Author: Yasin Aykül
Publication date: 18.07.2024
Ethics in translation is significant for guaranteeing precision, reasonableness, and regard in cross-cultural communication. A strong commitment to accurately conveying the source message's meaning, style, and cultural context is an essential requirement for ethical translation practices. This means that translators should be not just proficient in language but also sensitive to cultural differences and conscious of their own biases.
One of the major ethical considerations in translation is adherence to accuracy. This involves translating words and capturing the original text’s core, form, and context. The goal is to transmit the intended message as believingly as possible without additions, negligence, or distortions. The role of translators as cultural mediators may be seen as easy, but it is crucial. They need to be knowledgeable about what culture the content belongs to. It is required to reconsider translators if they are proficient in terms of culture as much as the content. However, one should not replace the other.
Cultural sensitivity is another thing that translators need to be careful with it. Behaviours, acts, or expressions made in unawareness can still be culturally insensitive even if not intended malafide. We can understand better with examples like: “My engineering lecturer is from another country – I will never understand a word she says!”. While it is not intended as a bad saying to the lecturer, the statement is based on a presumption (implicit bias) that calls the lecturer’s ability (at that, to speak the student’s language) into question. To avoid such situations, it is necessary to spend time with local people of that culture, to research the subject in question, and if there is no opportunity to do this, consult an expert.
When it comes to bias in translation, it certainly affects the translated texts’ trueness, objectivity, and fairness. It can manifest both consciously and unconsciously. To make it clear, conscious bias is when translators let their opinions, requests or beliefs influence the basis of context on purpose. An example of this could be political translators trying to show only the positive aspects of the party they support. On the other hand, to give an example of unconscious bias, it can occur when translators may unconsciously use sexist language that reinforces stereotypes, such as using male pronouns or job titles by default, even if the source text is gender neutral. In order to avoid such situations, it is necessary to avoid including pronouns in the written language as much as possible, or even if it is biased, it should not be reflected in the translated text.
The next subheading is common ethical dilemmas faced by translators. This can be explained better with an example. For example, you are a new translator in business community, and you get a job related to smoke company. Even if you are against smoking, but you need to earn money, this causes an ethical dilemma. In this situation, it should be taken into account as a job. Although this is a nuance, it is up to translators’ ethical understanding.
Nowadays, artificial intelligence and machine translation, which enter the field of translation as well as every profession and affect it positively and negatively, should not be overlooked. Even if it helps people in terms of efficiency, consistency and rapid info gathering, AI may not translate accurately from the point of cultural sensitivity, proverbs, or any figurative language. Although we need technology, we should not let it replace human power.
When personal development in the field of translation and culture is carried out simultaneously, these problems disappear. To minimize the struggle, it may be necessary to read the contents, dictionaries or history of whatever the source language is.
Conclusion
As a result, mastering the source language and culture is the basis of the above mentioned. In order to avoid bias, translators should keep their opinions, wishes, that is, everything personal, to themselves as much as possible. Translators can do their job ethically by respecting cross-cultural source content.
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