This volume offers a collection of articles by leading experts in the field that explore some of the current communication and information trends defining our contemporary world and impinging on the translation profession. The essays encourage intellectual reflection on the crucial role played by technology in the translation profession.
The Map is a practical guidebook introducing the basics of research in translation studies for students doing their first major research project in the field. Depending on where they are studying, this may be at advanced undergraduate (BA) or at postgraduate (MA/PHD) level. The book consists of ten chapters. Chapter 1 offers an overview of 12 research areas in translation studies in order to help students identify a topic and establish some of the current research questions relating to it. Chapter 2 is designed to assist students in planning their research project and covers topics such as refining the initial idea, determining the scope of the project, checking out resources, reading critically, keeping complete bibliographic records, and working with a supervisor. Chapters 3 to 7 provide some of the conceptual and methodological tools needed in this area of research, with detailed discussion of such topics as theoretical models of translation, types of research, asking questions, making claims, formulating hypotheses, establishing relations between variables, and selecting and analyzing data. Chapters 8 and 9 are about presenting one's research, in writing as well as orally. Finally, chapter 10 deals with some of the criteria commonly used in research assessment, especially in the assessment of theses. The authors provide detailed guidance on further reading throughout. This is an essential reference work for research students and lecturers involved in supervising research projects and degrees.
Translation technologies are moulded by and impact upon humans in all sorts of ways. This state-of-the-art volume looks at translation technologies from the point of view of the human users – as trainee, professional or volunteer translators, or as end users of translations produced by machines. Covering technologies from machine translation to online collaborative platforms, and practices from ‘traditional’ translation to crowdsourced translation and subtitling, this volume takes a critical stance, questioning both utopian and dystopian visions of translation technology. In eight chapters, the authors propose ideas on how technologies can better serve translators and end users of translations. The first four chapters explore how translators – in various contexts and with widely differing profiles – use and feel about translation technologies as they currently stand, while the second four chapters focus on the future: on anticipating needs, identifying emerging possibilities, and defining interventions that can help to shape translation practice and research. Drawing on a range of theories from cognitive to social and psychological, and with empirical evidence of what the technologization of the workplace means to translators, Human Issues in Translation Technology is key reading for all those involved in translation and technology, translation theory and translation research methods.
This collection of scholarly articles asks the question How useful is translation technology? Pointing to the need for a widely used and reliable way to test the efficiency of language translation programs, the presenters show that commercial tools such as translation memories and translation workbenches are popular, and their developers find them useful in terms of productivity, consistency, or quality. However, these claims are rarely proven using objective comparative studies, and this group describes several new statistical approaches to more rigorous evaluation methods. -- Product Description.
This book assembles fifteen original, interdisciplinary research chapters that explore methodological and conceptual considerations as well as user and usage studies to elucidate the relation between the translation product and translation/post-editing processes. It introduces numerous innovative empirical/data-driven measures as well as novel classification schemes and taxonomies to investigate and quantify the relation between translation quality and translation effort in from-scratch translation, machine translation post-editing and computer-assisted audiovisual translation. The volume addresses questions in the translation of cognates, neologisms, metaphors, and idioms, as well as figurative and cultural specific expressions. It re-assesses the notion of translation universals and translation literality, elaborates on the definition of translation units and syntactic equivalence, and investigates the impact of translation ambiguity and translation entropy. The results and findings are interpreted in the context of psycho-linguistic models of bilingualism and re-frame empirical translation process research within the context of modern dynamic cognitive theories of the mind. The volume bridges the gap between translation process research and machine translation research. It appeals to students and researchers in the fields.
How to Augment Language Skills outlines ways in which translators and language providers can expand their skillset and how translation technologies can be integrated into language learning and translator training. This book explains the basics of generative AI, machine translation, and translation memory suites, placing them in a historical context and assessing their fundamental impacts on language skills. It covers what to teach in a specific context, how to teach it, how to assess the result, and how to set up lively class discussions on the many problematic aspects. The exploratory empirical approach is designed to reach across several divides: between language education and translation studies, between technology designers and users, between Western and Asian research, and between abstract ideas and hands-on practice. Features include: Fifty-seven technology-related activities for the language and/or translation class. Recent research on the capacities of generative AI. Examples of how to conduct a needs analysis in the Higher Education context. Comparisons of the main teaching methods. Ways to assess the use of technologies. Examples in Chinese, Spanish, Catalan, French, and German. A full glossary explaining the key terms in clear language. Drawing on years of classroom experience, Pym and Hao illustrate how these skills can be taught in a range of classroom and online activities, making this essential reading for teachers and researchers involved in the teaching of languages and the training of translators.
The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Technology provides a state-of-the art survey of the field of computer-assisted translation. It is the first definitive reference to provide a comprehensive overview of the general, regional and topical aspects of this increasingly significant area of study. The Encyclopedia is divided into three parts: Part One presents general issues in translation technology, such as its history and development, translator training and various aspects of machine translation, including a valuable case study of its teaching at a major university; Part Two discusses national and regional developments in translation technology, offering contributions covering the crucial territories of China, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, Taiwan, the Netherlands and Belgium, the United Kingdom and the United States Part Three evaluates specific matters in translation technology, with entries focused on subjects such as alignment, bitext, computational lexicography, corpus, editing, online translation, subtitling and technology and translation management systems. The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Technology draws on the expertise of over fifty contributors from around the world and an international panel of consultant editors to provide a selection of articles on the most pertinent topics in the discipline. All the articles are self-contained, extensively cross-referenced, and include useful and up-to-date references and information for further reading. It will be an invaluable reference work for anyone with a professional or academic interest in the subject.
Translation practice and workflows have witnessed significant changes during the last decade. New market demands to handle digital content as well as technological advances are leading this transition. The development and integration of machine translation systems have given post-editing practices a reason to be in the context of professional translation services. Translators may still work from a source text, but more often than not they are presented with already translated text involving different degrees of translation automation. This scenario radically changes the cognitive demands of translation. Technological development has inevitably influenced the translation research agenda as well. It has provided new means of penetrating deeper into the cognitive processes that make translation possible and has endorsed new concepts and theories to understand the translation process. Computational analysis of eye movements and keystroke behaviour provides us with new insights into translational reading, processes of literality, effects of directionality, similarities between inter- and intralingual translation, as well as the effects of post-editing on cognitive processes and on the quality of the final outcome. All of these themes are explored in-depth in the articles in this volume which presents new and valuable insights to anyone interested in what is currently happening in empirical, process-oriented translation research.
Cognitive research in translation and interpreting has reached a critical threshold of maturity that is triggering rapid expansion along exciting new paths that potentially lead to deeper connections with other disciplines. Innovation and Expansion in Translation Process Research reflects this broadening scope and reach, emphasizing ongoing methodological innovations, diversification of research topics and questions, and rich interactions with adjacent fields of research. The contributions to the volume can be grouped within four loosely defined themes: advances in traditional topics in translation process research, including problems in translation, translation competence or expertise, and specialization of translators; advances in research into the emotional or affective aspects of translating and translator training; innovations in machine translation and post-editing; expansion of cognitively-oriented translation studies to include editing processes and reception studies. This timely volume highlights the burgeoning growth, diversification, and connectivity of translation process research.
