Translation Methods and Experience: A Comparative Analysis of Human Translation and Post-editing with Students and Professional Translators

Abstract

RÉSUMÉBien que l'on ait une certaine connaissance des avantages de la post-édition pour les textes techniques, il reste difficile de savoir si celle-ci est une solution de remplacement viable à la traduction humaine pour les textes généraux. Il faut par ailleurs comprendre davantage les deux méthodes de traduction, et la façon dont elles sont appliquées par les étudiants et les traducteurs professionnels, pour en déterminer les écueils et adapter la formation des traducteurs en conséquence. Dans cet article, nous cherchons à mieux cerner les différences entre la traduction humaine et la post-édition pour les articles de journaux. L'oculométrie et l'enregistrement de frappes ont été utilisés pour étudier le processus de traduction et dégager les gains en productivité, la charge cognitive et l'utilisation de ressources externes. Nous avons également examiné la qualité de la traduction et l'attitude des traducteurs à l'égard des deux méthodes de traduction. L'étude de ces différentes perspectives met en évidence que les deux groupes de traducteurs comme les deux méthodes de traduction sont plus proches que ce que l'on pouvait présumer. ABSTRACTWhile the benefits of using post-editing for technical texts have been more or less acknowledged, it remains unclear whether post-editing is a viable alternative to human translation for more general text types. In addition, we need a better understanding of both translation methods and how they are performed by students as well as professionals, so that pitfalls can be determined and translator training can be adapted accordingly. In this article, we aim to get a better understanding of the differences between human translation and post-editing for newspaper articles. Processes are registered by means of eye tracking and keystroke logging, which allows us to study translation speed, cognitive load, and the use of external resources. We also look at the final quality of the product as well as translators' attitude towards both methods of translation. Studying these different aspects shows that both methods and groups are more similar than anticipated. RESUMENMientras que se reconocen cada vez más los beneficios del uso de la post-edición para la traducción de textos técnicos, aún no existen pruebas de que la post-edición sea una alternativa viable a la traducción humana para los textos más generales. Además, necesitamos una mejor comprensión de ambos métodos de traducción, así como de la forma en que son realizados por estudiantes y por profesionales, para que se puedan definir los posibles obstáculos y adaptar la formación de los traductores en función de ellos. En este artículo, nuestro objetivo es lograr una mejor comprensión de las diferencias entre la traducción humana y la post-edición de artículos periodísticos. Los procesos de traducción se registran mediante el seguimiento ocular y el registro de pulsaciones de teclas, lo que nos permite estudiar la velocidad de traducción, la carga cognitiva y el uso de recursos externos. También analizamos la calidad final del pro...

Quantifying the Effect of Machine Translation in a High-Quality Human Translation Production Process

“…Eye-tracking tools measure eye positions and eye movements and are frequently being used in translation process research. Both fixation counts and fixation durations have been analysed as presumed indicators of cognitive effort [17][18][19]. Next to the more traditional indicators derived from keystroke and eye-tracking data, Herbig et al [10] used a wider range of physiological sensor data including pupil dilatation, galvanic skin response, blood pressure, heart rate (variability) and respiration to estimate perceived cognitive load during post-editing.…”

Translation Strategies Used by Student Translators in Solving Equivalence Finding-Related Problems

“…Process-oriented translation studies focus on researching the whole translation process experienced by a translator. In other words, process-oriented translation studies are related to observational studies in the procedure of language transfer from source language (SL) to TL which includes pauses in translation process (Alves & Vale, 2011;Angelone, 2010;Jakobsen, 2011;Kumpulainen, 2015;Rosa, Sinar, Ibrahim-Bell, & Setia, 2018), self-correction or self-revision (Malkiel, 2009;Sofyan & Rosa, 2015;Sofyan & Tarigan, 2017), influences of competence and experience in translation process (Ehrensberger-Dow & Massey, 2013;Shreve, Angelone, & Lacruz, 2018), differences in translation process between professional translators and student translators (Christensen, 2011;Daems, Vandepitte, Hartsuiker, & Macken, 2017;Lörscher, 2005;Rosa, 2017;Sofyan, 2016). As process-oriented translation studies explore what happens during translation process, a number of instruments have been developed and utilized such as think aloud protocols (TAP) (Bernardini, 2001;Rosa, 2017;Smith, 2014;Tanja Pavlović, Jurida, & Jahić, 2013), Translog (Hansen, 2002;Immonen, 2011;Jakobsen, 2011;Rosa, 2019;Sofyan, 2016), and Camtasia (Albir, 2015;Alves & Vale, 2011;Castillo, 2015;Christensen, 2011).…”

Theme Shifts in the Translation of Student and Professional Translators

“…Meanwhile, the theme shifts done by the professional translators are categorized into both instantiation and realization shifts because the theme elements shifted also constitute a movement between ranks (inter-rank shifts). This finding indicates that the decision of student translators to focus on doing shifts at clause level is caused by their efforts to avoid meaning shifts, as Daems, Vandepitte, Hartsuiker and Macken confirm that the most common errors done by student translators are meaning shifts, showing incongruity in meaning between the ST and the TT [21].…”