Literacy as a social aim for translation Anthony Pym

1. Literacy as a social aim for translation • Anthony Pym

2. Why a social aim? 40 police in Malaga interrogated for corruption Two interpreters arrested, one of them accused of selling information

3. Why a social aim? Three police translators sentenced for falsifying nationality of immigrants

4. Why a social aim? Two sworn translators arrested for relations with money forgery operation

5. Why a social aim? Trial suspended because Chinese translator does not know Spanish

6. Why a social aim? Trial suspended because the only translator of Chinese was the accused

7. Codes of ethics (deontology) come from: • The profession (tradition, norms – the translation form) • Theories and the academy (different paradigms,e.g. equivalence vs. Skopos) • Social ethics (culturally variable norms, especially with respect to business practices) • (Volunteer organizations explain the collective goals much more than professional associations do.)

8. Codes of ethics (deontology) come from:

9. The NZSTI code of ethics: • 1. Professional conduct: Do not be biased. • 2. Confidentiality: Keep secrets. • 3. Competence: Know your limitations. • 4. Impartiality: Do not be biased. • 5. Accuracy: Be faithful to the text. • 6. Clarity of role boundaries: Only translate and interpret. • 7. Maintaining professional relationships: Make sure you can work properly. • 8. Professional development: Keep learning • 9. Professional solidarity: Don’t complain about other translators and interpreters.

10. The NZSTI code of ethics: • 1. Professional conduct: Do not be biased. • 2. Confidentiality: Keep secrets. • 3. Competence: Know your limitations. • 4. Impartiality: Do not be biased. • 5. Accuracy: Be faithful to the text. • 6. Clarity of role boundaries: Only translate and interpret. • 7. Maintaining professional relationships: Make sure you can work properly. • 8. Professional development: Keep learning • 9. Professional solidarity: Don’t complain about other translators and interpreters.

11. The NZSTI code of ethics: • Obligations only for translators and interpreters? • This is not an industrial standard (unlike the TAC Translator Service Specification Part 1: Translation) • It is written in an eternal present tense: • “Interpreters and translators do not, in the course of their interpreting or translation duties, assume other roles such as offering advocacy, guidance or advice.”

12. An ethics of representation: • accuracy, faithfulness, equivalence, adequacy… • In the NZSTI code sections on “accuracy”, what does the translator or interpreter represent? What are they faithful to? • “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it…” (Deuteronomy 4:2) • In the AUSIT code, what can the translator not represent? • In hermeneutics, texts only have meanings when they are interpreted.

13. An ethics of representation: The conduit metaphor: “The mistaken assumption that senders can pipe their messages into the heads of receivers with perfect clarity.”

14. Master of Translation An ethics of service (Skopos): • - Achieve the aim (Skopos), using whatever means (the range of “translatorial action”). • - In the NZSTI code, can translators and interpreters do more than translate and interpret? Can they offer advice, explanations or help? • - “Translators deliver a translation that completely and impartially renders the meaning and intention of the source text within the parameters and requirements of the target language and culture and is in keeping with the purpose specified in the commission received from the client/initiator.”

15. Master of Translation An ethics of service (Skopos): • - Achieve the aim (Skopos), using whatever means (the range of “translatorial action”). • - In the NZSTI code, can translators and interpreters do more than translate and interpret? Can they offer advice, explanations or help? • - “Translators deliver a translation that completely and impartially renders the meaning and intention of the source text within the parameters and requirements of the target language and culture and is in keeping with the purpose specified in the commission received from the client/initiator.” • (Why does this not apply to interpreters?)

16. Master of Translation An ethics of communication: • - The aim is to achieve “cross-cultural understanding”. • - What is important is what the receiver understands and how they act. • - The wider aim can be cross-cultural cooperation, where there are mutual benefits (not a zero-sum game). • Does the NZSTI code address what receivers understand, how they act, or the outcomes of the communicative situations?

17. Master of Translation An ethics of activism: • - Do not work for the CIA, the US State Department, anything Israeli, L’Oréal, Translators without Borders… (Baker, Translation and Conflict, 2006) • - Only work for clients with whom you have “mutual respect”. • Do our individual worldviews determine the ethics of the whole profession? • Should Patton’s interpreter have started World War III? • A universal or regional ethics?

18. The problem of professional demarcation • “Interpreters and translators understand, and help their clients understand, the difference between professional and personal interactions.” • Does this mean that the translator is a machine, operating indifferently to the target readership? • Does this mean that the one text only has one legitimate way of being translated? • Does this mean that the translator is not responsible for a personal construal of the text? • What happened to translatorial action and translation knowledge? • What about the interests of your client?

19. Translatorial action:

20. Translation solutions (Pym 2016)

21. Health literacy • “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions” • US Department of Health and Human Services 2000: 11/20

22. Health literacy • “Only 33 per cent of people born overseas have adequate or better health literacy compared to 43 per cent of the Australian-born population. This figure drops to 27 per cent for those who arrived in Australia during the past five years and to 26 per cent for people whose first language is not English.” Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria (2012: 12)

23. Teaching literacy • D: Have they done an endoscopy? • I: ¿Han vistodentro con unacámara? • [Have they looked inside with a camera?] • D: Do you have incontinence? • I: ¿Tieneproblemas con incontinencia, con mojarse? • [Do you have incontinence problems, wetting?] • (Cortabarria 2016)

24. Teaching literacy • P: ¿Pregunta a verdóndepagolastasas? • [Is she asking about where I pay taxes?} • I: Sí, dondepagalos impuestos. • [Yes, where you pay taxes] • (Cortabarria 2016)

25. Teaching literacy • D: …in that case he may have Down syndrome. • I: …en esecaso [él] puedetenerDown syndrome. • D: …cystic fibrosis is very common. • I: …el cystic fibrosisesmuycomún. • D: If the pain bothers you we can do a TAP. • I: Si le preocupa el dolor le haremosel TAP. • (Cortabarria 2016)

26. Isthisjustforhealth? • Court / legal literacy • Bureaucracy literacy • Economic / banking literacy • Politics / political literacy: Citizens should be able to “view themselves jointly as authors of the laws” (Habermas 1995: 130) • Communicativetranslation is needed for literacy in all public domains.

28. So is this a viable ethics? • - Can it decide between purposes? • - Is it regional, specific to a profession? • - Is it elitist? (For dialogue, but against difficulty.) • - Can it address future events? • - Can it promote trust and cooperation?

29. Master of Translation Problems to solve • Interpreters in Californian courts often render English into Spanish for Mexican immigrants, whose average education level is Grade 6. The Americans’ average grade level is Year 12 (Lambertini 2016). Should the interpreters simplify the language and offer explanations?

30. Master of Translation Problems to solve • “In China, a highly collectivist culture where human relations count in every aspect of social life, people are more likely to work with trust that is obtained through constant interaction and association. Therefore, it is not uncommon for Chinese interpreters to have side conversations with the communicative participants; what is more, it is hard for them to convey embarrassing message at some social occasions as they often mediate in the conflicting situation and their education and cultural background allows them little space to convey information that greatly hurt the others’ feelings” (Feng 2014). • Should Chinese interpreters have side-conversations and tone down language that could hurt people’s feelings?

31. Master of Translation Problems to solve • “[A code of ethics] requires interpreters to decline to mix promotional activity for clients with interpreting or translation work, however, if the interpreter is employed directly by the client, they are bound to be loyal to and work for the best interest of the principal according to the Chinese traditional culture, interpreters are more likely to take on the side of their own client. For example, in the negotiation of a joint venture, the Chinese party is saying things in such a modest way that may be misunderstood by the foreign party, under this situation, the interpreter may do the promotion work to gain a more favorable image that he thinks the Chinese factory deserves” (Feng 2014). • Should the interpreter or translator act in the best interests of their client?