Bringing Ethics into Translator Training An Integrated, Inter-disciplinary Approach

Translator training programmes have expanded exponentially since the 1990s against a backdrop of increasing economic and cultural globalization. A growing body of literature contends that, if the effects of globalization are to be dealt with effectively, translation studies should return to questions of ethics (Venuti 1998, Pym 2001a). Thus training in ethics for future translators is arguably more important than ever; as graduates will work in a climate of lowered trade barriers, increasing competition among translators, globalized business practices, crowdsourcing and growing public debates on ethical consumerism. The authors' recent survey of translator training programmes in the UK, however; indicates that ethics is typically not taught at all or is offered only as part of optional modules. One way out of this impasse is for translation studies to learn from other professions where training in ethics has been integrated in the recent past. The authors' combined experience of integrating ethics training across many subject fields and running one of the UK's largest translation Masters programmes is first used to define key relevant ideas from the study of ethics and identify the main ethical questions that translators face every day in their work. Real, practical case studies of such ethical issues in translation are then outlined, and a range of ways of assessing and reacting to these issues is presented. The paper thus proposes a tried and tested approach to embedding ethics training in the curriculum which can be adopted in translation studies.