Returning to Ethics: A Meta-ethical Analysis of Community Interpreters’ Codes and Standards of Practice

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In 2001, Pym made an appeal for the field to return to ethics. In response, this paper problematizes the ethical framework offered to community interpreters. Metaphors (e.g., conduit/advocate) are often employed to describe practitioners’ behaviors and have since emerged in pedagogy and training materials as an ethical device (e.g. interpretersshould or should not be a conduit). However, devices used to describe behaviors are not the same as those used to propose or evaluate behaviors. Normative ethics dictates the use of terms that evaluate the consequences of practice decisions in light of a profession’s values. As such, an alternative framework is proposed.