Effortful text production in translation

Abstract

This article analyzes data generated by the combined use of keylogging and eye tracking to examine grammatical (de)metaphorization as a case of explicitation/implicitation (Steiner 2001). It also aims at investigating effortful text production from the perspective of automaticity and monitoring in the translation process (Tirkkonen-Condit 2005). Brazilian and German physicists and professional translators were recruited to translate one of two versions of an English (L2) source text into Brazilian Portuguese or German, respectively (L1). The versions differed in the level of grammatical metaphoricity of the sentences. Quantitative and qualitative data was analyzed to determine the impact of metaphoricity level on target text renditions as evidence of effort in the translation process. Results showed that regardless of which of the two versions was translated, most subjects opted for a particular wording from the start of their text production process; subsequent changes had to do with attempting more delicate choices in lexis rather than in grammar, evidence in favor of Tirkkonen-Condit’s claims about automatism in the translation process. Variables used to measure effort (i.e., number of renditions in microunits, pause duration, and drafting time) indicated that (de)metaphorization is an effortful procedure. Eye tracking, eliciting more fine-grained data, was instrumental in mapping instances of grammatical (de)metaphorization. The results have implications for issues related to the development of professional competence in translation, suggesting that instances of grammatical (de)metaphorization relate to higher levels of monitoring.

A Comparative Study on the Effort of Human Translation and Post-Editing in Relation to Text Types: An Eye-Tracking and Key-Logging Experiment

“…It is hard to define the valid fixation length for translation-related processes (O’Brien, 2011). Some researchers suggest the threshold range 200 to 250 ms (Alves et al, 2009, p. 272), and some researchers set the minimum threshold at 100 ms (Hvelplund, 2011, p. 110; Pavlović & Jensen, 2009, p. 97). Considering that translation involves reading, which is the basis for transferring between languages, and fixations in reading last from 100 ms to over 500 ms (Pavlović & Jensen, 2009, p. 97), we set the threshold at 100 ms and deleted the fixations lasting less than 100 ms.…”

The Mediating Role of First Language during Reading Comprehension for Translation from Third Language into Second Language: A Practitioner Inquiry

“…This implication highlights the need to explicitly instruct students to learn and use translation strategies such as creating a version of the ST in their L1 to make sure they understood it, and then proceed with producing the TT as a translation. Support from this view can be found in (Bonyadi, 2003;Gile, 2005;Mendoza & Ponce, 2009;Alves, Pagano & da Silva, 2011;Washbourne, 2012) who considered that the students of translation need to be explicitly trained in reading comprehension before engaging in translation.…”

Distribución de la atención visual en la realización de una tarea de lectura con sintagmas nominales extensos especializados (SNEE)

“…En primer lugar, la importancia de la lectura en tareas de traducción, pues un proceso de lectura adecuado implica la comprensión del texto origen y la producción de un texto meta que cumpla con las condiciones discursivas en la lengua meta. (Macizo y Bajo, 2006;Alves et al 2011;AL Sharif, 2017;Winfield et al 2019). Además, la investigación relacionada con el estudio de la atención visual en tareas de lectura con fines de traducción ha sido un tema de interés en el campo de la traducción y ha permitido identificar la distribución de la atención visual en aspectos léxicos en distintos tipos de textos (Jensen, 2011;Gómez et al 2019); sin embargo, la distribución visual en las unidades terminológicas durante la lectura de un texto con fines de traducción ha sido poco estudiada en el campo de la traducción.En segundo lugar, el interés por abordar las UTs desde una perspectiva cognitiva y con estudios experimentales que articulen aspectos cognitivos y el procesamiento de UTs, en particular los SNEEs, son todavía escasos, por lo que en esta investigación se analizaron las variaciones de la distribución de la atención visual en SNEEs de 3 y 5 tokens durante una tarea de lectura con fines de traducción.…”