TRANSLATIONAL SELF-REPAIRS IN TRAINEE CONFERENCE INTERPRETERS:
PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM A PILOT STUDY
Joanna Mirek 1 – 31 FULL TEXT
The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Abstract
This article investigates the phenomenon of self-repairs in simultaneous interpreting trainees, which has so far received only limited attention in interpreting research. Conference interpreters were long denied the ability to correct their performance (cf. Kade, 1968; Seleskovitch, 1968; Reiß & Vermeer, 1984). However, it was not until 1975 that Gerver described the importance of self-repairs as sufficient evidence of interpreters’ monitoring for both the source text perception and target text production. In this study, a qualitative method is used in the analysis of a corpus that comprises the interpreting performance of second-year MA students of English Studies at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. The pilot study entailed recording the students’ output of two distinct speeches (interpreted from English into Polish) and analysing the transcript thereof. The results prove that trainee interpreters repair not only defects sensu stricto, but also attend to their outputs for a number of reasons (cf. Petite, 2005). The article will demonstrate both a preliminary taxonomy of translational self-repairs identified in novice interpreters and put forward significant didactic implications for interpreter training.
Keywords: simultaneous interpreting, monitoring, self-correction, self-repairs, interpreter training
STRATEGIES AND ERRORS IN SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETING: A STUDENT-ORIENTED EXPERIMENT IN ENGLISH-TURKISH LANGUAGE PAIR
Nazlıgül Bozok 32 – 75 FULL TEXT
Izmir University of Economics
Şeyda Kıncal
Dokuz Eylül University
Abstract
This paper aims to analyze and describe students’ strategies and errors in simultaneous interpreting performances in English and Turkish language pair and to explore the relationship between the effect of directionality on strategies and performance errors. A small-scale experimental study was conducted with 10 interpreting students and a control group of 4 professionals and involved triangulation of multiple sources of data. The study reveals that the student and professional participants resorted to omissions, additions, substitutions and made errors. With respect to directionality, it was observed that the students made significantly more comprehension /production omissions, delay omissions, mild phrasing changes and substantial phrasing changes while interpreting from Turkish into English compared to the opposite direction. The t-test and the self-assessments of the professional interpreters, on the other hand, indicated that interpreting direction had no effect on their strategies or errors.
Keywords: Interpreting, Simultaneous Interpreting, Strategy Use in Simultaneous Interpreting, Omissions, Additions, Substitutions, Errors, Directionality
TRANSLATOR TRAINING IN LIGHT OF BLOOM’S TAXONOMY OF LEARNING OBJECTIVES: DESIGN OF A MODULAR CURRICULUM IN THE IRANIAN CONTEXT
Saleh Sanatifar 76 – 120 FULL TEXT
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Leelany Ayob
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
In many countries, translation training is provided in the form of certificate and degree programs. Those who do not choose to pursue a degree (but are interested in translation as a source of income) enroll in certificate programs and acquire the fundamentals of translation in a rather shorter amount of time. Compared to degree programs, certificate programs have the great advantage of meeting market needs where an unlimited number of pages are waiting to be translated by a limited number of (human) translators. Iran is a country that, despite its great potential to recruit many translators, lacks such certificate programs. To fill the gap, a modular curriculum for translation training in Iran was designed. As learning and translation are intertwined cognitive processes, the researchers chose to link Bloom’s learning objectives with Chesterman’s domains of translation skill development. Finally, a modular curriculum was proposed to be tested in the context of Iran. The researchers believe that, with a few adaptations, this curriculum can be used in different contexts.
Keywords: translation, training, Bloom, curriculum, competence, Iran
MULTIMODAL HUMAN INTERACTION IN VIDEOCONFERENCE INTERPRETING
Xiaojun Zhang 121 – 148 FULL TEXT
Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Abstract
The evolution of communication technologies such as video conferencing and remote meeting has created ample opportunities for distance communication in real time and has led to alternative ways for delivering interpreting services. Videoconference interpreting, either spoken-language or sign-language interpreting, is best described as a ‘multimodal’ way to deliver interpreting remotely which has been used for simultaneous, consecutive and dialogue interpreting. This paper focuses on the technical issues of integrating multimodal information of videoconference into interpreting and multimodal human interaction in videoconference interpreting. A prototype computer-aided videoconference interpreting system, CACIS, is introduced as well.
Keywords: Videoconference interpreting (VCI), multimodal human interaction, meeting content analysis, computer-aided interpreting
EFFECTIVENESS AND ASSESSMENT OF ENGLISH PRODUCTION SKILLS THROUGH AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION
Pilar Couto-Cantero1, Mariona Sabaté-Carrové2 and Antonio Tinedo-Rodríguez3
149 – 182 FULL TEXT
1Universidade da Coruña, 2Universitat de Lleida, 3Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)
Abstract
This article is framed within a research project based in Spain aimed at studying the use of Audiovisual Translation tools to develop communicative competences for teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language. The aims of the study are to get to know to what extent the oral and written production skills of the participants improve thanks to the implementation of an Audiovisual translation-based course, and to get to know if the overall performance of the post Integrated Skills Test is better than the pre–Integrated Skills Test after the learning process. It is also aimed to prove the validity of those language assessment tests. A mixed methodology (qualitative and quantitative analysis) was used to obtain information from the participants. Research data was collected from different universities in Spain with an initial sample of 40 applicants, 8 of which finally completed the course. Data analysis shows that oral and written production skills improve thanks to the implementation of six audio description-based lesson plans completed during a pilot course offered during the summer of 2021 to volunteer adult participants with a B2 level in English language. Furthermore, the study illustrates that the results of the final tests are better than the results of the previous ones after the intervention. We discuss the results obtained in this study and conclude that they are harmonious with former studies on the topic as they validate the use of tests to improve the development of communicative skills. Although, there is a very limited number of participants in the sample, we consider this may be used as an example of a trend that will be explored in the future, as this is a pilot study included in a wider research project which is still underway.
KEYWORDS: audiovisual translation; audio description; language tests; student evaluation; second language learning; English as a foreign language; integrated skills approach.
HOW CAN EMOTION-AI HELP UNDERSTAND TRANSLATOR TRAINEES’ TECHNOLOGY LEARNING EXPERIENCES?
Yizhou Wang and Yu Hao 183 – 208 FULL TEXT
The University of Melbourne, Australia
Abstract
The present study examines the effectiveness of Sentiment Analysis, also known as Emotion-AI, in analysing translator trainees’ learning narratives regarding their experiences with translation memory systems (TMs). Students were asked to describe how they learned and whether the experience was pleasant or unpleasant. The narrative texts were then automatically analysed with Sentiment Analysis, and the emotional component was quantified into a Sentiment score which encompasses both the polarity, i.e., positive vs. negative, and the magnitude (in numerical terms) of emotion. The results showed that narratives about pleasant learning experiences had significantly higher scores than those about unpleasant ones, indicating that Sentiment Analysis can be used to identify learners’ emotions while using technology. Our findings suggest that automatic emotion detection tools can be used in combination with human judgments for data triangulation.
Keywords: Sentiment Analysis, translation memory, emotions, human-computer interaction
STRATEGIES USED IN THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS OF THE SHORT STORY “TEN RUPEES”
Tania Ali Khan 209 – 257 FULL TEXT
Minhaj University Lahore
Abstract
This study aims to find out the different translation strategies used in the translation of cultural expressions of the short story “Ten Rupees” written by Saadat Hasan Manto and translated into the English language by Matt Reeck and Aftab Ahmad in 2010. The research design of the study is qualitative and quantitative since the aim of the study is to find out the categories of cultural expressions and also to find out the translation strategies used by translators in rendering these cultural words and expressions in the target language. Therefore, the corpus of the study comprises 80 cultural expressions which were randomly selected from the entire short story. To analyze these cultural expressions, Newmark’s distribution of cultural terms and analytical framework is used. The findings of the study show that gestures and habits, which is the fifth category in Newmark’s model, is used the most throughout the text and the least used cultural category is ecology and social organization. In addition, ten different translation strategies were used by translators in rendering the source language Urdu into the target language English. Namely
transference, cultural equivalent, functional equivalent, descriptive equivalent, modulation, componential analysis, synonymy, couplets, shifts and transposition, and paraphrasing.
Keywords: translation, translation strategies, cultural expressions, Ten rupees, Newmark’s distribution
TEACHING SPECIALIZED TRANSLATION: CURRICULUM DESIGN OF AN ONLINE MASTER COURSE IN LEGAL TRANSLATION
Claudia Förster Hegrenæs, Jan Roald, Beate Sandvei, and Ingrid Simonnæs
258 – 289 FULL TEXT
NHH Norwegian School of Economics
Abstract
In times of the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of online platforms for teaching purposes accelerated, and remote learning and teaching gained ground in the field of Translation & Interpreting Studies (TIS). In this paper, we discuss the curriculum design of JurDist, a master’s course in legal translation, which has been offered as an online course for the language combinations Norwegian – English/French/German/Spanish since 2013. We describe, in detail, today’s curriculum and discuss modifications to the teaching, implemented in the spring semester of 2021. The modifications aim at improving the students’ performance in accordance with current research in translation theory (i.e., translation competence development) and in line with current approaches to learning and teaching (e.g., taxonomies describing different levels and kinds of understanding). Consequently, the curriculum design and the modified approach to teaching aim at enhancing the students’ professional skills in the field of legal translation. Although this teaching approach is applicable to both online teaching and the physical classroom, we describe its implementation in an online teaching environment only. Online teaching in all its facets has come to stay, also within TIS. We contribute to this development with our experience in teaching specialized translation online since 2013, which predates the recent pandemic.
Keywords: knowledge in the legal domain, legal genres, translation strategies, cultural awareness, linguistic competence, translation didactics
THE USE OF SUBTITLING IN GENERAL TRANSLATION COURSES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF SUBTITLING ACTIVITIES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS' TRANSLATION COMPETENCE
Sonia González Cruz 290 – 336 FULL TEXT
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Abstract
Several academics have focused their research on analyzing the educational benefits of including specific subtitling modules within translator training aiming at training professional subtitlers (Blane, 1996; Klerkx, 1998; Williams & Thorne, 2000; Díaz-Cintas, 2001; Neves, 2004; Bartoll & Orero, 2008; Díaz-Cintas, 2008; Kruger, 2008; Bartrina, 2009). Although some of these authors (Klerkx, 1998; Neves, 2004; Kruger, 2008) pointed out the impact that subtitling has on the acquisition and development of general translation skills and argued in favor of its inclusion in general translation courses, there are still few studies dedicated to analyzing the use of active subtitling in non-audiovisual translation courses. Only three relevant qualitative studies (Kiraly, 2005; Incalcaterra 2009, 2010; Beseghi, 2018), a quasi-experimental study (Talaván & Ávila-Cabrera, 2015) and a didactic proposal (Orozco, 2009) that address the use of active interlinguistic subtitling in the field of translator training are registered. Along this line of research, this article presents an empirical experimental study based on the application of subtitling skills in general translation courses which is carried out in the context of translator training at BA level.
Keywords: active subtitling, translator training, translation competence, general translation.
MULTIMODALITIES IN DIDACTIC AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION: A TEACHERS´ PERSPECTIVE
Alicia Sánchez-Requena 337 – 374 FULL TEXT
Sheffield Hallam University
Paula Igareda
Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya
María Bobadilla-Pérez
Universidade da Coruña
Abstract
In the last two decades, the use of audiovisual translation (AVT) in the foreign language classroom has been consolidated as an extremely useful tool for improving communication, mediation, intercultural and ICT skills. Research has shown that it is highly motivating for students (Lertola & Talaván, 2020; Talaván, 2019). However, previous studies on teachers’ perceptions of the validity of didactic AVT (Alonso-Pérez & Sánchez-Requena, 2018; Sokoli et al., 2011) highlighted areas in need of improvement in the field. With this in mind, the article explores the integration of five AVT modalities (subtitling, voiceover, dubbing, audio description and subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing) in one autonomous learning sequence of 15 lesson plans, as designed by members of the research project TRADILEX, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. This paper analyses the results of a questionnaire completed by teachers (N=30) who supervised the implementation of this learning sequence in B1 and B2 proficiency level courses from higher education language centres.
The main aim of this article is to determine to what extent this new approach addresses the weaknesses observed by teachers in previous studies. The analysis of the gathered data led to conclude that teacher training in didactic AVT significantly improves the implementation of the methodology. Besides that, the comprehensive approach of the TRADILEX sequence, including the five AVT modalities, allowed teachers to identity which modality is better suited for their teaching practice. On the other hand, high dependence on technology and motivation were two of the main concerns shown by teachers which require further research.
Keywords: didactic audiovisual translation, foreign language education, teachers’ perspectives, TRADILEX project
OUTLINE OF A DIDACTIC FRAMEWORK FOR COMBINED DATA LITERACY AND MACHINE TRANSLATION LITERACY TEACHING
Ralph Krüger 375 – 432 FULL TEXT
Janiça Hackenbuchner
TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences
Abstract
This paper outlines a didactic framework for combined data literacy and machine translation (MT) literacy teaching for translation and specialised communication students. The framework is being developed in the context of the DataLitMT project, a publicly funded project at the Institute of Translation and Multilingual Communication at TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences, Germany, which develops didactic resources for teaching data literacy in its translation-specific form of MT literacy to students of BA and MA programmes in translation and specialised communication studies. After discussing the high relevance of machine trans-lation literacy and data literacy in professional translation contexts, the paper introduces the DataLitMT project and discusses a framework of professional MT literacy and an MT-oriented data literacy framework, which form the two theoretical pillars of the project. Also, the interface between MT literacy and data literacy will be illustrated by showing how specific (sub)dimensions of data literacy can be mapped to relevant (sub)dimensions of professional MT literacy. Finally, the paper presents some preliminary didactic resources of the DataLitMT project – concerned with social biases in MT, with MT training data preparation and with automatic MT quality evaluation – and discusses how these resources can be used to teach specific (sub)dimensions of data literacy and professional MT literacy to students in the fields of translation/specialised communication studies.
Keywords: data literacy, professional machine translation literacy, neural machine translation, translation didactics, DataLitMT