Etyka tłumaczy ustnych języków fonicznych i tłumaczy języków migowych
Ethics of Spoken and Signed Language Interpreters

From Theoretical Considerations to Practical Solutions

Summary/Abstract: Codes of ethics are readily developed by professional associations and institutions for interpreter education and training. The codes may be local, national or international, may apply to different interpreting environments (medical, legal and judicial, educational, etc.) and to different languages: spoken and signed. There are several types of documents used by different groups of interpreters. The subject of this discussion is two codes created by individual professional organisations: The Professional Code of the Sworn Interpreter of the Polish Society of Sworn and Specialised Interpreters PT TEPIS and the Code of Ethics the Association of Polish Sign Language Interpreters STPJM. The aim of this article is to propose a new unified code of professional ethics for spoken language interpreters and signed language interpreters. Previous comparative research on the ethical and professional principles of interpreting, as contained in the two codes of ethics applicable to spoken or signed language interpreters, shows the universality of ethics. This follows not only from the academic need to classify and unify norms, but also from the social manifestation that, regardless of the language pair, ethics is a fundamental aspect of the profession. In the proposed code, the authors advocate a clear structure with a preamble and seven principles, which are provided with definitions and illustrated with possible ways of implementing the principles. The proposals may contribute to a discussion within the academic and professional communities about both a common code of ethics and ethics in the interpreter profession itself.

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