ITI Ethical Standards & Professional Conduct 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A translator discovers mid-project that the source text contains content that conflicts with their personal values. What is the most professionally appropriate response?
- Refuse the assignment immediately without explanation
- Complete the assignment while altering the offensive content
- Notify the client promptly and withdraw if agreement cannot be reached, allowing time to find a replacement (Correct answer)
- Submit a substandard translation to signal disapproval
Correct answer: Notify the client promptly and withdraw if agreement cannot be reached, allowing time to find a replacement
Professional ethics require giving adequate notice when withdrawing so the client can arrange alternative translation services.
Question 2: Under ITI's Code of Professional Conduct, when a translator is asked to certify a translation, they are attesting that:
- A native speaker has reviewed the text
- The translation is accurate and complete to the best of their knowledge and ability (Correct answer)
- The original document is authentic
- A second translator has verified the work
Correct answer: The translation is accurate and complete to the best of their knowledge and ability
Certification is a personal professional declaration that the translator stands behind the accuracy and completeness of their work.
Question 3: A client requests that a translator add marketing language not present in the source text to make the translation 'more persuasive.' How should the translator respond?
- Add the language as requested since the client pays
- Refuse and explain that additions beyond the source text compromise translation integrity (Correct answer)
- Add a note at the end listing the additions made
- Translate the document twice — once faithfully and once with additions
Correct answer: Refuse and explain that additions beyond the source text compromise translation integrity
Translators must not add, omit, or alter content beyond what the source text contains without clear disclosure and agreement.
Question 4: Which of the following best describes the ITI principle of 'professional competence'?
- Accepting all assignments regardless of difficulty to build experience
- Only undertaking work within one's linguistic and subject-matter expertise (Correct answer)
- Having at least five years of translation experience
- Holding a university degree in translation
Correct answer: Only undertaking work within one's linguistic and subject-matter expertise
Professional competence means self-assessing honestly and declining work that falls outside one's genuine capabilities.
Question 5: When a translator realizes they have made a significant error after submitting a completed translation, the ethical obligation is to:
- Say nothing unless the client notices
- Inform the client immediately and offer to correct the error (Correct answer)
- Issue a refund but not disclose the specific error
- Blame any errors on ambiguity in the source text
Correct answer: Inform the client immediately and offer to correct the error
Integrity requires proactive disclosure of known errors and taking responsibility to remedy them.
Question 6: A colleague asks you to recommend them for a specialized legal translation project, but you know their legal expertise is limited. Your ethical obligation is to:
- Recommend them anyway to support a fellow professional
- Decline to recommend them for this specific project and explain why privately (Correct answer)
- Report them to the ITI without speaking to them first
- Recommend them and offer to secretly check their work
Correct answer: Decline to recommend them for this specific project and explain why privately
Recommending someone for work beyond their competence harms the end user and the profession's reputation.
Question 7: In the context of ITI professional ethics, 'independence' as a translator primarily means:
- Working as a freelancer rather than an employee
- Making professional judgments free from improper influence or conflicts of interest (Correct answer)
- Not consulting reference materials during translation
- Operating without supervision from a senior translator
Correct answer: Making professional judgments free from improper influence or conflicts of interest
Professional independence ensures that a translator's decisions are based on skill and ethics, not on undue pressure or personal gain.
ITI Ethical Standards & Professional Conduct 2
A translator discovers mid-project that the source text contains content that conflicts with their personal values.
What is the most professionally appropriate response?