TRANSLATION ETHICS

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TRANSLATION ETHICS

• More Than You See in the Codes

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What is translation?

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ETHICS

• Qualifications
• Confidentiality (consultation, use of
  information)
• Payment references
• Nonsolicitation
• Continuing education
• Conflict of interest
• General moral behavior

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ETHICS

• Subcontracting
• Deadlines
• Objectivity
• Responsibilities to other translators
• Encouraging assisting beginners
• Refraining from unfair competition
• Respect support fellow professionals
• Not working for substandard fees
• Disciplinary procedures

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CODES

• Professional organizations
• Government organizations
• Some companies agencies
• Scholars of Translation Studies

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CODES

• ATA Code of Ethics
• http//www.atanet.org/aboutus/code_of_professional
  _conduct.php
• Institute of Linguists Code of Professional
  Conduct
• http//www.iol.org.uk/Charter/CLS/CodeofProfConduc
  tCouncil17Nov07.pdf
• ATIA Code of Ethics
• http//www.atia.ab.ca/ethics.htm

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CODES

• AUSIT Code of Ethics
• http//server.dream-fusion.net/ausit2/pics/ethics.
  pdf
• FIT The Translators Charter
• http//www.fit-ift.org/en/charter.php

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CODES

• United Nations Recommendation on the Legal
  Protection of Translators and Translations and
  the Practical Means To Improve the Status of
  Translators
• http//portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID13089UR
  L_DODO_TOPICURL_SECTION201.html

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What do codes say about linguistic competence?

• Generally into A language
• Educated native speaker mastery of TL (ATA)
• Advanced idiomatic command of languages
  concerned (IoL)
• Sound knowledge of SL, mastery of TL (FIT)

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Translation in the Codes

• Translators shall not alter, make additions to,
  or omit anything from their assigned work (AUSIT)
• Translate the original message faithfully, to
  satisfy the needs of the end user(s) (ATA)
• Render a faithful translation of the source text
  (meaning register) (IoL)

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Translation in the Codes

• Provide translation of high quality both
  linguistically and stylistically
• Guarantee that translation is a faithful
  rendering of the original (UN)

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Translation in the Codes

• Refuse to give text an interpretation of which
  he/she does not approve
• Translation to be faithful and render exactly the
  idea and form of the original
• Faithful translation should not be confused with
  a literal translation, cultural adaptation may be
  needed
• (FIT)

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In Summary

• Faithful
• Meaning, register, and form
• But not literal
• Culturally appropriate
• High quality linguistically/stylistically
• Satisfy needs of end users
• But not to extent of reinterpreting
• And no alterations, additions, or omissions

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So whats a translator to do?

• Skopos theory
• Drop the idea of fidelity
• Intended purpose of the target text determines
  translation methods/strategies
• Goal is functionally appropriate target text
• Gives the translator more freedom of action
• Provides framework for educating clients

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Choices on a Continuum

• Literal Free
• Semantic Dynamic
• Documentary Instrumental
• ltgt

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HOWEVER

• Skopos theory depends on the translator receiving
  translation instructions with clear statement of
  purpose
• Assumes that translator is viewed as an
  independent expert
• May lead to ethically problematic situations

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Subtitles for 2002 Documentary Jenin, Jenin

• Original What can I say, by God, by God, our
  home is no longer a home.
• Translation What can I say? Not even Vietnam
  was as bad as this.
• Translation and Conflict A Narrative Account
• Mona Baker, 2006 99-100

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Rules for the Rest of the Time

• Always work to create trust
• Bad translation is unethical translation
• Keep your source language grammar to yourself
• Know the linguistic resources available in your
  languages
• Be aware of various translation strategies

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Create and Maintain Trust

• Cultivate a sense of loyalty to all parties
• This includes readers
• Be aware that people are depending on you
• Because they really are dependent
• Think of yourself as a professional
• Remember, it always matters

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Bad Translation is Unethical Translation

• The nearest we get to non-text in actual life
  is probably in the speech of young children and
  in bad translations. (Halliday Hasan)
• But thats what it says is not a defense
• Not justifiable as fidelity to source text
• If a machine can do it, no one needs you

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Keep Your Source Grammar to Yourself

• Resist pull of source language
• Does the text need to sound like a translation?
• Analyze the source text for text type and
  register
• Maintain type and register unless instructed
  otherwise

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Know the Linguistic Resources Available

• How text types are structured
• Infinitive to imperative, degree of formality,
  etc.
• Collocations
• Restrictions on how words can be used together
  (e.g., verb preposition patterns)
• Text flow, marked and unmarked text

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Know the Linguistic Resources Available

• Cohesion elements
• Usually fairly explicit in English
• Implicit in topic-prominent languages
• Gender, grammatical elements
• Tolerance for repetition
• Punctuation and sentence length
• Sentence structure

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Understand Translation Strategies

• Literal translation
• Why not, when it works
• Transposition (changing the word class)
• Languages like different parts of speech
• Modulation (different phrases to convey the same
  idea)
• La vache qui rit
• The cow that laughs cheese??

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Understand Translation Strategies

• Reformulation
• Idioms, advertising slogans
• Compensation
• Strategies from Fawcett, Translation and
  Language Linguistic Theories Explained

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Back to the Codes

• Ideal appears to be Nothing Added Nothing
  Subtracted (NANS) translation
• Easier said than done
• Make relevance a guiding principle
• My cousin invited me to dinner.

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NANS Plus

• Nothing important to the task at hand added or
  subtracted
• No unnecessary elements of the source language
  included

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Linguistic Knowledge

• Know working languages in a translation-appropriat
  e way.
• Ability to analyze source language for
  grammatical, syntactical, and contextual elements
  and transfer these appropriately

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Further Reading

• Baker, Mona. In Other Words A Coursebook on
  Translation. Routledge. 1992.
• Chesterman, Andrew. Memes of Translation.
  Benjamins. 1997.
• Chesterman, Andrew and Emma Wagner. Can Theory
  Help Translators? St. Jerome. 2002.
• Fawcett, Peter. Translation and Language
  Linguistic Theories Explained. St. Jerome. 1997.
• Gouadec, Daniel. Translation as a Profession.
  Benjamins. 2007.
• Nord, Christiane. Translating as a Purposeful
  Activity Functionalist Approaches Explained. St.
  Jerome. 1997
• Pym, Anthony, ed. The Return to Ethics. Special
  issue of The Translator (Vol. 7, No. 2, 2001.)

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• Thank You