What does Translation Memory do to translation? The effect of Translation Memory output on specific aspects of the translation process

Abstract

This article reports on a key-logging experiment carried out in order to investigate the effect that Translation Memory matches in the 70%-95% range have on particular aspects of the translation process. Operationalising the translation process as text (re)production following Englund-Dimitrova (2005), Translog-II is used to investigate whether the use of fuzzy matches in this range can reduce cognitive effort based on Working Memory Capacity and recorded pauses, to study the effect that adapting and correcting fuzzy matches in this range has on linear and non-linear writing processes, and to examine variables related to revision, time and productivity. Results show that initial reading time and self-revision is longer in the case of fuzzy match correction compared to manual translation. Data also show however that cognitive load as measured by pauses is reduced and that productivity is also increased. Significant differences are also observed in terms of text production strategies between the translators who edited the fuzzy matches and those who translated without them.

Cognitive space

“…This forms part of the growing body of evidence that translators adjust their cognitive processes to fit the constraints of the language technology instead of the converse. This has been demonstrated by many researchers with respect to the use of TM (e.g., Alves and Liparini Campos 2009;Christensen 2011;Christensen and Schjoldager 2010;Ehrensberger-Dow and Massey 2014;Elimam 2007;LeBlanc 2013;O'Brien, O'Hagan, and Flanagan 2010;Screen 2016) This irritation with the intensive human-computer interactions that characterize modern translation has parallels in the stress associated with various forms of professional interpreting that involve heavy use of technology, such as conference (e.g., Kurz 2002), remote (e.g., Roziner and Shlesinger 2010), and video relay service interpreting (e.g., Bower 2015).…”

Path Exploration of Machine Translation Post-Editing Curriculum Construction in Vocational Undergraduate Education

“…According to the definition of the Translation Automation Users Association (TAUS), MTPE is a complex language process that requires editing the original text automatically generated by a machine translation system. Screen [2] states that MTPE usually uses as few human resources as possible to achieve higher efficiency than human translation. In National Standard (GB/T 40036-2021/ISO18587, 2017) [3], MTPE is defined on basis of machine translation results, with the aim of checking the accuracy and comprehensibility of machine translation, improving the text, enhancing the readability of the text, and correcting errors.…”

Productivity and quality when editing machine translation and translation memory outputs: an empirical analysis of English to Welsh translation

“…The claim that the translation process can be rendered more efficient by this editing process can be taken to refer to the decrease in cognitive effort as well as referring to decreases in terms of processing time and concomitant increases in words per minute/hour. Relevant studies that have investigated comparative cognitive effort between translation and postediting MT, using pause metrics or eye-tracking variables, include O'Brien (2006b), Carl, Gutermuth and Hansen-Schirra (2015) and Koglin (2015) and those investigating the same psychological construct between translating and editing TM outputs include O'Brien (2007a), Mellinger (2014) and Screen (2016). All of these studies found that the editing process made translation cognitively easier for the translator as well as easier in terms of the physical processes of text production.…”