A TRANSLATOR IN A

MODERN WORLD:
PECULIARITIES OF
ACTIVITY. TRANSLATOR’S
MORAL CODE.
 Who is a translator?
■ The translator is far more than a competent linguist, and  TR involves both a scholarly
 and  sensitive appraisal  of the SL text and  on  awareness  of the place  the TR is
intended  to occupy  in  the TL system. According to Dolet, a translator should have a
perfect  knowledge of  both languages, he should avoid word-for-word renderings, he
should choose words  appropriately to produce the correct tone. The translator must
have an  excellent background in the SL and at the same time he must have control over
 the resources  of  the TL. He must  create a new linguistic  form.
■ The interpreter helps to gain understanding between people who speak different
languages, but also represent different cultures where ideas about business practices can
vary widely.
Translator’s competence

■ Lingual competence implies storing in the long-term memory of the

linguistic units specific for the given society with the assigned meaning and
established forms. The use of linguistic signs in communication is speech.
■ Translator's activity can have different forms: translating for different
purposes, working as an official or a free-lance translator/interpreter,
combining translation/interpreting with associate activities (e.g.
administrator-translator/interpreter), etc. These all, however, demand a high
level of translation competence, inasmuch they deal with the interlingual
communication.
 Types of competence
■ lingual competence of the translator/interpreter - all aspects of language fluency, rules
and preferences in using language means. The framework of lingual competence is to a
large extent imposed by the speaker. The translator/interpreter is able to quickly expand
his/her language knowledge especially in contrastive aspect . Lingual competence of a
translator/interpreter should be flexible, swiftly switching from perception to
production, from one language to another, from one register or style to another and so
on.
■ text-formative competence of the translator/interpreter - rules of forming texts in a
given situation in compliance with given rules (e.g. means of cohesion and coherence)
in the involved languages. The translator/interpreter should be able to establish a
correlation between the text types in SL and TL.
■ communicative competence of the translator/interpreter - communication in SL and
TL. The translator/interpreter should be able to adjust the original messages to the needs
or abilities of the recipient. When necessary, he/she may choose to add or explain
something
■ personal characteristics of the translator/interpreter - flexibility and concentration, ability to switch
attention, attraction of all available potential, etc. The translator/interpreter should be well read, be
interested in everything, constantly look for new information, make use of all possible aids and so on. Of
special value is ethical attitude which implies objectivity and reliability of the TT.
■ technical competence of the translator/interpreter - specific knowledge, skills and abilities in the sphere
of the theory of translation, translation strategies and methods. The strategy of translation greatly
depends on the goal and conditions of the translation, as well as on the type of the text. The professional
technique infers the development of certain skills:
- -to perform parallel actions in two languages and to switch between languages.
- - translation-oriented perception of the text
- - to move from surface to deep structure and vice versa
- - to employ "least losses" technique
- - to choose and apply relevant means of translation, which have been mastered in special training
exercise
- - to analyze the ST and pinpoint the translation problems, translation editing
■ Translators should be aware of the fact that incorrect comprehension of a text considerably
decreases the quality of the translation. We musts therefore, use reading comprehension strategies
for translation (underlining words, detecting translation difficulties, contextualizing lexical items -
never isolating them, adapting, analyzing, and so on.)
■ Finding solutions to dilemmas is a constant in the work of the translator. This includes translating
problems such as linguistic or cultural "untranslatability", being able to manage losses and gains,
solutions to lexical ambiguity, etc., through various mechanisms such as compensation, loans,
explanatory notes, adaptation, equivalence, paraphrasing, analogies, etc.Translators should also be
aware that meaning is not only conveyed by words. Hence adequate decoding and re-coding of
nomenclatures, figures, tables and charts; standardized terms, acronyms, metonyms, toponyms,
etc. is a matter that must be properly considered.
■ A good translator should define some essential starting-points for the approximation to a text to
be translated, such as the author of the text, the aim of the text, the readership, and the standard to
be used, for which it is important to identify and categorize the author, the message, the kind of
discourse, the translator and the readership.
■ Another important aspect is the pre-editing of the original text to detect eventual source text
defects, on the one hand, and the post-editing of the translated text to verify the use of the most
adequate syntactic, semantic and graphemic levels (recognition of the reviser's role), on the other
hand.
Multi-Languages Translators Code of Ethics

■ Multi-Languages Translators Code of Ethics defines what it

means to be an outstanding translator. “Every translation
shall be faithful and render exactly the idea and form of the
original – this fidelity constitutes both a moral and legal
obligation for the translator.” – International Federation of
Translators (FIT).
Translator’s code of Ethics
■ Professional Practice
Translators should endeavor to provide service of the highest quality in their professional practice.
■ Accuracy
The translator must translate accurately. By accurate translation we understand a translation that
preserves the meaning, style and register of the source document.
■ Confidentiality
The translator must respect, under all circumstances, confidentiality and privacy of the information
contained in all documentation provided by the client for the purpose of translation, unless otherwise
required by law. All information submitted shall be confidential and may not be reproduced, disclosed
or divulged.
■ Impartiality and Conflict of Interest
In order to maintain professionalism, the translator must remain impartial and declare any potential
conflict of interest (including personal or ethical values and opinions) that may affect his/her
performance while translating a document.
■ Limitation of practice
The translator must know his/her linguistic limitations and decline assignments that go beyond his/her
skills and competence.The translator must only accept assignments that he/she can complete and
deliver in a timely manner (by the due date).The translator must accept documents that he/she can
translate. No work should be subcontracted to colleagues without prior written permission.The
translator should possess sound knowledge of the source language and be an expert in the target
language.The translator should accept translations only for fields or subject matters where he/she has
knowledge and experience.
■ Accountability
The translator is accountable for his/her work and must recognize and acknowledge translation
mistakes and try to rectify them even when the translation has been completed, in order to avoid
potential liability and risk issues.
■ Respect for all parties
The translator must show respect for all parties involved in the translation assignment, including
respect for self, the agency and to its clients.The translator must respect copy rights and intellectual
property.
 The Translator

■ Must seek professional development courses to maintain, improve and expand

translation skills and general knowledge through self-teaching, formal and
informal continuing education.
■ Must acquire the proper terminology and enhance his/her knowledge by creating
and updating terminology files.
■ Must seek evaluative feedback and practice self-evaluation concerning
performance.
Thank You For Your
Attention

Made by :
Yaryna Panas
Student of Ina 33