The Impact of Translators’ Academic Experience on Their Translation Quality

Abstract

Translators differ from each other in many ways in terms of their knowledge and professional conditions that may directly influence their translation. The present study aimed at investigating the impact of translators' academic experience on their translation quality. Following a causal-comparative study, a sample of 100 male and female professional translators, working in official or non-official translation offices or as freelance translators, were selected using purposive sampling method. The participants were divided into two groups each containing 50 individuals with and without a degree in translation, respectively. The participants were asked to translate a paragraph including 232 words, from Orwell's 1984 novel, to assess their translation quality. To do this, Waddington's model D (2001) was used as the marking system. For data analysis, inferential statistical procedures including independent sample t-test was used in order to investigate the research hypothesis. Results showed that translators' academic experience in translation significantly affects their translation quality. The results also clearly depicted that the translation quality of translators with academic experience was significantly better than that of those without academic experience.

Translation in Singapore : who does it better?

“…Translators without translator education were found to have taken at least half the number of spots in the top 10 charts of both E-C and C-E translations. This finding is different from what Varzande & Jadidi (2015) had found. A reasonable explanation can be as simple as the fact that the participants involved were different.…”

“…A similar word count i.e. 246 words was seen in the study conducted byVarzande & Jadidi (2015) to test the quality of L1 translation by professional translators, whileWaddington (2001) used a text that was 330 words long in his study for L2 translation. Considering that the participants were not undergoing examination for accreditation purpose, it was decided that the two original articles be shortened.…”

“…There have been results showing that translation graduates perform better than non-graduate translators. In a literary translation test conducted on 50 professional translators with translation degree and 50 professional translators without translation degree (Varzande & Jadidi, 2015), it was found that translators with translation degree scored higher than those without. They made fewer errors and their translations were also more acceptable when viewed holistically (Varzande & Jadidi, 2015: 14).…”

“…Waddington's Model D, which combines both error-analysis and holistic approaches, was used by Varzande & Jadidi (2015) when they studied the quality difference between translators with translation degree and those without. However, this model has received criticisms for being too general and more suitable for evaluation of word-for-word translation in the academic setting (Shahraki & Karimnia, 2011: 5221).…”