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.
When most people think of ethics and professionals, they tend to focus on people like accountants, doctors, lawyers, or other high profile jobs. However, everyone that deals with other people in their business has the duty and responsibility to be ethical. Translators are no exception. There is also a category of texts which, at first sight, appear to be positively illegal. If a translator agreed to translate bomb-making instructions, would he be responsible for attacks committed with the bombs produced with the help of such instructions? He certainly would, in our view, if he did not take the trouble of finding out who needed the translation, and for what purpose it was required. If the nature of the client were sufficiently obscure to raise even the slightest concern, no translator in his right mind would accept such an order. However, if the translation was commissioned by a government authority as part of efforts to study terrorists’ practices, the translator might actually contribute to a good cause by translating even the most reprehensible texts. To sum up, it is clear that translators in addition to grappling with the technical content of source texts may be up to some morally challenging tasks as well. While guidelines and codes of conduct exist to help translators formulate their stance in general ethical issues, in many cases the approach to practical moral dilemmas in translation will be a matter of personal consideration and assessment, aided by the translator’s knowledge of the client. LECTURE 2. THE BEGINNING OF TRANSLATION
Plan 1. The Ancient Chinese Schools 2. The Academy of Jundishapur 3. The Passage to India 4. The House of Wisdom 5. The School of Toledo 6. The International Translation Day
1. The earliest historical records show sporadic translation activities in China in the eleventh century B.C. Documents from that time indicate that translation was carried out by government clerks, who were concerned primarily with the transmission of ideologies. In a written document from the late Zhou dynasty, Jia Gongyan, an imperial scholar, wrote: “Translation is to replace one written language with another without changing the meaning for mutual understanding.” This definition of translation, although primitive, proves the existence of translation theory in ancient China. Serious discussions on translation, however, did not Eventually, the translation of sutras lost importance in China and rulers directed their attention westward. Arabs began to settle in China, with some even becoming mandarins or merchants. Having learned the Chinese language, some of these erudite high officials began translating scientific works from Arabic or European languages. By the eighth century, conversion to Islam had already started in Central Asia.
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The Ancient Chinese Schools
