Ethical Commitment and Social Responsibility among the Iranian Professional Translators

In the past time, ethics in translation was more concerned with translators’ commitment to fidelity. Today it is no longer merely concerned with fidelity, but rather with a commitment to the cultural, social, situational norms of a given community. Not being committed to such ethical norms or accepting the responsibility for their act could create irrecoverable problems for the profession; for instance, the clients’ gradual loss of trust in this profession and the emergence of non-professional translators. The present study surveyed the extent of the commitment of the Iranian professional translators to ethics and professional norms. A quantitative analysis was designed based on a researcher-made questionnaire rooted in Chesterman’s models of ethics, followed by a qualitative phase through the design of interviews. The questionnaire was administered to 45 selected Iranian professional translators working in a variety of fields. The results obtained from the questionnaires and interviews indicated that Iranian professional translators, though suffering from a lack of a comprehensive code of ethics compatible with the international standards, are highly committed to ethics in their profession and that those who are more committed to ethics in their translation also feel and express more social responsibility. The findings of this study can ensure the clients of the professional translators’ commitment to their social responsibility, hence the quality and fidelity of their translation.