Attitudes to CAT Tools: Application on Egyptian Translation Students and Professionals

Abstract

Computer-aided Translation (CAT) tools have become indispensable in most organizations, with major benefits including increasing productivity, unifying terminology and minimizing translation costs. With both positive and negative feedback being reported about these systems, it is imperative to further explore users' attitudes to CAT tools. Given the scarcity of research conducted in this field on the English-Arabic language pair, the present study attempts to examine users' attitudes to CAT tools among 114 translation students and professional translators in Egypt. The main purpose of the research is to examine user attitudes towards these tools with specific reference to their perceived benefits, ease of use and compatibility. The survey instrument was adapted from Moore and Benbasat with some modifications. Drawing upon Dillon and Fraser's premises, the research investigates the relationship between user attitudes to CAT tools and various factors, including years of experience, computer skills and type of texts translated. Semi-structured interviews were also used to achieve a mixed-method. The study points to an overall favorable attitude among participants towards using CAT tools, despite some mixed and contradicting opinions on some aspects. The findings also confirm that users with better computer skills have more favorable attitudes towards CAT tools unlike those with more experience in translation. The study concludes with some recommendations for future research.

Computer-Assisted Translation Tools: An Evaluation of Their Usability among Arab Translators

“…When asked to rate the importance of the software, 31% rated it as "Extremely Important" and 52% said it is "Important". Such positive attitudes were reported in similar studies [5,13,17,18,27,28]. In Alanazi [13], the translators showed a high level of satisfaction toward the CAT tools despite the challenges they faced.…”

The Memory of Knowledge: An Analytical Study on Translators’ Perceptions and Assessment of CAT Tools with Regard to Text Genre

“…the updated version of a user's guide that goes with a new release of the software) which relieves the pressure of producing a high-quality and coherent text on a tight schedule. Similarly, Mahfouz (2018) assures that technical translators provided positive responses towards the benefits of CAT tools (p.78). At the other end of the spectrum, literary translators can mostly dispense with CAT tools because of the thought-provoking nature of literary texts.…”

“…Both Bundgaard et al (2016) and O'Brien et al (2017) confirm translators' resentments towards segmentation. Similar to Abotaibi (2014), Mahfouz (2018) uses two instruments: questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Unlike Abotaibi (2014), Mahfouz (2018) investigates the attitudes of actual users like this study.…”

“…Similar to Abotaibi (2014), Mahfouz (2018) uses two instruments: questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Unlike Abotaibi (2014), Mahfouz (2018) investigates the attitudes of actual users like this study. Mahfouz (2018) compares the attitudes of 114 translation students and professional translators at a number of Egyptian translation agencies with specific reference to their perceived benefits, ease of use and compatibility.…”

“…Unlike Abotaibi (2014), Mahfouz (2018) investigates the attitudes of actual users like this study. Mahfouz (2018) compares the attitudes of 114 translation students and professional translators at a number of Egyptian translation agencies with specific reference to their perceived benefits, ease of use and compatibility. Both Mahfouz's study (2018) and the present study adopt an analytical approach.…”