Translation Ethics and Choice

Translation Ethics by Joseph Lambert was a well-written introduction to the sub-field that posed many questions while leaving the reader free to come up with his or her own answers. Of course, this left me plenty of time to mull over the different paths that could be taken in its various case studies (a few of which I will discuss here), and it also left me slightly peeved at the hesitancy of the modern author to take any firm stance on any issue—though I fully understand it. This is a short review of several tiny parts of the book that are on my mind at the moment. I shall come back to other parts in future posts.

Once one accepts that direct word-for-word translation is not optimal in 100% of cases—let’s say, “red dust” for the Chinese “红尘” (红 = red, 尘 = dust), a word which means the world of mortals (as opposed to the world of deities), the translator is opened up to a world that is, on one hand, quite a fun and creative endeavor. This perhaps explains why some people want to be translators; it’s much more than just copy-pasting word by word from a dictionary, to put it very crudely. On the other hand, the book states that translators may be grappling with a long list of considerations: personal interest, competing ideologies, power dynamics, moral relativism, xenophobia, and the list goes on. I have seen situations where a translator is forced to choose a side because every word, for better or for worse, is laced with connotation; or better yet, if it is neutral, then the adage “silence speaks louder than words” can be applied directly to neutral writing. To use a few scapegoats that won’t get me in trouble, consider the reaction of Americans to calling North Korea’s state mouthpieces “independent news outlets,” or Kim Jung-Un a “duly-elected leader,” simply because that is how these terms might be written in Korean (I don’t know Korean; this is merely a fictional and exaggerated example).

Surprisingly, that is basically what I do in my translating, though not all translators may have the same luxury. I think the translator has a basic veto right; that is, as one of many translators out there (i.e., not a monopoly providing a basic necessity), he or she has the right to refuse service to any client, for any reason, but particularly for reasons of ideology. Perhaps a translator may still take a client whose works go against their beliefs, and try to be neutral and invisible, but perhaps they ought to also let a client know if they have any biases that could impact the finished product, and let the client decide if the translator should be recused. One example from the book that stood out to me was a German translator translating a Finnish author’s novel to German. The protagonist of the novel had a very unfortunate birthday: April 20th, the same day as Hitler. What happened in practice was that the translator unilaterally decided to change the birthday to April 19th to avoid the novel being taken for Neo-Nazi Propaganda, choosing to not contact the author for fear of being disallowed the change. Recently, online, I have seen other cases brought forward by members of Japanese anime communities lamenting more heavy-handed changes made by localizers trying to scrub lines that are, to them, supporting “the patriarchy.” Different translators will feel that the line that shall not be crossed is in different places, and different readers want different levels of strict translation or ignorant bliss.

I find it is much easier to ascribe nearly unlimited intelligence to the reader, and simply let the chips fall where they may. In cases of extreme discomfort, I come down on the side of the translator’s veto. If I’m uncomfortable working with the material, I won’t promise the client transparency while “saving the world” in the background. I may make suggestions on changes, which authors can sometimes be amenable to, and I may choose to not work on a specific project. It is true that certain viewpoints will be shared more by me as a result of this; no man is an island. I believe it’s better to respect the client and the work by talking upfront than to go behind their back and make stealth edits to appease my own sense of justice, morality, or what have you. I hope other translators do the same in order to lend more respect to our industry.