| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | Plagiarism - deliberate and blatant - translator's responsibilties Thread poster: Frank van Thienen (X)
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| Plagiarism is under a university professor's action | Aug 22, 2010 |
I reviewed many graduation theses of universities when I was an academic lecturer. From my stand point of view, plagiarism was seriously checked. After switching my role to a translator, I concentrate on word interpretation, writing style, formatting. Ethical issues are far less checked since I have a low possibility to confirm exact imitation of academic papers. When I was explicitly requested to translate pornographic documents, I declined upfront since my moral level is against such publicati... See more I reviewed many graduation theses of universities when I was an academic lecturer. From my stand point of view, plagiarism was seriously checked. After switching my role to a translator, I concentrate on word interpretation, writing style, formatting. Ethical issues are far less checked since I have a low possibility to confirm exact imitation of academic papers. When I was explicitly requested to translate pornographic documents, I declined upfront since my moral level is against such publications.
Best regards,
Soonthon Lupkitaro ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Without reading other people's comments... | Apr 29, 2011 |
... my own feeling is - and please don't accept this as personal criticism (it's a very tricky situation to be in and we really don't understand "translation plagiarism" very well) - that the best thing would have not to got involved in this situation or, at some point, once you realised how serious it was, to have withdrawn.
It's not about legal issues, it's ethics and long-term professional recognition. How can translators ever expect to be recognised and credited and even decentl... See more ... my own feeling is - and please don't accept this as personal criticism (it's a very tricky situation to be in and we really don't understand "translation plagiarism" very well) - that the best thing would have not to got involved in this situation or, at some point, once you realised how serious it was, to have withdrawn.
It's not about legal issues, it's ethics and long-term professional recognition. How can translators ever expect to be recognised and credited and even decently paid if we don't maintain the ethical standards that apply in other disciplines? If it's not ethical for an author to plagiarise, it's not ethical for someone to collude in that plagiarism. It's also dumb: the author will some day be found out.
It's time we stopped trying to be invisible when it suits us, at the same time as we demand all sorts of rights and recognition as professionals. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Big Fat Lie! | Apr 29, 2011 |
Frank van Thienen wrote:
quoted the wikipedia article on plagiarism
Client response:
[list]
She thanks me for my honesty and says that that was exactly her intent, to start with this and to adapt the text where necessary.
she asks for the remainder of the translation, promising to adapt and change.
Frank 
"Adapting" the text? There's plagiarism of ideas as well as words. For her to avoid this, she'd really have to rewrite hugely, rephrase sentences, rearrange paragraphs - rearrange ideas!
PS. Wiki is Wiki, some people aren't too impressed. I'd preferably have cited the ORI (OK, it's biomed, but that's where the vanguard is): http://ori.hhs.gov/
| | | | Frank van Thienen (X) 
Canada
Local time: 03:25
Dutch to English
TOPIC STARTER | thanks for the feedback . . . | Apr 29, 2011 |
Bilbo Baggins wrote:
... my own feeling is - and please don't accept this as personal criticism (it's a very tricky situation to be in and we really don't understand "translation plagiarism" very well) - that the best thing would have not to got involved in this situation or, at some point, once you realised how serious it was, to have withdrawn.
It's not about legal issues, it's ethics and long-term professional recognition. How can translators ever expect to be recognised and credited and even decently paid if we don't maintain the ethical standards that apply in other disciplines? If it's not ethical for an author to plagiarise, it's not ethical for someone to collude in that plagiarism. It's also dumb: the author will some day be found out.
It's time we stopped trying to be invisible when it suits us, at the same time as we demand all sorts of rights and recognition as professionals.
Thanks for the feedback, Senor Baggins
As you can see by my last post, I did indeed withdraw when I realized the situation was out of control.
We're now 8 or 9 months after the fact, and I must say that I've often thought back of this almost surreal situation, happy with the decision I made, with the help of this forum. If this happens to me again, I wouldn't have to think about it so long.
Frank
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