Translation and technology

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONTranslation Technology, Translation Tools, Translation Environment Tools (or TEnTs) andComputer-Aided Translation (or CAT) are frequently used as synonyms. In its broadest sense translation technology is understood to include a large array of computer tools that help translators do their jobs, including word processors, spell, style and grammar checkers, the World Wide Web, corpus compilation and analysis tools, terminology management tools, translation memory tools (TM), translation management systems (TMS) and machine translation (MT). Bowker (2002 p. 7) arranges these tools along a continuum from less automated (human translation) to more automated (machine translation), with CAT positioned in the middle. In the human translation rubric, she includes, for example, word processors and spell checkers, and in CAT, translation memory, corpus analysis tools, terminology management systems, data capture tools, localisation and web-page translation tools, and diagnostic tools. The MT rubric includes only machine translation systems. This extensive list is evidence of how technologised the translation profession is. For the sake of clarity throughout this chapter, we refer to translation technology broadly speaking as Computer-Aided Translation -CAT. Where machine translation is specifically meant, we use that term.Likewise, when we want to draw attention to a specific type of tool, we use the exact term, e.g. terminology management tool or translation memory (TM).Over the last decades, parts of the translation profession have moved from deploying hardly any technology (in the 1980s), to embracing of Translation Memory and Terminology Management (in the 1990s), to the introduction of MT and its convergence with TM tools.Industry commentators predict a move towards Fully-Automatic Useful Translation -or FAUT -by 2030 (Massardo and van der Meer 2017). Currently, translators are still expected to produce high quality translation and that is often done with the aid of CAT tools. For this reason, it is important that translation technology is firmly embedded in the translator training curriculum. As Bowker (2002) points out, knowledge of CAT increases employability of graduates, but there are additional benefits to the teaching of translation technology: students can become more attuned to their own and to peer approaches to translation, data is created for research into translation, and reflections on the impact of technology on process, product and profession can be generated (ibid).This chapter will first discuss early considerations on teaching translation technology. We select a subset of examples to give an overview of what these early considerations entailed. A number of formal translator competence models are examined so as to illustrate the place of translation technology in these models. Next, we provide a synopsis of research concerns relating to translation technology. Then, we review the pedagogical approaches adopted these days for CAT teaching before turning to conclusions, where we outline curre...