Moral Issues in Translation Business

Just as professionals such as doctors and lawyers occasionally grapple with ethics, translators and interpreters will likely face a range of ethical dilemmas in the practice of their profession. Certain countries have established codes of conduct that set out guidelines for issues such as quality standards, impartiality, and confidentiality; however, the truly difficult decisions arise when linguists are asked to translate a text that clashes with their personal ethical standards.

The professional ethics of translation have traditionally been defined very narrowly: it is unethical for the translator to distort the meaning of the source text. As we have seen, this conception of translator ethics is far too narrow even from the user's point of view: there are many cases when the translator is explicitly asked to "distort" the meaning of the source text in specific ways, as when adapting a text for television, a children's book, or an advertising campaign.Professional ethics is an integral part of any interpreter/translator. He is not an ordinary clerk, his profession is connected with the translation of information and he must do it with full responsibility. Our age is the age of HI-tech information and a person who possesses this information is a mighty one. He can use it in different ways. There are some rules that the interpreter should follow.

From the translator's internal point of view, the ethics of translation is more complicated still. What is the translator to do, for example, when asked to translate a text that s/he finds offensive? Or, to put that differently, how does the translator proceed when professional ethics (loyalty to the person paying for the translation) clash with personal ethics (one's own political and moral beliefs)? What does the feminist translator do when asked to translate a blatantly sexist text? What does the liberal translator do when asked to translate a neo-Nazi text? What does the environmentalist translator do when asked to translate an advertising campaign for an environmentally irresponsible chemical company?

As long as thinking about translation has been entirely dominated by an external (nontranslator) point of view, these have been nonquestions - questions that have not been asked, indeed that have been unaskable. The translator translates whatever texts s/he is asked to translate, and does so in a way that satisfies the translation user's needs. The translator has no personal point of view that has any relevance at all to the act of translation.

From an internal point of view, however, these questions must be asked. Trans­lators are human beings, with opinions, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Translators who are regularly required to translate texts that they find abhorrent may be able to suppress their revulsion for a few weeks, or months, possibly even years; but they will not be able to continue suppressing those negative feelings forever. Translators, like all professionals, want to take pride in what they do; if a serious clash between their personal ethics and an externally defined professional ethics makes it difficult or impossible to feel that pride, they will eventually be forced to make dramatic decisions about where and under what conditions they want to work.

if($.cookie("show_edit") == 'yes') { $('div.moderate_box_open').css('display', 'block'); } google_ad_channel = AB_cat_channel + AB_unit_channel; google_language = "en"; google_ad_region = 'test'; Translators, like the members of any other professional group, are likely to encounter a variety of ethical issues in the practice of their profession. In some countries, codes of conduct exist that set out guidelines on issues such as quality guarantees, impartiality, independence and secrecy.

Clients rely on the translator to provide a translation that does full justice to the source text. This means that the translation should cover every aspect and connotation in the source, and should not add any material or connotations extraneous to that source, nor hints of the translatorЎ¦s personal opinion with respect to the subject-matter. Clients that are particularly keen on ensuring that this practice is adhered to will ask for a sworn translation, but most professionals would agree that the general principles underlying sworn translations also apply to translation in general, and should be used accordingly. This is easier said than done, however. While it is true that translations should be reliable and undistorted reflections of the source in a different language, clients will also expect an attractive text that is pleasant to read and effective in achieving its purpose. It is impossible to simply convert the content of the source text into the target language: the requirements of register, stylistic authenticity and readability inevitably entail some degree of modification of the original.

Having said that, there is general consensus that clients can rightfully expect a translator to possess professional skills, which entails that the translator should not accept a translation job if he feels incapable of providing a high-quality text, for instance because the subject-matter is not within his field of expertise. google_ad_channel = "7940249670, " + AB_cat_channel + AB_unit_channel; google_language = "en"; google_ad_region = 'test';
Another interesting issue is that of errors in the source text. The requirement of faithfulness dictates that any errors found should simply be copied into the translation, but this obviously clashes with every serious translatorЎ¦s common sense and desire to produce a text that is free from error and, if at all possible, even better than the original. Sometimes a translator might even feel the urge to protect the authorЎ¦s reputation if he suspects that the content or tone of voice of the source text would open its author to ridicule. One example is that of a CEO whose deputy speechwriter had come up with a New YearЎ¦s speech in a raving populist style. The translator in this case had decided to somewhat neutralize the invective, while of course pointing out to the client that he had taken liberties with the text in order to adapt it to the tastes of the target audience.

The obvious strategy in these cases is to highlight errors or problems and ask the client to reconsider his text, and while many clients will indeed appreciate such perspicacity, others will condemn the translator for being pedantic. Clearly there is no ideal remedy.

Unethical behaviour in translation business