Ideology, Ethics and Policy Development in Public Service Interpreting and Translation

Carmen Valero-Garcés, Rebecca Tipton

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781783097517
• eBook ISBN: 9781783097548
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Sociolinguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This edited collection brings together new research on public service interpreting and translation (PSIT) with a focus on ideology, ethics and policy development. The contributions provide fresh theoretical and empirical perspectives on the inconsistencies in translation and interpreting provision observed in different geonational contexts and the often-reported tensions between prescribed approaches to ethics and practitioner experience. The discussions are set against the backdrop of developments in rights-based discourses on language support services and the professionalisation of the field, drawing attention to how stakeholders and interpreting practitioners navigate the realities of service in the context of shifting ideological landscapes. Particular innovations in the collection include theorisations about policy and practice that draw on political science, applied ethics and paradigms of trauma-informed care. The volume also presents research on settings that have received limited attention to date such as prison and charitable services for survivors of violence and trauma.

Part 1

(Re-)defining Concepts and Policy Contexts

1Interpreters in History: A Reflection on the Question of Loyalty

Ingrid Cáceres Würsig

Introduction

The ‘cultural turn’ emerged together with attempts in the 1990s to explore the transformation processes that result from continuous conflicts of cultural formations. This ‘turn’ had considerable influence in translation studies and was reflected in research that transcended linguistic aspects in order to foreground extralinguistic realities. An issue that has received particular attention concerns the analysis of the relationship between ideology and/or power and translation activity. Cronin (2002) was one of the first scholars to reflect the influence of the cultural turn in interpreting studies, asserting that the discipline needed to address questions of power and incorporate theorisations of class, gender, race and religion in the analysis of oral performance. Using examples from colonial history, he describes two systems of interpreting: autonomous and heteronomous. In the first system, colonisers train their own subjects in the language of the colonised, and in the second system, local interpreters are recruited, sometimes even by force. This approach to the recruitment of interpreters reflects a problem of control by the (colonial) authorities and, as will be argued in this chapter, helps to illuminate the political causes that influence an interpreter’s change of side. Cronin’s work arguably opened up new avenues for the study of ideology in interpreting studies.

According to Beaton-Thome (2015), there have been two ways to examine the relationship between ideology and interpreting. The first identifies ideology as a value system that is used as a tool by governing powers. Studies based on this approach usually deal with historical examples. The second considers ideology as a kind of world view and examines the interplay between multiple ideologies in interpreted and interpreter discourse. Relevant issues here concern interpreters’ reactions to ideological stimuli and how ideology influences their scope of action.

The emergence of ideological approaches has become particularly relevant in recent years both in public service interpreting and in translation and interpreting for international institutions. The activity of interpreters in war and conflict zones has also attracted significant interest. Recent findings suggest that interpreters who intervene in intelligence and military operations are required to be ideologically aligned with the hiring institution (Inghilleri, 2010). In other words, hiring institutions seek to use an autonomous system in order to have more control over information and negotiation. Judicial interpreting in English-speaking countries is subject to a code of practice in recognition of the potential impact of interpreters on the judicial process. Such a code, for instance, prevents interpreters from clarifying elements in the original discourse that are deliberately ambiguous. Furthermore, in the field of interpreting with political refugees, studies reveal that interpreters have been shown to adopt certain patterns of behaviour in order to avoid empathising with the personal tragedies of the refugees (Baker & Pérez-González, 2012: 42). Thus, institutional alignment is achieved to some extent by the implementation of codes of practice, which include routinised tasks and patterns to be applied by translators and interpreters.

This chapter focuses on an understanding of ideology as a value and belief system used by state powers in order to perpetuate their interests and, in so doing, examines several cases from history. It introduces the concept of loyalty as a key element for understanding and investigating the relationship between ideology and interpreting/translation, and compares past and present frameworks that govern the activity of interpreters, especially in the fields of diplomacy and intelligence, arguing that such frameworks have remained little changed over time. It further argues that the ideological alignment shown by interpreters can be identified through expressions of loyalty found in artefacts from specific historical periods.¹

The historical examples of translation activity presented in what follows correspond to the periods of the Reconquista, the discovery of the New World and further Spanish colonisation and, finally, European diplomacy during the Early Modern period,² with particular reference to interpreters in Constantinople. The geonational context of Spain made the interplay between the Christian, Arab and Jewish cultures possible. Moreover, the discovery of the New World under Spanish patronage, which brought unknown worlds into contact, is considered an extraordinary event and constitutes a fascinating example in the history of interpreting. Interpreting activity in old Constantinople, where most European diplomacy took place, represents a cultural clash between East and West and to bridge such cultural differences, dragomans were very important players in mediation and negotiation. The intensity of interpreting activity during this period makes it a suitable backdrop for the comparative analysis proposed.

In these historical periods, we can consider loyalty as obedience to a political power. Political powers, generally monarchies, were based on the defence of a value system, where religion, lineage, race and social class were fundamental aspects. Monarchies required their subjects to share the same value system, which meant accepting and defending it; in other words, being loyal to it. Loyalty and loyal are recurring words in the interpreters’ personal files, ambassadors’ reports and clerks’ correspondence material which have been examined in the process of developing the history of interpreting. History also shows that the powers that employed interpreters placed greater trust in those who shared the same cultural roots, because they knew that the emotional, social and cultural bonds to their place of origin developed in childhood were very strong.

The chapter is divided into four main sections. The first section provides examples of the history of interpreting during the Reconquista, the discovery of the New World and further colonisation. It draws attention to the translation practices adopted during the era of the Reconquista, often by those who had been converted and whose children then inherited the profession. Owing to their origins, the interpreters’ suitability for cooperating with the administrative bodies was endorsed both by their family tradition and by their official appointment which granted them exclusivity to the service (and consequently economic benefits). This section also charts the learning processes that shaped interpreting during the discovery of the New World when children or indigenous adults were moved to the Peninsula. Given the impossibility of removing the ethnicity of a person, these intermediaries were considered to be of low status. The second section is devoted to translators and interpreters working in European diplomacy. Linguistic services within the administration of the state were promoted while favouring families that had specialised in translation and passed it down from generation to generation so that shared religion, education and values guaranteed the same way of thinking.

The third section discusses the figure of the dragoman, who was an expert in communication between the East and the West, specifically between the Sultans and the European nations seated in Constantinople. The Spanish monarchy sought to train its own interpreters by sending young Spaniards abroad for them to learn the language and the culture. The European powers tried to develop an autonomous system as it guaranteed loyalty, but it required investment and long-term planning which often failed to yield the desired results. It was necessary, therefore, to combine long-term training with the recruitment of local intermediaries, who were often held in deep suspicion as they served all the European parties and their cultural backgrounds (Sephardi, orthodox) were different. The fourth section addresses the current situation of interpreters in war and their role in military conflicts. I argue that there is a trend to categorise interpreters according to their cultural roots, which suggests that governments prioritise loyalty above all other skills. Finally, a conclusion brings together the main points and offers an explanation as to why native interpreters often appear to be preferred in situations of conflict.

Interpreters in Acts of Conquest and Colonisation

The cases discussed in this section reflect the need for a political power to generate a framework of trust and security in the deployment of intercultural mediation. This framework is something that would be developed over years and supported by a language policy, which consisted of appointing translators and interpreters from among members of the same family, where this profession became a tradition. The recruitment of interpreters during the discovery of the New World, however, had to be improvised in those contexts, at least at the beginning.

During the Reconquista (711–1492), medieval Spain was a territory whose borders were subject to constant change due to the intensity of the wars between the Christians and the Moors. Jews were on both sides and numerous contacts between the three different communities took place despite their different faith-based models. Jankrift (2013) explains that each religion perceived itself as superior to the other, which resulted in a mutual disinterest in relation to learning about the faith, traditions or language of the other. Christians and Muslims believed it was their mission to impose and extend their religion to other territories; since the Crusades, these endeavours had led to both feeling threatened by the other. The distance between Christians and Muslims was affected by that mutual ignorance and also by the absence of a lingua franca. Whereas European diplomats in the 15th century used Latin as their lingua franca, Arabic was used in the East, followed by Persian and later Turkish. In order to ascend within the court – whether it was Christian or Islamic – learning the language of the enemy was not looked upon positively. Instead, it resulted in the suspicion of negotiations being conducted in secret or conversions to the other religion. Translators and interpreters began to play a part in diplomacy as a way to avoid being the object of suspicion regarding their loyalty towards the other religion (Jankrift, 2013: 138).

According to Roser Nebot (2001), those who practised linguistic mediation in Spain were designated trujamanes, and they played a prominent role between the 12th and the 17th centuries. Not only did they work as liaison interpreters, but they also translated and edited the correspondence between the different linguistic groups and bore witness to the content of documents for whomever they concerned. In 1294, for example, James II of Aragon issued a bill in favour of the Jew Jahudano Bonsenyor, granting him exclusive right to the city of Barcelona, as well as the legal right to write documents in Arabic (for example bills of exchange or receipts) needed to conduct commercial transactions with the Muslims, as he considered Bonseyor’s knowledge of Latin to be insufficient (Roser Nebot, 2001: 313–314).

The trujamanes were also responsible for the translation and editing of correspondence between the Kingdom of Aragon and the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada. The act of legalising the process of linguistic mediation is a clear indication of the desire of the Aragon Crown for control over diplomatic and commercial relations with the Arabs, which would serve as a sign of confidence. With regard to the suitability of the translator, the following is stated in the bill: ‘you, Jahuda, son of Astruch Bonsenyor... are an adequate person and capable of taking charge and drawing up the exchange documents...’ (Roser Nebot, 2001: 313). The reference to Jahuda’s suitability could well refer to the trust placed in him, further reinforced by the act of mentioning his ancestry, while the expression ‘capable of taking charge’ seems to allude more to his linguistic capability.

In addition to the trujamanes, the role of the alfaqueque³ also emerged during this period. As a result of ongoing clashes between the Moors and the Christians, prisoners were taken on both sides; with time this became a business for the captors. In the Christian towns, the name alfaqueque designated a person who mediated specifically for the liberation of the captives and who received a type of safe pass to be able to operate within the territories in conflict or those that had negotiated a truce. It was essential for them to have command of both Spanish and Arabic, and, over time, the post became hereditary to the point where they were recognised by King Alfonso V the Wise (Alonso-Araguás, 2012; Baigorri-Jalón, 2015). The fact that the role of interpreter was inherited was a way in which loyalty was achieved, since they would have been educated in accordance with a pro-monarchy value system.

The discovery of the New World was an important challenge for the Spanish monarchy, also in terms of linguistic mediation; there were no interpreters for the indigenous languages, which were completely unknown to Westerners. Therefore, interpreters had to be ‘created’. On his first expedition to the Indies, Columbus brought with him an interpreter of Jewish origin who knew Hebrew and Arabic, but that was of little service for communicating with the indigenous peoples of the Americas (Fernández Sánchez, 2001: 18–19). In reality, Columbus had wanted to reach Japan and the conviction that he was close to that location ensured that his first encounter with the indigenous population of San Salvador Island produced numerous misunderstandings. The explorer decided to capture a group of indigenous persons so that they might learn the Spanish language during the expedition and afterwards in the Spanish court (Alonso-Araguás, 2012: 51; Valero-Garcés, 1996: 62). The most gifted of these was Diego Colón who, after being educated in the Peninsula, accompanied the explorer again in order to assist him as an interpreter.

The capture of indigenous people who could assume the task of communication was a common practice among the Spanish explorers and also among the Portuguese. This practice had its own risks in that the capt...

Table of contents

• Cover-Page
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Tables and Figures
• Abbreviations
• Contributors
• Introduction
• Part 1: (Re-)defining Concepts and Policy Contexts
• Part 2: Experiences From the Field
• Index