“Yes, this was my first real experience with translation and it helped me realize I really liked the idea of translation as a profession.”

“My discovery of ‘HP fantasy‘ played a major role in my study choice (I studied English). With regard to my career choice - YES - thanks to the positive feedback from my readers I decided to give a professional [translation?] career a try and now I concentrate on translating more than teaching, which was my original specialization.”

“With translation being my hobby already, I decided to major in translation and interpreting.”

“I wanted to study translatology as I really took to fanfic translation with enthusiasm, but couldn't due to my handicap (as a deaf person, I wouldn’t be able to study interpreting).”

“The other way round. I study translation, which is how I discovered fanfiction translation.”