Oral presentation: Concept SALPC Bill

Language practice: a profession

Althéa Kotze

21 August 2013

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Afrikaans translation

Tieners dikwels dink hulle is deurskynend en dat daar niks sleg met hulle kan gebeur nie.

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Back translation

Teenagers often think they are translucent and that nothing bad can happen to them.

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Source text

Teenagers often think they are invincible and that nothing bad can happen to them.

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Optimal translation

Tieners dink dikwels dat hulle onaantasbaar is en dat daar niks slegs met hulle kan gebeur nie.

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So what happened here?

• Worked in a translation program• Misread a word• Inappropriate translation (word) choice• Direct translation• Wrong Afrikaans sentence construction• Incorrect adjective use: niks sleg(s)• And the translator did not notice? Why?

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Why regulate language practice with legislation?

• Desired goal = service excellence • Provide qualified, experienced,

committed, dedicated practitioners with opportunity to provide this service

• Assure congruent remuneration• Ascertain professional work ethic

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What is a profession?

• There is no point in legislation that does not adequately address the issue of professionalization

• Professional attributes in language practice demonstrated by a set of detailed attributes associated with service excellence:

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Attributes of a profession• an altruistic service ideal and work ethic• a well-developed, enforceable ethical code• occupational autonomy, jurisdiction and monopoly

associated with legislation• professional training institutions • specialized and standardised practice- and career-

oriented training• structured continuous education – the backbone of

profession• a professional body – the powerhouse of a profession• a viable income congruous with expert status

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Altruistic service ideal and work ethic

• Altruism implies selfless service and a personal work ethic

• Focus on the unique linguistic needs of a society

• Implies a professional responsibility to each and every client or product

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Ethical code

• Well-developed, enforceable • Provides a professional framework in a specific time

and space to guide the professional language practitioner

• Provides public with a legitimate point of view of the values, norms, standards and ideals of the profession

• Functions as a disciplinary mechanism, ensuring the general public of the standards of the profession

• Serves as a socialization mechanism to promote uniformity between members of the profession

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Expert status = viable income • Selfless professional service = personal commitment

and service orientation• Altruism as opposed to profit orientation and

commercial greed • The concept of altruistic service should not outweigh

the attribute of prestige income typical of professional status

• Increasingly competitive market-dominated, multi-cultural, multi-lingual, service-oriented, and globalized society

• The economic nature of language services provides a significant income for language professionals

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Training and training institutions

• Provide specialized training• Provide career-oriented training• Detailed language practice curriculum• Structured continuous education • Entails a standardised body of knowledge

associated with long-term professional training

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… • Admission control to training programs• Control over students’ socialization into the

practice of language practice in the socio-economic market

• Creates foundation for professional mind-set needed for a practice-based and altruistic work ethic

• Functions within a professional work ethic • Core element: practice based upon the mastery

of a complex body of knowledge and skills

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Occupational autonomy

• Occupational autonomy = jurisdiction = monopoly • Legislation denote occupational regulation and

sanctioning of professional status from within the community

• Ensure occupational stability and autonomy• Without public recognition the language practitioner

remains an invisible, run-of-the-mill practitioner in society

• The effect of regulation will make the certified language practitioner the automatic preference of the serious client

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A statutory professional body

• Accreditation• Certification• Continuous profession development • Licensing• Admission control• Discipline of the profession

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…

• Responsible for measures of control over professional competence

• Responsible for formal mechanisms of discipline regarding professional standards

• The powerhouse of all professional endeavours

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Professional language practitioner• functions within a professional work ethic• practice based upon mastery of complex body of

knowledge and skills• vocation in which knowledge is science• learning and practice is used in the service of

others• governed by a code of ethics• professes a commitment to competence,

integrity and morality, altruism, and the promotion of the public good within his or her domain

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Some aspects to consider• Define and differentiate between, or describe the

processes of training, certification, accreditation, licencing and/or registration

• Clearly define and describe professional, practice-oriented training

• Define continuous professional development• Greater representation of accredited language

practitioners, curriculum developers • Protect title of language practitioner • Define status of members who are already accredited

with SATI once the new professional body is functional

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