Dictionary entries tell us that the word “ethics” refers to systems of values that guide and help determine the “rightness and wrongness” of our actions. An ethics of translation, then, necessarily addresses what is considered the morally correct manner in which one should practice the task of rewriting a text in another language. Although every conception of translation implies a certain notion of the ethical duties of translators, for much of the history of translation discourse, the word “ethics” is absent because a certain ethical position for translators has generally been taken for granted. Since translation has been understood as a task in which one strives to reproduce the original as closely as possible, ethical behavior has been simply posited as fidelity towards the original and its author.

References

American Translators Association

“Code of Professional Conduct.” https://​www​.atanet​.org​/membership​/code​_of​_professional​_conduct​.php [Accessed 13 January 2010].

Arrojo, Rosemary

1998 “The Revision of the Traditional Gap between Theory and Practice and the Empowerment of Translation in Postmodern Times.” The Translator 4 (1): 25–48.  TSB

Association of Translators and Interpreters of Alberta

“Code of Ethics.” http://​www​.atia​.ab​.ca​/index​.php​/about​/code​_of​_ethics/ [Accessed 13 January 2010].

Davis, Kathleen

2001 Deconstruction and Translation. Manchester: St. Jerome.  TSB

Derrida, Jacques

1993 Aporias. Thomas Dutoit (trans). Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Dolet, Etienne

1997 “The Way to Translate Well From One Language into Another.” James S. Holmes (trans). In Western Translation Theory: From Herodotus to Nietzsche, Douglas Robinson (ed.), 95–97. Manchester: St. Jerome.  TSB

Dryden, John

1997 “The Three Types of Translation.” In Western Translation Theory: From Herodotus to Nietzsche, Douglas Robinson (ed.), 172–175. Manchester: St. Jerome.  TSB

Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs/ International Federation of Translators

“Draft Code of Professional Practice” http://​www​.fit​-europe​.org​/vault​/deont​/DraftCode​-FIT​-Europe​-en​.pdf [Accessed 13 January 2010].

Judaeus, Philo

1997 “The Creation of the Septuagint.” F.H. Colson (trans). In Western Translation Theory: From Herodotus to Nietzsche, Douglas Robinson (ed.), 12–14. Manchester: St. Jerome.  TSB

Nabokov, Vladimir

2004 “Problems of Translation: Onegin in English.” In The Translation Studies Reader, Lawrence Venuti (ed.), 115–127. London & New York: Routledge.  TSB

Robinson, Douglas

1997 Translation and Empire: Post-colonial Theories Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome.  TSB

Schleiermacher, Friedrich

1997 “On the Different Methods of Translating.” Douglas Robinson (trans). In Western Translation Theory: From Herodotus to Nietzsche, Douglas Robinson (ed.), 225–238. Manchester: St. Jerome.  TSB

Simon, Sherry

1996 Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission. London & New York: Routledge.  BoP

Venuti, Lawrence

1999 The Scandals of Translation: Towards and Ethics of Difference. London & New York: Routledge.  BoP

Vermeer, Hans J

2004 “Skopos and Commission in Translational Action.” In The Translation Studies Reader, Lawrence Venuti (ed.), 227–238. London & New York: Routledge.  TSB