Source First or Target First? Insight into the Order of Reading in Revision Using In-depth Interviews

Abstract

While revision procedures have been studied in some detail in the literature on revision, the question of the order of reading during bilingual revision has hardly been investigated. This article explores this issue by analysing in-depth interviews conducted in Switzerland with translators in different professional contexts. It discusses the practices described in the interviews and analyses the reasons given by the participants for choosing their method. It shows that both orders of reading are well represented in the dataset: 10 participants read the source first during the bilingual check, 9 read the target first, and only 3 alternate between both orders. No pattern was found according to sector activity or languages, but trends emerge at the level of translation departments. The justifications provided by translators appear very similar: all participants who read the source first stated they seek to better spot discrepancies in meaning, whereas participants who read the target first indicated they want to avoid interferences between the languages or better appreciate the readability or correctness of the target language.