Tipton, R. (2024). The Routledge Guide to Teaching Ethics in Translation and Interpreting Education. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003098485 (pp. 236)

In an increasingly technologized translation market fueled by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), the significance of ethical competence becomes increasingly pronounced as it is deemed as one of several human skills that serve as a differentiator. Many training institutions today, such as the European Master’s in Translation and the European Master’s in Conference Interpreting, give prominence to professional codes of ethics (Floros, 2021: 339). Though the burgeoning interest in translation and interpreting (TI) ethics education in recent years is evidenced by a multitude of scholarly contributions (Floros, 2021; Pacheco Aguilar & Dizdar, 2021; Greere, 2024), academic research on teaching ethics in TI education remains sporadic. In response to this gap, The Routledge Guide to Teaching Ethics in Translation and Interpreting Education written by Rebecca Tipton emerges as a telling, timely and comprehensive guide.

The book comprises an introduction and five chapters. The introduction offers an overview of the book’s aim, principles in ethics education, growing interest in yet limited research on ethics in TI education, the activities proposed for teaching, as well as the outlines in each chapter. Chapter 1 is divided into two parts: ethics teaching and teaching ethics. The first part elucidates various theories and concepts pertinent to TI ethics education, notably emphasizing the cultivation of “ethical relativism” (p.16) and “moral imagination” (p.17). Moreover, it presents a meticulously structured curriculum framework, progressing from “ethical sensitivity” (p.21) to “ethical knowledge” (p.22), “ethical judgement” (p.24), and finally, “ethical commitment” (p.25). The second part delves into teaching ethics. With the impact of “hidden” curriculum (p.33) on students’ learning, the student diversity and the dominant paradigm of the “aligned curriculum” (p.32), this part endeavors to foster a culture of critical assessment of teaching methodologies and proposes measures to enhance equity, diversity, and inclusion in teaching, assessment and feedback processes.

Chapter 2 opens by emphasizing ethical responsibility, integrity, and thoroughness as fundamental objectives within translation program before outlining specific domains to refine students’ sensitivity to ethical considerations and their ability to exercise ethical judgment. By focusing on pre-translation tasks such as peer translation, text profiling and monolingual revision which can be adapted to any text type (p.46), this chapter encourages students to reflect on reading as an ethical endeavor and to set ethical priorities in different text types. This chapter then delves into the domains of literary and commercial translations as contexts for nurturing ethical sensitivity and reasoning skills through classroom activities with illustrative examples. For example, literary translation offers good space to develop ethical sensitivity (p.53), particularly to issues arising in adult and children’s fiction. By offering a detailed guidance for teaching activities, this chapter on literary translation touches on the ethical considerations in translating for children and prompts students to reflect on translators’ moral responsibility in translation decision-making (e.g. simplification, stereotyping, moralizing). In addition, commercial translation, characterized by diverse contemporary scenarios such as web localization, hashtag translation, and transcreation, serves as a platform for discussing strategies to augment ethical competence.

Chapter 3 addresses a set of ethics-related questions pertinent to translator training both in the utilization of machine translation (MT) and participation in online collaborative translation. “Digital reflexivity” (p.86) is highlighted in translation curriculum as a critical disposition for navigating translation practice in the digital age. Then this chapter draws readers’ attention to MT and its post-editing, exploring ethical dimensions ranging from text preparation for MT to the identification of social biases in machine-generated translations, while advocating for the cultivation of “digital ethics” (p.94). Notably, this chapter probes into the accessibility of MT and fair access to information (p.99), particularly in contexts where individuals may be marginalized or vulnerable. Furthermore, it introduces the notion of linguistic justice in a teaching activity, encouraging students to delve deeper into accessibility issues when using MT. Finally, in online collaborative translation, many teaching activities and tasks are provided to sensitize students to potential labor exploitation and to reflect on ethical implications when working in crisis situations.

Chapter 4 delves into ethics education within the interpreting curriculum, focusing on two primary modes of interpreting: dialogue interpreting and conference interpreting. In terms of ethics education in dialogue interpreting, this chapter, examining the effectiveness of the widely-used role-play, advocates for Conversation Analytic Role-Play (p.140) and drama-based approach to complement student learning. For conference interpreting, the chapter evaluates the affordances and limitations of case-based approaches in ethics education, presenting specific scenarios from various interpreting contexts (such as court, medical and social work interpreting) for in-depth reflection. While situated learning approaches are proposed, interdisciplinary learning is proposed in both modes. It is worth mentioning that this chapter expands its discourse to encompass social justice and ethics education. Through practical activities, this chapter aims at stimulating reflection on interpreters’ social roles and their capacity to engage with issues in specific conflict contexts.

Chapter 5 gives special attention to research ethics teaching in TI education. Following the definition of research ethics and challenges of research ethics teaching on TI programs, this chapter encourages a structured reflection on key concepts, such as avoiding harm, informed consent, data management, storage and retention. Moreover, when illuminating issues concerning data collection, handling and sharing, this chapter underscores “ethics of care” (p.199) as it is applicable across all research involving human participants. The recommended integrated approach to teaching research ethics, with the goal of balancing procedural and situational practices, plans to blend ethics into research methods education rather than teaching ethics as a discrete component. A key learning goal is to cultivate “ethical reflexivity” (p.201), which enables researchers to consider ethical implications at each stage of the research cycle. In the end, this chapter directs attention towards the importance of ethics considerations in the writing-up phase of research, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging approval from relevant institutional ethics committee.

This book presents a timely, practical and significant addition to current landscape of TI education. Compared with other theme-related publications in recent years (e.g. Koskinen and Pokorn, 2021; Lambert, 2023), which mainly offer theoretical analyses of ethics in TI or highlight ethical challenges faced by educators in TI training, the book uniquely zooms in on ethics training in TI curriculum. Leveraging her expertise and experience, Tipton provides a wealth of teaching activities, suggestions and solutions for enhancing students’ ethical awareness and judgment.

In detail, the book features meticulously chosen ethics-related scenarios that are not only highly pertinent but also contemporary, such as hashtag translation, web localization, MT and its post-editing, collaborative translation in online environments and interpreting in crisis situations. To facilitate a more immersive learning experience, the book weaves some professional, interpersonal and societal elements into TI ethics education and creates real-world scenarios for reflection. For example, it endeavors to heighten students’ awareness regarding potential “exploitation” in collaborative translation (p.109), “emotional labour” (p.165) and self-care in interpreting by providing specific occasions. Moreover, this book broadens the scope of TI ethical responsibility by extending the discussion to social justice and ethics education. Another highlight of this book is to incorporate research ethics education, which expands TI ethics curriculum beyond field practice to academic study. This illumination of ethical considerations throughout the research process represents an innovative augmentation of conventional TI ethics education.

Despite its notable strengths, the book still has some room for improvement. Firstly, while it offers practical teaching activities and methods, there exists a pedagogical gap in the absence of an assessment framework for evaluating students’ learning outcomes and soliciting feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed teaching strategies. Secondly, the absence of a concluding chapter detracts from the book’s cohesiveness, making it challenging for readers to recapitulate key ideas. Additionally, the book could benefit from expanded coverage of ethics in the emerging AI translation, particularly the ethical implications of utilizing large language models like ChatGPT.

In a nutshell, this book provides engaging and comprehensive insights into ethics education within TI training. Given the backdrop of rapid AI advancement, this book is a timely and valuable contribution to the studies on ethics education in TI curriculum. Through detailed theoretical analysis, diverse TI scenarios and vivid instructional activities, this neatly compiled work provides fruitful discussions on fostering ethical sensitivity and enhancing ethical judgment in TI practice and research. With its innovative, comprehensive, and profound perspectives, coupled with expert knowledge in the TI profession and pedagogy, this book pioneers the path towards advancing TI ethics education.

References

Floros, G. (2021). Ethics in Translator and Interpreter Education. In K. Koskinen & N. K. Pokorn (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Ethics (pp. 338-350). New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003127970-25

Greere, A. (2024). Ethical Awareness and Professional Responsibility: Educating Translators to Tackle Diversifying Industry Dilemmas. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 18(1), 77-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2023.2300251

Koskinen, K., & Pokorn, N. K. (Eds.). (2021). The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Ethics. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003127970

Lambert, J. (2023). Translation Ethics. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003148265

Pacheco Aguilar, R. & Dizdar, D. (2021). Ethics of Translator and Interpreter Education. In K. Koskinen & N. K. Pokorn (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Ethics (pp. 351- 364). New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003127970-26

Authors

Heng Yin

Hubei University, China

hengyin@hubu.edu.cn

Qi Lyu (Corresponding Author)

Hubei University, China

richlvq@hubu.edu.cn