Professional behavioral norms of the translator

In his work translator should always use the rules of situational behavior. In the world of interpretation there are different people, for example, a famous scientist or a world-class star, their behavior may be inadequate, and the translator should always behave in the hands. In the process of translation, the role of the “translator” belongs to the translator, it must be invisible, do not focus on oneself, but simply fulfill the task assigned to it – transfer information in the desired language. The appearance of the translation bureau employee while working with the client must comply with the rules of the dress code, the translator must have a neat appearance and observe the generally accepted rules of propriety. He can break these rules only if they are not compatible with his main professional role in the situation. For example, if the translation process occurs during lunch, then he can not, eat and drink with the client. If communication takes place in a backstage environment, the interpreter does not have the right to express his point of view or act as an opponent, no matter how much he likes it, this can lead to distortion of the speaker’s information, whose speech he translates. The main task of an interpreter is to quickly adapt to the situation and professionally perform their work.

Observance of the rules of decency and neatness in clothes are important not only because the translator does not need to attract attention in any way. If he is unkemptly dressed, behaves cheekily, finds himself in a conversation and behaves in an absolutely inappropriate way, this can lead to negative reaction from the participants in the discussion and complicate the perception of information. Such a performer may lose the trust of communication participants.

There are apparently more favorable cases of an independent violation by the interpreter of the borders of professional decent behavior. Most often it concerns translators who have general philological knowledge, who graduated from the university and know how to behave correctly. They are educated people and intellectually savvy interlocutors. They are used to express their opinions and participate in the conversation on an equal footing. But it’s difficult for them to go into the role of an interpreter, they interfere in the conversation and offer their personal opinion to both sides, can reduce or even ignore the cues that did not interest them. This is a violation of professional ethics. An experienced translator knows that even with the help of intonation can not show a personal attitude to the translated material. Many customers treat such performers negatively and prefer those who do not know the language perfectly. As a rule, they do not pretend to anything and clearly fulfill their duties. And omniscient performers who can not enter into the role of an interpreter see in the work of an interpreter not a profession, but simply an intermediate version in their careers or a source of one-off enrichment.

It is often difficult to determine the scope of the professional duties of an interpreter and in many individual cases, they should participate in their definition. Sometimes, a synchronizer who has certain responsibilities during the conference may be asked to perform the translation of the documentation as soon as possible. And he will work at night, not rest. In this situation, he must explain to the customer that he is jeopardizing the quality of the translation. It is especially difficult for an interpreter who is hired to work in the country of his foreign language. In this situation, he is not just a personal interpreter of everyone, but also a guide, organizer, cultural consultant, and sometimes the chief assistant manager and a translator who prepares documents for the whole group.

Interpreters of the lower and middle level are often ready for anything, lack of professionalism and non-observance of professional ethical norms, lead them into a vicious circle, which is very distressing. Such performers lose self-esteem due to the fact that they receive little, and receive little due to the fact that they have a low level of knowledge, etc.

The pernicious impact on the interpreter may be of the opinion that he is a secondary person. This fact also has a strong impact on self-esteem. This is most likely connected with self-assertion of people who order the services of an interpreter. They want to show his worth, not understanding the language, and take out the whole negative on the translators, forming the view that they can only stand aside and repeat for the “smart” person.

Every professional translator should not pay attention to the customer’s opinion, but assess themselves, in the opinion of people competent in these matters, for example colleagues or scientists. If the translator himself evaluates himself highly, then the customer will do the same.