The Opportunities and the Limitations of Using the Independent Post-Editor Technology in Translation Education

Abstract

A new mechanical function known as post-editing, which helps to correct the imperfections of raw machine translation output, is introduced in the translation market. While this function is commonly used as an integral part of the machine translation, it can also be used for correcting non-translated texts on its own. The main purpose of this study is to find an answer to the question of which contributions could be made to the competences of translation students by using independent posteditors during academic translation education. A model course application and survey are conducted with the participation of students from translation studies departments. The interrater reliability is used in this study. In accordance with the results, it is found that most of the students have not known the usage of the independent post-editors during the translation process. The research provides new insights into the contributions of posteditor technology to the translation education. The findings of the research also reflect the contributions of post-editor technology to the translation quality in terms of the speed-time management, the accuracy of punctuations, abbreviations, and grammar rules. It is also determined that the post-editors contribute to the competencies of the translation students. As a result, it is suggested that the post-editors may be used as an educational material in translation education. Indeed, the results require other studies about the usage of post-editors as educational materials.