Mentoring and its Significance in the Formation of Translators' Self-Efficacy Perceptions

Abstract

Self-efficacy is defined as the confidence in one's talents and capacity to carry out the tasks assigned to them as well as to address and resolve the issues in their personal and professional lives. On the other hand, the word ‘mentor’ is assumed to have roots in Greek mythology. The term "mentoring" refers to a caring, sharing, and supportive relationship in which one person invests time, knowledge, and effort into promoting the development of another person's skills, abilities, and knowledge. In this study, the role of mentoring in the formation of translator candidates' self-efficacy perception is examined. This study employs a qualitative research methodology to ascertain the translator candidates' opinions on the mentoring practice in the development of their perception of self-efficacy in their workplaces. In the findings, translator candidates state that practical training is important for them to gain self-efficacy in the field of profession. The results indicate that participants’ professional experience is insufficient, they see themselves inadequate in the fields of application and they need mentor help in terms of methods to be used, self-confidence and guidance. They emphasize the value of mentoring in terms of obtaining personal and professional experience and share favourable views on this practice. The results show that the translation candidates' self-efficacy perspective is poor, but the mentoring practice may be helpful in gaining professional experience and developing a self-efficacy perception.