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PHELAN, MARY; RUDVIN, METTE; SKAADEN, HANNE; AND

KERMIT, PATRICK STEFAN. ETHICS IN PUBLIC SERVICE

INTERPRETING. LONDON & NEW YORK, ROUTLEDGE, 2020, 206 PP.,

ISBN 978-1-138-88615-5

Ethics in Public Service Interpreting (2020) focuses entirely on ethics in

public service interpreting settings. This book presents a comprehensive

analysis of ethical theories, codes of ethics and professional ethics in public

service interpreting. Despite often being referred to as an edited volume, this

is in fact a four-author book that brings together the expertise of four scholars

who together explore a fundamental yet controversial aspect of public service

interpreting: ethics.

In the Introduction, Patrick Stefan Kermit, a Norwegian Sign Language

interpreter, delves into ethical theories and their potential uses and

applications for public service interpreters. In this section, Kermit discusses

utilitarian and deontological ethics. The former considers that an action is

ethical as long as the effect is favourable regardless of the action being right

or wrong whereas the latter views an action as ethical based on the good

intention behind it and not on the effect of the action. In his discussion, the

author analyses how moral principles from utilitarian and deontological ethics

have been relevant to the practice of sign-language interpreters in Norway.

He examines interpreters’ ethics in the pre-professional era of Norwegian Sign

Language (NSL) interpreters in the 1970s, and how their ethics gradually

evolved as interpreter training began to be offered in the late 1970s and early

1980s, giving birth to the professional era of sign language interpreters in

Norway. Kermit exemplifies utilitarianism being carried out by pre-professional

interpreters when lending support to the Deaf and trying to create a favourable

impression of them during the interpreter-mediated encounter. On the other

hand, deontological ethics are linked to the development of training courses

for NSL interpreters. This early professional era of sign language interpreters

in Norway led to the creation of ethical codes of conduct in the 1980s and

1990s. The first code of ethics for NSL interpreters was created in 1983

stemming from the cooperation between the Norwegian Deaf Association and

the Association for Sign Language Interpreters. Interpreting ethics gradually

evolved since an awareness was developed by NSL interpreters that their task

was not to secure desirable outcomes for the Deaf, but to interpret and

promote their autonomy. The author highlights that both the utilitarian and

deontological approaches to the ethics of NSL interpreters had merits yet were

problematic at the same time. On the one hand, while the deontological

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approach had sought to promote the Deaf people’s autonomy, it also caused

some interpreters to conduct themselves in a rule-based fashion rather than

professionally and ethically. Although the author asserts that modern-day NSL

interpreters’ practice has continued to evolve to consider the complexities of

the interpreter-mediated encounter and that the interpreter’s conduct is not

only influenced by professional ethics, the author does not discuss the extent

to which (if any) the utilitarian and deontological moral principles are still in

effect or if there are any other ethical theories behind the practice of NSL

interpreters today.

Mette Rudvin’s chapter (Part 1) is dedicated to ethical theories. She

discusses how ethics has been approached by macro-disciplines such as

theology and philosophy, and specifically by moral philosophy. An in-depth

overview is presented on issues, philosophers and historical periods relevant

to the philosophy of ethics. The author offers an analysis of the four macro-

areas of moral philosophy 1) virtue and ‘the good’; 2) duty and responsibility;

3) consequences of actions and utility; and 4) justice and equality. Rudvin links

these macro-areas to core ethical tenets in public service interpreting:

accuracy (virtue and ‘the good’ and duty and responsibility); and impartiality

and confidentiality (justice and equality). A differentiation is made regarding

personal/private and public/professional regulatory principles, the former

being related to morals or morality and the latter to a code of conduct or ethics.

The author emphasises that life-changing decisions and ethical conduct are

at the core of professions such as medicine and law. Therefore, since medical

and legal professionals often rely on interpreters to provide service to users,

the interpreter needs to have acquired interpreting skills through training in

order to reflect the care and responsibility that medical and legal professionals

are expected to exercise with service users. In this chapter, the author

overviews ethical theories such as virtue ethics, deontology,

consequentialism, existentialism, relativism and evolutionary ethics. She

examines the historical context and philosophers involved in the conception

of these theories and explores ethical tenets applicable to public service

interpreting. Although an effort has been made to link the philosophy of ethics

to the development of professional ethics in public service interpreting, the

discussion is kept to an abstract and general level without delving deeply into

ethical issues in the public service interpreter’s day-to-day practice. Despite

this, the insightfulness of the analysis of the ethical theories covered is

remarkable and serves as a robust foundation for further exploration of

interpreter ethics from a philosophical point of view. A future edition of this

chapter could include analyses of the ethical theories covered drawing on

contemporary historical accounts of interpreters’ practice, to be found in

sources such as Morris (1999) and Giambruno (2008).

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In Part 2, Mary Phelan overviews interpreter associations and

company-specific codes of ethics around the world. This chapter is introduced

with a brief discussion of historical examples of court interpreter ethics and a

chronological overview of the establishment of translator and interpreter

associations. Interpreter association codes of ethics were produced by

associations to regulate the interpreting profession which in many countries

is, still today, heavily unregulated. However, the fact that many of those

associations do not have the power to take disciplinary action on serious

breaches renders those codes of ethics meaningless. The author argues that

the evolving nature and increasing number of specialised interpreting settings

make it difficult for interpreters to join interpreter associations unless they can

prove through experience or examination that they are eligible to join those

associations where qualification or training is not available. Drawing on

Schweda-Nicholson’s (1994) seven key ethical principles (i.e. role,

competence and required skills, impartiality, completeness and accuracy,

conflicts of interest, confidentiality and continuing professional development),

this section offers a relevant analysis of commonalities and divergences of

twenty interpreter association codes of ethics around the world, expanding on

Hale’s (2007) study. Phelan’s analysis shows that not all codes of ethics

include the same key ethics principles as one would expect and some, maybe

due to questionable practice, go as far as to cover interpreters’ compliance of

tax obligations, poaching of clients, criticism of colleagues, and corruption and

bribery, among other issues. The second part of this chapter offers a much-

needed practical discussion on real-life cases where interpreter ethics has

been compromised in terms of quality, impartiality, neutrality, role and public

comment. These real-life examples of interpreter practice showcase how

training, testing and a code of ethics need to be at the core of the interpreting

practice.

In Part 3, Hanne Skaaden focuses on professionalisation as a key

component to the interpreter’s conduct and ethics. As regards the process of

professionalisation of ethics and the activity of public service interpreting,

Skaaden overviews the concepts of profession, exercise of discretion, trust,

virtue and quality. Drawing on Parsons’s (1968) criteria for an activity to

develop into a profession, the author argues that for the interpreting activity to

ensure quality, elements such as clear role definition, emotional neutrality,

training and authorisation are essential. Also, in light of sociologists Molander

and Terum’s (2008) list of performative aspects for an activity to be labelled a

profession, the author concludes that the interpreting practice is a professional

activity. Skaaden argues that although codes of ethics represent norms and

values to guide the interpreters’ practice, the interpreter needs to exercise

discretion to tackle issues not covered in said codes of ethics. However, if an

interpreter lacks training and interpreting skills, there is no guarantee that this

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exercise of discretion will result in ethical practice. Trust is a factor this chapter

links to the concepts of profession and exercise of discretion. End users of

professional services trust that the training, certificate or licence and mandate

professionals have to make them trustworthy. However, if end users are not

often trained in how to work with an interpreter and interpreter training

accreditations are neither universally required nor offered, professional ethics

and virtue or quality in the interpreters’ performance are bound to be

problematic.

This book is a valuable contribution to interpreting studies. It provides

sound foundations for further study into interpreter ethics from a historical,

philosophical or professional point of view. The four authors link interpreter

ethics to training and posit that as long as no interpreter training is offered or

required, questionable behaviour on the part of interpreters will continue to be

a reality. Although the book as a whole aims to target students, interpreter

trainees, professional interpreters and users of interpreter services, due to

their complexity and philosophical nature, the Introduction and Part 1 will most

likely appeal to academics, researchers, or interpreting studies/ethics

theorists, whereas Part 2 and Part 3, which are more practice-oriented, will

probably fulfil the book’s intended purpose. In the interest of cohesion, I

consider the book would have benefitted from the authors meaningfully

engaging with and making reference to each other’s points.

EFERENCES

Giambruno, C. (2008). The Role of the Interpreter in the Governance of

Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-century Spanish Colonies in the “New

World”. In C. Valero-Garcés & A. Martin (Eds.), Crossing Borders in

Community Interpreting (pp. 27-49). John Benjamins.

Hale, S. (2007). Community Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan.

Molander, A., & Terum, L. I. (2008). Profesjonsstudier. [The study of

professions]. Universitetsforlaget.

Morris, R. (1999). The Face of Justice: Historical Aspects of Court Interpreting.

Interpreting (vol. 4, issue 2, pp. 97-123).

Parsons, T. (1968). Professions. In D. L. Sills (Ed.), International Encyclopedia

of the Social Sciences (vol. 12, pp. 536-547). The Free Press.

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Schweda-Nicholson, N. (1994). Professional Ethics for Court and Community

Interpreters. In D. L. Hammond (Ed.), Professional Issues for

Translators and Interpreters. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

DDIE LÓPEZ-PELÉN]