Ethical practice
Developing and promoting ethical practices among all those working within the profession.
Ethics
Ethics within the translation and interpreting profession
Ethical conduct is at the core of professional translation and interpreting. Translators and interpreters are often entrusted with business-critical information, requiring them to navigate issues such as accuracy, impartiality and confidentiality.
Ethics also play a crucial role in ensuring fairness and respect for all parties, particularly in relation to legal, medical and public service settings where an individual’s life and rights may be directly affected by the linguistic choices made.
In autumn 2024 we launched an initiative to consider the potential to create an ethical framework for ITI members, providing them with guidance when navigating complex situations. Demonstrating and following a framework like this could help to build professionalism, accountability and confidence in the profession.
The first step in working towards an ethical framework was an open discussion meeting hosted by Dr Joseph Lambert which helped us to identify the range of topic areas to explore in more detail. These ideas were developed into the Coffee House where a range of experts and other stakeholders have been helping us to host a programme of open discussions.
We have called this space for conversations about ethics the ITI Coffee House following the spirit of the coffee houses of the eighteenth century where the Enlightenment was born. The aim is for conversations to be informal and free-flowing and for participants to contribute rather than just to listen. The sessions will generally run at lunchtime and each session will last a maximum of 90 minutes.
If you are interested in shaping the debate about translation and interpreting ethics then come along and contribute to our work. We really want to hear from the professionals who are making ethical decisions in their daily working lives to ensure that we create an ethical framework that meets your needs.
Find out more about the Coffee House discussions and our work on ethical practice by following the link below.