會議口譯服務收費內涵——以臺灣自由業中英口譯員之觀點探究

口譯員針對會議口譯服務向客戶報價時，有時會遭質疑收費過高，或無法讓客戶理解為何報價如此。此現象顯示一般人通常不了解會議口譯服務，而服務提供者也很難將提供的內容量化或具體化，未必清楚自己的訂價策略。本研究之目的在於從臺灣自由中英口譯員的角度，探討口譯員向服務使用者收取的費用裡究竟還包含什麼。本研究參考訂價、管理、行銷、客戶感知價值等領域文獻，並調查口譯員對此議題的看法，彙整出可能的收費內涵項目製成問卷，調查在臺灣提供中英會議口譯服務之自由口譯員。研究過程中形成兩個假說，一是口譯員很少思考收費內涵，因此可能認為很多項目都該包該在收費中，然實際上未包含；二是越資深的口譯員越少思考此類問題，即背景可能影響口譯員的看法。因此，問卷旨在調查 4 個研究問題：1) 口譯員認為哪些項目應該包含在會議口譯服務收費中？2) 哪些項目實際上已包含在會議口譯服務收費中？3)哪些應該包含實際上卻沒有包含？ 4) 口譯員的背景如何影響其回答？問卷以統計分析結果後，再透過半結構式訪談解釋口譯員對研究問題 3 及研究問題 4 的看法。研究結果支持第一個假說， 21 個項目中，多數口譯員認為應該納入收費中者有 15 項，實際上納入收費的只有 5 項，而且口譯員很少思考收費從何而來，顯示口譯員思考應擴大對服務及收費的認定範圍。研究結果也證實，口議員的背景確實會影響其看法，卻無法支持研究第二個假說。希望研究結果能幫助口譯員解釋其收費、檢視自己的收費考量、釐清或重新思考訂價策略。

關鍵字

訂價策略；服務收費；收費內涵

並列摘要

Conference interpreting services are sometimes criticized to be overpriced and those who pay are occasionally confused about the high price level while interpreters often struggle to give a good explanation. This reveals the lack of knowledge on the user side and the inability to provide measurement in value or quantity term as well as the short of thought given to pricing strategy on the provider side. This research aims to find out what is included in the price Chinese/English freelance interpreters charge for conference interpreting services in Taiwan. This research took reference from a wide range of areas, including service and professional service pricing, management, marketing, customer perceived value. Two assumptions were formed during research. One is that interpreters seldom consider what is included in the price they charge, and therefore would agree that many elements should be included is not included in practice. The other is that experienced interpreters tend to think less about their price breakdown. Based on literature review and an open question survey, a questionnaire with 21 elements was formed to find out 1) which elements interpreters think should be included in the price, 2) which ones they have already included, 3) which elements that considered should be included but are not in practice, and 4) how interpreters’ backgrounds affect their views. Results were obtained with statistical analysis, and a semi-structural interview was conducted to explain the results for the 3rd and 4th questions. Findings support the first assumption. More than half participants think that, out of the 21 elements, 15 should be included while only 5 are actually included in their price, and that interpreters seldom think about how their prices were set. This shows that interpreters need to broaden their concepts of interpreting services and pricing. Findings also indicate that interpreters’ backgrounds do affect their views yet do not support the second assumption. With the results, this research seeks to help interpreters explain the prices they charge, examine their pricing considerations, have a more precise or completely different concept of pricing strategy.