Essay

Translation ethics in the changing world
The profession of an interpreter, since people began to talk, has become the main
mechanism of establishing communities. Probably, the first act of communication was the
attempt of interpretation of speech between two people who developed their own language,
trying to interpret their thoughts with the help of words. “Translation is another name for the
human condition.” (David Bellos, 2011, 171) In the course of time, understanding of other
communities’ language provided the ability of trade, sharing of knowledge, forming alliances
and expansion of territories.
No community could survive if it weren’t able to communicate with its neighbours, and
this communication involves translation from one language to another. Today, in an increasingly
interconnected world in which physical distances disappeared and material and intangible goods
travel around the world, one of the few remaining barriers is the linguistic one. The profession of
a translator and interpreter is essential to being able to communicate and work in a reality that
knows fewer and fewer boundaries and that needs to make content available to an audience that
extends all over the world.
The translator is a professional figure who deals with translating a text from one language
to another, ensuring that the meaning of the original text is preserved and that the linguistic and
cultural aspects of the original language are respected. It is a kind of intermediary of written
communication, unlike the interpreter, who works with the oral language in real time.
Translators mediate between cultures (which include ideologies, moral systems and
socio-political structures) with the aim of overcoming the difficulties that arise along the road
leading to the transfer of meaning. What may have a value in one cultural community, can be
meaningless in another, and the translator inevitably finds himself having to identify this
disparity and try solving it.
In this sense, it is assumed that each translator has to follow certain ethics, according to
which he must try to intercept the general intention and the discursive values presented in the
original text and remain faithful to them (as far as possible); nevertheless, the only realistic
option would be to seek a balance between the different dimensions (socio-cultural, historical,
ideological) and get as close as possible to the intentions of the author of the original text, while
constantly keeping in mind that the translation of any text written or spoken in a different
language, inevitably brings with it a part of interpretation.
The profession of a translator will always stay in high-demand, despite the fact that today
in our constantly changing world there appear more and more online dictionaries and advanced
translating programs. Today the most advanced technologies contributed to the translation of
idioms, colloquial expressions and even can adapt to different units of measure. That makes
many of people think that the profession of a translator is extinct. However, such programs are
used only for ordinary and casual communication, as the translation and interpretation of legal
documents, political interaction, high-level business communication and fiction, requires a
highly-skilled professional, who is specialized in a foreign language (maybe more than one) and
in a certain disciplinary area or in a specific subject area, who knows thoroughly the cultures of
the nations and social background of the author or the speaker depending on the form of the
material for translation. The professional interpreter “must be perfectly acquainted with the
social background of words, their fashions, history and period associations” (Vladimir Nabokov,
1941). In addition to this, all translating programs decipher only words and word combinations,
but no machine can see and perceive the underlying emotions of the speaker, mimics, a hint of
irony, sarcasm.
It is obvious that the text changes the moment the language changes, the words change
the moment the circumstances in which they are read change. In this sense, translation presents
itself as a process of appropriation in which there is always a loss, but also a transformation and
the possibility of creating something new. If it were not possible to edit, it would not be possible
to translate. However, the evasive line of fidelity should not be crossed. The next example is a
case in point. In an early English translation of “Anna Karenina” the translator described the
moment when Vronsky asked Anna what was the matter with her. She replied “I am beremenna”
(the translator’s italics), making the foreign readers wonder what strange and awful disease that
was, all because the translator thought that “I am pregnant” might shock some pious and
conservative people, and that it would be a better idea to leave the Russian variant unchanged.
The translation, if fallen into the hands of a poet or a writer who believes that he has
captured the general meaning of the text and reproduces according to his creative flair, is
deleterious. The new creation is not a translation and never will be, but it is equivalent to the
reproduction of a Mona Lisa, but perhaps with a mustache. Still, the translation is absolutely
necessary, otherwise we run the risk of reading in the original, with all the common
misconceptions that may occur, that is, when we believe we have figured everything out, when
in reality we are completely misled, just as those who believe that they know the streets of a city,
so they do not ask for directions.
References:
1. Bellos D. Is that a fish in your ear? : translation and the meaning of everything. -- First
American edition, 2011. – 220 p.
2. Cambridge dictionary| English dictionary: Translation and Thesaurus, URL:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ (11.06.2021)
3. Catford J.C. A Linguistic Theory of Translation An Essay in Applied Linguistics. --
Oxford University Press, 1965. – 110 p.
4. Gill P. Translation in practice: a symposium. -- British Centre for Literary Translation,
Arts Council England, The Society of Authors, British Council, and Dalkey Archive
Press, 2009. – 88 p.
5. Hoang V. Translation: Theory and Practice - A Textbook for Senior Students of English.
-- Vietnam Educational Publishing House. – 242 p.
6. Nabokov V. “The Art of Translation”, 1941, URL:
https://newrepublic.com/article/113310/vladimir-nabokov-art-translation (15.07.1998).
7. Newmark P. A Textbook of Translation. -- Oxford University Press, 1988. – 160 p.
8. Olohan M. Scientific and Technical Translation. – Routledge, 2015. – 262 p.
9. Parks T. Translating style: a literary approach to translation, a translation approach to
literature, 2nd ed. – St. Jerome Publishing, Manchester. – 258 p.
10. Study in focus: Компьютер или человек? Нужны ли в современном мире
переводчики, URL: https://studyinfocus.ru/kompyuter-ili-chelovek-nuzhny-li-v-
sovremennom-mire-perevodchiki/ (11.06.2021)
11. Thelen M. The Interaction between Terminology and Translation Or Where Terminology
and Translation Meet, URL: http://www.trans-kom.eu/bd08nr02/trans-
kom_08_02_03_Thelen_Terminology.20151211.pdf (11.06.2021)

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Translation ethics in the changing world

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