About the event
In February 2023, Charlotte Bosseaux held the 4th edition of Whose Voice is it Anyway? at the University of Edinburgh, titled Reflecting on ethical challenges in a translation and interpreting context.
Speakers included Rebecca Tipton (University of Manchester) on ethical challenges in interpreting situations, Charlotte Bosseaux on ethical issues when subtitling trauma and Gender-Based Violence (University of Edinburgh) and Hephzibah Israel on ethical dilemmas when translating in the religious context.
Their talks were followed by a round table chaired by Kari Dickson (translator and tutor at the University of Edinburgh) with five language professionals – Esther Tyldesley, Denise Muir, Catherine Roux, Raquel Dou and Alicja Tokarska – who shared their experience of the different ethical issues they have faced in their professional lives.
The event was organised by the University of Edinburgh and sponsored by the AHRC.
Audience feedback
What’s your take-home message from the event?
“In learning the craft of translation and interpreting there needs to be more room for these kinds of discussion on ethics and I think have more dialogue between translators, interpreters and clients and audiences as well. It needs to be an open discussion.”
“There is invariably always a degree of subjectivity in ethics, however the session impressed the importance on me of opening dialogue and pre-empting any ethical issues with our interpreters and translators.”
“I need to be neutral and non-biased in translation. I learn that it is something that needs to be taken lightly, but with more understanding, time and empathy.”
How your understanding of ethical challenges in a Translation & Interpreting context has changed
“It was helpful to hear more about the issues that professionals in this field experience.”
“The event was helpful in putting ethical challenges into perspective. There is never a straightforward answer on whether certain actions or approaches are ethical or unethical. Our lived experience, empathy and understanding of the circumstances we are in can undoubtedly, influence the way we act and react. It would be interesting to explore how machine translation reacts in circumstances that humans would/could perceive as unethical.”
“It gave me more awareness of the different levels and vulnerabilities we face in various interpreting and translation settings.
It is going to be something that plays on my mind slightly more. […]. The conversation that we have been having illustrates that it is difficult to nail down just what we mean.”