Ethics in Translation: Code of Ethics in an Iranian Context

Abstract

Having its roots in philosophy, ethics is at present a term with applications across a broad range of disciplines and inter-disciplines. Translation as a communicative act and a site for the realization of concepts such as fidelity, particularly as redefined by the so-called cultural turn theories, falls partly into the scope of ethics. The present paper reports a study designed to investigate ethics of translation in the Iranian context, using Chesterman's (2001) five types of translation Ethics (ethics of representation, ethics of service, ethics of communication, norm-based ethics and ethics of commitment). The data in this research are collected from 30 Iranian publishers' contracts with translators, regardless of the genre and text types, the skopos and briefs, and the name and fame of the translators. The contracts are examined for the code(s) of ethics mentioned in them, their model and typology, and the values and norms governing each. The data are studied closely in order to extract codes of professional conduct within an Iranian context. Furthermore, based on the results the very definitions of ethics are challenged to find out to what extent they are true in practice when an Iranian context is concerned.