Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the concept of 'post-editing effort' and challenges the misconception that post-editing is 'easier' than translating. The aim is to safeguard translators' fair working conditions and professional status in the increasingly technologised industry environment.

Paper long abstract:

As AI and machine learning technologies advance and the quality of machine translation (MT) continuously improves, a machine translation post-editing (MTPE) production model is becoming prevalent amongst language service providers (LSPs). MTPE aims to increase translation productivity by fixing errors in MT outputs, rather than having texts translated by human translators from scratch. While increased automation and the resultant improvement in productivity is welcome in an ever-competitive translation industry, the increasingly technologised new working environment is causing a feeling of anxiety amongst translators, as they feel their professional expertise and competences are undermined and their work is not fairly recognised and rewarded.

This paper explores and re-evaluates the concept of 'post-editing effort' involved in MTPE. The aim of the investigation is to find out how this effort can validly be measured for the purpose of devising a fair pricing model of MTPE for post-editors, who are often also translators. The paper challenges the misconception often held by industry stakeholders that fixing MT output is 'easier' than translating from scratch (thus requiring less effort). I argue that this misconception is reflected in current MTPE pricing models, resulting in a feeling of unfairness amongst translators and post-editors. This is an issue of ethics, as a misunderstanding of the mechanism of post-editing and its pricing can lead to the exploitation of translators and post-editors, which can affect their motivation, professional esteem and career prospects, deprive their agency and can ultimately cause their disempowerment in the translation production system. The study approaches this question from two angles: the first from the sociological point of view drawing on the interview data collected from LSP workers in Japan, and the second from the cognitive studies' view, reviewing process studies literature on post-editing efforts in different languages.

Paper short abstract:

The paper looks at a group of mostly untrained translators and interpreters working for local Government bodies in Japan. Following a textual analysis of ethical codes for diplomats and translators, data from focus groups and interviews is used to show the incompatibilities between the two roles.

Paper long abstract:

The field of Japanese studies owes a great deal to the work of translators and interpreters in enabling opportunities for intellectual exchange between Japan and the rest of the world. The current paper argues that questions of ethics permeate translation and interpreting, spotlighting the perspective of those coming from outside of Japan to work in highly formalised local government contexts and the specific challenges faced by them as agents of these Governments.

The paper focuses on the context of Co-ordinators for International Relations (CIRs), non-Japanese citizens hired through interviews in their native countries and employed in local government offices across Japan. Tasked with the "internationalisation" of the communities in which they reside, they are commonly engaged in activities such as translation and interpreting, but also diplomacy, teaching English and the running of cultural events. Given the nature of CIR work, they provide an interesting case study for investigating the intersection of translation, interpreting and other practices.

The paper firstly leverages a textual analysis of existing codes of ethics for translators and interpreters, as well as those for diplomats, to document the differences between these practices and the mutual compatibilities and incompatibilities between them. Subsequently, through the carrying out of focus groups on the ground in Japan with current CIRs, their conceptualisation of their own status as interpreters and translators was examined as well as that of their capacity as pseudo-diplomats and agents of local Japanese Government bodies.

From the results of these focus groups, interviews were devised containing scenarios that seek to challenge the competing loyalties generated by simultaneously engaging in either of translation or interpreting and diplomacy at the same time to confirm the hypothesis generated by the examination of the codes that the practices are incompatible.

Through the illumination of the ethical conflicts between the practices of translation, interpreting and diplomacy, the paper seeks to add to the larger conversations around the role of ethics in translation and interpreting generally and also their roles in the area of intercultural communications.

Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses ethical concerns around interpreters involved in criminal acts by drawing on historical cases of interpreters convicted as war criminals at post-WWII British military trials against the Japanese, focusing on complex issues of interpreters' visibility and joint responsibility.

Paper long abstract:

In the wake of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and post-conflict operations as well as proceedings at international criminal courts, greater attention has been paid to interpreters in conflict for the past two decades. There has been a growing body of scholarly work on policy, training, and ethical issues of military linguists. Further, in response to the plight of interpreters in current conflict zones, non-profit organizations have acted to protect and support those interpreters.

This paper raises new questions about the role, responsibility, ethics, and protection of interpreters in war and conflict by drawing on historical cases of interpreters convicted as war criminals at post-WWII British military trials against the Japanese. War crimes trials held by Allied nations in various locations in the post-war Asia-Pacific resulted in the prosecution of over 100 interpreters who had been associated with the Japanese military. Of those interpreters, at least 40 were convicted by the British - more than any other Allied nation. The British trial records reveal that almost all those interpreters were convicted for being jointly "concerned in" unlawful acts rather than for bearing direct responsibility. In other words, they were charged for taking part as interpreters in crimes committed by their units. The defenses of "I was just interpreting" and "I just followed superior orders" never prevailed. Interpreters were deemed part of the criminal enterprise as they enabled ill-treatment and torture of POWs and local civilians through the act of interpreting.

Despite the argument that interpreters are not responsible for the content of messages they deliver, these cases bring to the fore issues of interpreters' joint responsibility for taking part in criminal acts. Is there such a thing as "just interpreting" in violent military settings? In high-pressure, chaotic situations, under the military code of absolute obedience to superior orders, can interpreters resist superior orders to take part in unlawful acts such as torturing a POW to extract critical information? With the CIA admitting to "enhanced interrogation" of "detainees" in conjunction with the "War on Terror," these are real and current questions interpreting scholars and practitioners should be addressing.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation focuses on how the lack of shared understanding among different parties of what translation (by machine or human) is can lead to ethical issues in translation-mediated communication, and how it can be addressed by constructing meta-language for translation.

Paper long abstract:

Translation—by human or machine—has grown in status in Japan. Many schools have started to recognize the necessity of professional training for translators. Neural machine translation recently caused a social sensation, and natural language scientists are working on further technical advancement. Translation theorists are defining translation norms and developing competence lists required for better training and practice.

Despite these efforts by various players, translation practice as a whole has not advanced as much as expected because the developments have not been fully integrated with one another. One fundamental problem is that the concept of translation has not been shared among the different players. This has already led to social problems, including ethical issues. For instance, a local government's misuse of machine translation in a 2019 typhoon disaster resulted in the communication of false information. While the root cause seems to have been ignorance on the part of the machine translation users, there is a much deeper problem—the concept of translation itself not being shared. This discord also causes issues around translation copyrighting and fair pricing for human translators, problems now recognized as ethical and moral issues.

Against this backdrop, the author has been engaged in research to establish a conceptual platform that facilitates communication among stakeholders through a shared translation process model. We also define meta-language for describing the model. In this paper, the author explores the status of the current project as well as collaboration among stakeholders in translation practice in Japan.

Note:

The project: JSPS research project "Developing a translation process model and constructing an integrated translation environment through detailed descriptions of translation norms and competences."