Translation and Ethics

Now that Facebook has changed its layout our original group description is too long for the new space provided. So we’re adjusting. We’re keeping our original mission statement in a discussion thread on our Facbeook site and on our blog (just for keeps sake).

For those who would like to know (or simply remember) how and why Translators for Ethical Business Practices got started, here it is:

This group was inspired by a recent experience. As a professional translator and paying member of an online site supposedly aimed at helping me expand my business by connecting me to prospective clients, I have recently seen what really resembles unethical business practices that could potentially be detrimental to my business and the translation industry in general. When many paying members of this site opened a forum to discuss the issue and encourage site staff to address our concerns accordingly, our forum was closed. When we opened a second forum, asking why we had been censured, that forum was also closed. Their explanation was that we had violated site rules that state that threads can be closed by site staff when they feel the positive, result oriented environment of a forum has been lost (translation: site staff can unilaterally decide to close a forum when they can’t take the heat!). The only thing of which we were guilty was defending our rights as paying clients to be provided with clear, transparent information about a matter that affects legitimate legal concerns.

Fortunately, under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, we are all granted freedom of speech. Their rules and guidelines are subject to laws. Translation sites, agencies, and even clients can’t get away with doing whatever they want and then shutting us up!

This experience made me aware of how unprotected we sometimes are (or at least feel) from harmful, abusive, and/or unethical, unilateral decisions made by agencies, clients, and even companies that provide services to translators. That is why I decided to open this group.

This group has two main purposes:
1. To provide a place where translators who feel they have been affected by unethical business practices to get in touch with other translators who might have gone through similar experiences and can provide advice on how to deal with these situations.

Everyone is invited to join and express themselves, but please be respectful. Let’s try to focus on the issues and not use this group to bash sites, agencies, or fellow colleagues with whom we might have a problem. Remember, the intention is to defend our rights, not to violate the rights of others.