Professional and personal ethics in translation: a survey of South African translator's strategies and motivations
Kruger, Haidee; Crots, Elizabeth
The aim of the study reported on in this article was to explore South African translators’
responses to various kinds of ethically contentious material at the textual level, in the context
of particular text types and hypothetical translation situations. The study made use of a survey
design based primarily on closed-ended questions, administered to an availability sample of 31
South African translators drawn from the membership of the South African Translators’
Institute (SATI). The survey was, in the first instance, designed to solicit respondents’ opinions
regarding which translation strategies they would most likely select to deal with particular kinds
of ethical challenges. In order to better understand the factors affecting the selection of
translation strategies, the impact of two translator factors (experience and age) and two text
factors (text type and type of ethical problem) was investigated. In the second instance, the
survey aimed to investigate why respondents selected particular strategies, and indirectly how
they view their ethical responsibility. To this end, possible reasons for the selection of specific
translation strategies were formulated and categorised as primarily influenced by either
personal or professional ethics. In addition to this overall analysis, the study analysed
differences in the role of personal and professional ethics depending on the type of ethical
problem, the type of text, respondents’ age, and different levels of translation experience. The
findings of the study suggest an overwhelming preference for faithful translation, but also reveal
an interplay between personal and professional ethics as the motivation for this choice, with
some differences across text type and kind of ethical problem. It appears that experience leads
to a greater preference for both faithful translation strategies and a stronger influence of
professional ethics. However, the data also suggest that age and/or generational differences may
play a role in the selection of translation strategies, as well as in the effect of personal and
professional ethics, with the oldest and youngest respondents in the sample more likely to opt
for strategies other than faithful translation, motivated more frequently by personal rather than
professional ethics.
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