| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Off topic: Translating for a cult Thread poster: earlyesther
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| Once I turned down | May 7, 2015 |
one of those job offers. The translation job was offered by a cult whose leader had been jailed for child abuse.
Thanks, but no thanks.
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Michael Beijer wrote:
Are you talking about a specific cult, or just cults in general? There are all kinds of cults, many completely harmless. Many not so harmless.
Michael
I know this is old, but I read the thread just now when it was revived. To my knowledge, cults are harmful by definition. At the very least, they indoctrinate their victims and separate them from their normal social circle (family, friends, everyone who is not in the cult) in order to cement their commitment to the cult as their one and only community. A religious or quasi-religious organisation that doesn't do that sort of thing isn't a cult, just an unusual small church or something along those lines.
Of course the definition is fuzzy around the edges, but generally, by calling something a cult, one labels it as harmful. Here's an article about what should qualify as a cult: http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/the-cult-demarcation-problem/
BTW I wouldn't take jobs from a cult. I wouldn't be too happy to translate for mainstream churches, either.
| | | | Balasubramaniam L. 
India
Local time: 14:18
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | Another argument | May 7, 2015 |
In addition to my earlier argument that it is none of our business as translators to be the judge or jury over the morality of our clients, here is another argument why taking up such sordid translations is advantageous to society as a whole.
The thing is, by translating such stuff, we bring it to the notice of a larger audience, and there could be someone in that larger audience who would see through the scam and bring down the whole scam empire.
This is a bit like inv... See more In addition to my earlier argument that it is none of our business as translators to be the judge or jury over the morality of our clients, here is another argument why taking up such sordid translations is advantageous to society as a whole.
The thing is, by translating such stuff, we bring it to the notice of a larger audience, and there could be someone in that larger audience who would see through the scam and bring down the whole scam empire.
This is a bit like investigative journalism where the investigating journalist ventures into the dens of the worst criminals and mad-caps and psycopaths, and even poses as a gullible seeker or sympathiser of their nefarious activities, to gain information about these activities, and his published work brings these clandestine activities to the open scrutiny of the wider world which often proves to be the beginning of the end of such activities.
So by translating such stuff we are in effect removing the shroud of secrecy from these ungodly activities which could eventually prove to be the kiss of death for them. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lincoln Hui
Hong Kong
Local time: 16:48
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
| Self preservation, not morals | May 7, 2015 |
Balasubramaniam L. wrote:
As professionals, we just approach our work without bringing in extraneous factors into consideration such as ethics or morality.
Our job is just to transform text in one language into other.
Of course we should not run foul of the law, but barring that, anything else should be game for us.
For other wise, a lot of things will become out of bounds for us - the military (it causes so much killing of fellow humans), meat industry (for staunch vegetarians), the tobacco industry (leads to cancer), automobile and ancillary industries (cause pollution and climate change)... you can extend the list indefinitely, until there is practically nothing for us to translate!
So, let us not moralize or play with ethics, but stick to our job of translating.
As a moral poser, think of this question - Will it be ok for a doctor to refuse to treat a critically ill murderer? Or for a lawyer to refuse to stand for a person who is into heinous crime?
BTW, I think this is a very relevant question for translators and is not at all off topic. The thread should be moved into Translation Matters or some more relevant forum.
[Edited at 2015-05-07 13:54 GMT]
It's not about morals, it's about protecting yourself from legal and personal risk. Just because one should not be held liable for the purposes for which one's work is used does not mean that it will not happen, and even if one is just a link in the investigative chain that is a completely unnecessary risk that no self-respecting business will expose themselves to.
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Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 14:18
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | I must confess I am unable to comprehend this argument | May 7, 2015 |
Lincoln Hui wrote:
It's not about morals, it's about protecting yourself from legal and personal risk. Just because one should not be held liable for the purposes for which one's work is used does not mean that it will not happen, and even if one is just a link in the investigative chain that is a completely unnecessary risk that no self-respecting business will expose themselves to.
But I fail to see how the translator is legally responsible for the text he has translated. He is just performing a technical task. And in most cases, the translated text is not even attributed to him, but to the original author.
In what way is your argument different from holding a doctor responsible for the murder committed by one of his patients, on the grounds that he has treated the murderer?
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Well, I do see your point. The world is not as straightforward as one would like it to be, and it makes practical sense to keep away from trouble (and authority, such as the police) as much as possible.
It may be desirable to give a wide berth to the particular cult under discussion here, but in general, I think my argument holds - that we translators should not normally refuse work on the grounds that the text is immoral or unethical. We should not be the ones to judge that.
[Edited at 2015-05-07 15:46 GMT]
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