Ethics in a Checking Session

Bible translation requires a strong ethical foundation, since it involves the Bible itself, which is the basis of ethics. Checking is a very important step that crowns Bible translation itself. Most often, it tends to be carried out lightly, just to “confirm” the exegesis, which is then given more value. In general, there is a need for ethics in the consultant's work. In fact, ethics influence decision-making and the consultant's attitude towards the people involved in the translation process. The theme of this article is “Ethics in a checking session”. It draws its inspiration from a personal experience as a female consultant working in a predominantly male world, both with regard to fellow consultants on one hand and the translators we accompany in the field, on the other hand.

The aim of this article is to propose a set of ethical principles that could guide the translation consultant in producing work that will have a profound and sustainable impact. To achieve this goal, our work will be subdivided as follows: first, we will proceed to an understanding of the concept of ethics, focusing on the definition of ethics and the different types of ethics. This will be followed by a brief review of the work of checking. Then, we will make a proposal for the characteristics of ethics in a consultant's work. Finally, we will attempt to identify possible obstacles to ethics in a consultant's checking session, followed by a proposal of some solutions.