On Codes Of Ethics In Diplomatic Interpreting

Professional ethics which plays a major role in regulating the practice of practitioners in various fieldsis often discussed in articles on interpreter-mediated events of various settings.However,ethical issues are rarely discussed in diplomatic interpreting which usually has a strong bearing on the rights and interests of a country.Probing into ethical principles related to diplomatic interpreting would help both researchers and practitioners understand the characteristics of diplomatic interpreting and their influence on the application of ethical principles.The research aims to discuss the ethical principles in diplomatic interpreting on the basis of analysing principles in major professional interpreting codes of ethics.Based on the universal and near-universal principles in mainstream interpreting codes of ethics,the researcher identifies features of interpreting in the diplomatic setting to create a framework for analysing ethical principles in diplomatic interpreting.The interpreters' representation of the ethical principles in real-time interpreting is discussed with diplomatic interpreters' narrative accounts extracted from ten memoirs and two academic works on diplomatic interpreting.Chesterman's expectancy norm and professional norms are employed to describe the extent to which the interpreters conform to the principles.Based on theoretical discussion and case analysis,the researcherfound out that in diplomatic setting:(1)the interpreter's conformity to the principle of confidentiality and integrity has a strong bearing on the rights and interests of a nation;(2)the interpreter's demonstration of fidelity lies in their conformity to the speaker's intention,status and identity as well as the political stance of the government they represent;(3)the principle of neutrality is difficult or even impossible to be achievedbecause of the interpreters' affiliated position,but the interpreter still needs to abide by the basic rules of fidelity by not deliberately distorting the information of the original;(4)the interpreter's competence is represented by their language ability,their encyclopaedic knowledge and culture awareness;(5)Some of the universal and near-universal principles in the interpreting codes of ethics are not completely applicable to diplomatic interpreters in China.