| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | The ethics of translation Thread poster: Selkie
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| Delicate topic | Oct 10, 2007 |
I see the role of the interpreter and / or translator as IMPARTIAL to all matters and parties. To people who are not in the field of languages, this statement might seem very cynical, but it is not, it's only logical.
Having said this, on a personal basis, I would become PARTIAL only in cases where the lives of MANY people are at stake especially in the health and medical sectors. At this point, I would probably refuse to continue and/or carry out the work.
Robert
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 12:17
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| For interpreting, yes | Oct 10, 2007 |
lingomania wrote:
I see the role of the interpreter and / or translator as IMPARTIAL to all matters and parties.
You have a point... but only for interpreting, because an interpreter can't walk away in mid-project without injuring his client. An interpreter doesn't have the luxury to stop halfway through an interpreting session and say "the one guy is lying and I refuse to interpret lies" or "they're now discussing killing whales and that is against my principles". But I think the translator does have that luxury if he plays his cards right.
| | | | Heidi C
Local time: 06:17
English to Spanish
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| My last comment here | Oct 10, 2007 |
This whole thread is not a dialogue: it is a series of monologues.
The concerns, doubts and questions raised in this thread are fundamental to the practice of translation. EVERY person who has ever translated and has reflected about what they are doing has asked these same questions!!!
I truly believe that when someone posts a question or asks for opinions in these fora, they are trying to inform themselves and learn from others.
And there cannot be a mea... See more This whole thread is not a dialogue: it is a series of monologues.
The concerns, doubts and questions raised in this thread are fundamental to the practice of translation. EVERY person who has ever translated and has reflected about what they are doing has asked these same questions!!!
I truly believe that when someone posts a question or asks for opinions in these fora, they are trying to inform themselves and learn from others.
And there cannot be a meaningful dialogue or true learning when these monologues are coming from completely different levels of experience and expertise.
The problem is that there is no way of knowing where the answers are coming from: who is commenting from true experience and analysis and who is just expressing a personal opinion, a guess, or what their instinct tells them.
It should be clear that a professional translator, with training in this field (and I am not saying it has to be a degree, the person can be self-taught) has a different understanding of translation, its practice and its ethics than people who just landed onto translation and have never received feedback or some sort of education (Just to clarify: there are GREAT transaltors who ended in translation by chance, but they became great because they sought how to improve and educate themselves).
We all have the right to express ourselves, but we also have to be careful in what we say and recommend: after all, the people reading our responses may believe we actually know what we are talking about!!!
Everyone has a right to an opinion. Likewise, everyone has the obligation to inform themselves and continue their education in this profession by getting information from qualified sources (conferences, workshops, seminars, articles, backed by a professional association or an intitution of higher learning)
We just have to remember: translation is a profession, which has its own basics and fundamentals. So there is no need to reinvent the wheel. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 12:17
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| One of my last comments too | Oct 10, 2007 |
Heidi C wrote:
And there cannot be a meaningful dialogue or true learning when these monologues are coming from completely different levels of experience and expertise.
I don't think this thread was just monologues. I think some people gave their opinions in response to the original post, some gave their opinions in response to some of the responses, and some agreed or disagreed with some points made by other people. Hardly "monologues" if you ask me.
But if I had disagreed with someone and my reason for disagreeing was unconvincing, then I would prefer to be told and to be told why. After all, I'm not perfect and I do make mistakes, but I can only learn of my mistakes if I'm told.
It should be clear that a professional translator, with training in this field ... has a different understanding of translation, its practice and its ethics than people who just landed onto translation and have never received feedback or some sort of education.
I think it is more complicated than that. Different people have different values, whether they are experienced translators or newbies. True, an experienced translator will have a more mature understanding of the issues because he has had more practical contact with the issues, but different people still have different core values.
You really got me thinking, Heidi, with your quote from the ATA's code of ethics, for example. I had signed that code myself, but because of your post I realised that there is a subtle cultural aspect contained in it which I didn't notice before.
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Selkie
Local time: 12:17
German to English
TOPIC STARTER | I have never been confronted with this ethical issue before | Oct 11, 2007 |
To be perfectly honest, I personally had never thought about this before in my 5 years of working as a translator. While I have turned down jobs, most memorably for a Neonazi website, or done work that is not in line with my personal code of ethics, here most memorably for a "gentlemen's club" site (read whore house), I have never before worked on something that felt dishonest. That I will have nothing to do with Neonazis was clear, and the oldest profession in the world, at least the legally ru... See more To be perfectly honest, I personally had never thought about this before in my 5 years of working as a translator. While I have turned down jobs, most memorably for a Neonazi website, or done work that is not in line with my personal code of ethics, here most memorably for a "gentlemen's club" site (read whore house), I have never before worked on something that felt dishonest. That I will have nothing to do with Neonazis was clear, and the oldest profession in the world, at least the legally run bit of it in the country I am working in, involves consenting adults and is certainly honest to a fault about what they do and the needs they meet.
To me the discussion was helpful in clarifying what I felt, what points of view had to be considered, and to what extent my involvement was or was not ethical.
Inspired by some of the comments posted, I went back and made a list of procedures that felt truly "quacky", did a bit more research on each one to see if it was really my own "humbug bias" speaking here, or could be verified independantly, and spoke to the customer about those specific issues. That turned out to be a solution I felt I could live with quite comfortably. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Not comfortable | Oct 15, 2007 |
If you don't feel comfortable with a translation job especially regarding ethics, it's better to drop it.
Rob
| | | | Angela Dickson (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:17
French to English
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| you did the right thing | Oct 16, 2007 |
I think you have been really useful to this client, and I hope he appreciates it... it's great that you had the intellectual integrity, and tact, to approach him about your uncertainties.
I have heard medical translators talk about situations in which, for example, an author whose article is being translated has not checked his references properly, and a translator who is conscientious enough to check the background to the article can inform the author of inaccuracies in the origin... See more I think you have been really useful to this client, and I hope he appreciates it... it's great that you had the intellectual integrity, and tact, to approach him about your uncertainties.
I have heard medical translators talk about situations in which, for example, an author whose article is being translated has not checked his references properly, and a translator who is conscientious enough to check the background to the article can inform the author of inaccuracies in the original article - which helps the author and, more generally, helps improve the general standard of research articles, even if only a little bit. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Being impartial | Oct 17, 2007 |
Heidi C wrote:
This whole thread is not a dialogue: it is a series of monologues.
The concerns, doubts and questions raised in this thread are fundamental to the practice of translation. EVERY person who has ever translated and has reflected about what they are doing has asked these same questions!!!
I truly believe that when someone posts a question or asks for opinions in these fora, they are trying to inform themselves and learn from others.
And there cannot be a meaningful dialogue or true learning when these monologues are coming from completely different levels of experience and expertise.
The problem is that there is no way of knowing where the answers are coming from: who is commenting from true experience and analysis and who is just expressing a personal opinion, a guess, or what their instinct tells them.
It should be clear that a professional translator, with training in this field (and I am not saying it has to be a degree, the person can be self-taught) has a different understanding of translation, its practice and its ethics than people who just landed onto translation and have never received feedback or some sort of education (Just to clarify: there are GREAT transaltors who ended in translation by chance, but they became great because they sought how to improve and educate themselves).
We all have the right to express ourselves, but we also have to be careful in what we say and recommend: after all, the people reading our responses may believe we actually know what we are talking about!!!
Everyone has a right to an opinion. Likewise, everyone has the obligation to inform themselves and continue their education in this profession by getting information from qualified sources (conferences, workshops, seminars, articles, backed by a professional association or an intitution of higher learning)
We just have to remember: translation is a profession, which has its own basics and fundamentals. So there is no need to reinvent the wheel.
Thank you. I enjoyed your post. However, I only hope that IMPARTIALITY is not considered as being a mere opinion or idea or thinking that we are all "know-alls" (because we are not), but a FACT of the profession.
Rob
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| If you feel uncomfortable, back off. | Dec 16, 2007 |
Selkie wrote:
1. I am stuck since I have already agreed to take the work, but feel like I am participating in mild fraud...
2. Can I use the slight leeway that language gives me to make the statements in English less deliberately misleading than the origional text?
Hi Selki. I find your question interesting because I once posed the same question to a translator who had posted a question in my area of expertise, medicine. The source text was clearly promoting a quack the... See more Selkie wrote:
1. I am stuck since I have already agreed to take the work, but feel like I am participating in mild fraud...
2. Can I use the slight leeway that language gives me to make the statements in English less deliberately misleading than the origional text?
Hi Selki. I find your question interesting because I once posed the same question to a translator who had posted a question in my area of expertise, medicine. The source text was clearly promoting a quack therapy. I asked the translator how he could in good conscience accept such work. I never received a reply.
I do not work as a translator, but as a physician. A week does not pass that I am not forced to decline requests from patients which are illegal or immoral - false claims of illness to receive insurance or to defer a school examination, requests for narcotics from substance abusers, requests to lie to partners about sexually transmitted disease, requests to order dubious tests or treatments at the expense of third parties - you name it. People are always anxious to make you compromise your principles for THEIR benefit.
I refuse and they stamp out of the office, indignant, angry. I get the "transfer of file" request two weeks later. They can go. There are a thousand other patients out there to take each one's place.
Stick to your principles. There will always be another client. Don't listen to those arguments that if you do not do it someone else will. Yes, someone else will, but not you.
As for your question about doctoring the translation, that is even worse. Now you are taking money from a client and delivering a service that you know is not what he wants.
Just decline.
[Edited at 2007-12-16 06:10]
[Edited at 2007-12-16 06:11]
[Edited at 2007-12-16 14:58] ▲ Collapse
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