Revisiting the notions of translation ethics in Saudi Arabia: a survey of translators' perceptions
Purpose – This paper investigates professional translation practice in Saudi Arabia with a particular focus on translation ethics. Following an examination of varying opinions and contentious concepts relating to translation, this paper suggests that Saudi Arabia should establish a code of ethics fo...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Emerald Publishing
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Saudi Journal of Language Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SJLS-09-2022-0066/full/pdf |
| _version_ | 1797686728053489664 |
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| author | Eisa Ahmad S. Asiri Yousef Sahari Ibrahim Alasmri Ahmad Assiri |
| author_facet | Eisa Ahmad S. Asiri Yousef Sahari Ibrahim Alasmri Ahmad Assiri |
| author_sort | Eisa Ahmad S. Asiri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Purpose – This paper investigates professional translation practice in Saudi Arabia with a particular focus on translation ethics. Following an examination of varying opinions and contentious concepts relating to translation, this paper suggests that Saudi Arabia should establish a code of ethics for translation services. It investigates the ethical challenges that translators encounter during their professional work and considers their responses to these challenges. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative methodology was adopted to collect data from forty participants. This self-completed survey uncovered 11 ethical dimensions that translators encounter during the translation process and the researchers used descriptive analysis to calculate the mean and standard deviation of their frequency and importance. Participants' responses to the multiple-choice questions were categorised as personal, professional ethics or sociopolitical activism, and their overall percentages calculated. Findings – For all 11 dimensions, the mean scores fell in the mid-frequency range between 2.74 and 3.88, inferring that the respondents faced these ethical challenges neither particularly frequently nor infrequently. Regarding the importance rankings, the mean scores varied between 1.58 and 2.04, consistently lower than the experience frequency rankings, which indicates that these challenges were considered important regardless of their frequency. The majority (40.27%) related to professional notions of ethics, followed by personal ethics (35.22%) and sociopolitical and activist conceptions of ethics (24.14%), while less than 1% (0.37%) reflected mixed motivations. Originality/value – The study's concept and methodology are both novel. The researchers believe that this is the first study to examine professional translation ethics in the Saudi context. Unlike most studies in this field, this study adopted a quantitative approach, thus calling for the development of an effective professional code of ethics for translators. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T01:10:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aaa2fe9baabc4570bb3c32500385298b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2634-243X 2634-2448 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T01:10:02Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | Emerald Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Saudi Journal of Language Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-aaa2fe9baabc4570bb3c32500385298b2023-09-14T07:05:55ZengEmerald PublishingSaudi Journal of Language Studies2634-243X2634-24482023-03-013111810.1108/SJLS-09-2022-0066Revisiting the notions of translation ethics in Saudi Arabia: a survey of translators' perceptionsEisa Ahmad S. Asiri0Yousef Sahari1Ibrahim Alasmri2Ahmad Assiri3English Department, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi ArabiaEnglish Department, University of Bisha, Bisha, Saudi ArabiaEnglish Department, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of General Courses, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaPurpose – This paper investigates professional translation practice in Saudi Arabia with a particular focus on translation ethics. Following an examination of varying opinions and contentious concepts relating to translation, this paper suggests that Saudi Arabia should establish a code of ethics for translation services. It investigates the ethical challenges that translators encounter during their professional work and considers their responses to these challenges. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative methodology was adopted to collect data from forty participants. This self-completed survey uncovered 11 ethical dimensions that translators encounter during the translation process and the researchers used descriptive analysis to calculate the mean and standard deviation of their frequency and importance. Participants' responses to the multiple-choice questions were categorised as personal, professional ethics or sociopolitical activism, and their overall percentages calculated. Findings – For all 11 dimensions, the mean scores fell in the mid-frequency range between 2.74 and 3.88, inferring that the respondents faced these ethical challenges neither particularly frequently nor infrequently. Regarding the importance rankings, the mean scores varied between 1.58 and 2.04, consistently lower than the experience frequency rankings, which indicates that these challenges were considered important regardless of their frequency. The majority (40.27%) related to professional notions of ethics, followed by personal ethics (35.22%) and sociopolitical and activist conceptions of ethics (24.14%), while less than 1% (0.37%) reflected mixed motivations. Originality/value – The study's concept and methodology are both novel. The researchers believe that this is the first study to examine professional translation ethics in the Saudi context. Unlike most studies in this field, this study adopted a quantitative approach, thus calling for the development of an effective professional code of ethics for translators.https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SJLS-09-2022-0066/full/pdfCode of ethics in translationTranslation studiesProfessional ethicsSociopolitical ethicsActivist ethicsPersonal ethics |
| spellingShingle | Eisa Ahmad S. Asiri Yousef Sahari Ibrahim Alasmri Ahmad Assiri Revisiting the notions of translation ethics in Saudi Arabia: a survey of translators' perceptions Saudi Journal of Language Studies Code of ethics in translation Translation studies Professional ethics Sociopolitical ethics Activist ethics Personal ethics |
| title | Revisiting the notions of translation ethics in Saudi Arabia: a survey of translators' perceptions |
| title_full | Revisiting the notions of translation ethics in Saudi Arabia: a survey of translators' perceptions |
| title_fullStr | Revisiting the notions of translation ethics in Saudi Arabia: a survey of translators' perceptions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Revisiting the notions of translation ethics in Saudi Arabia: a survey of translators' perceptions |
| title_short | Revisiting the notions of translation ethics in Saudi Arabia: a survey of translators' perceptions |
| title_sort | revisiting the notions of translation ethics in saudi arabia a survey of translators perceptions |
| topic | Code of ethics in translation Translation studies Professional ethics Sociopolitical ethics Activist ethics Personal ethics |
| url | https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SJLS-09-2022-0066/full/pdf |
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