Prediction of Translation Quality by Risk-Taking and Critical Thinking Among Translation Learners

Abstract

The main objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between Iranian translation learners’ critical thinking (CT), risk-taking (RT), and their English-to-Persian translation quality. To achieve this aim, a group of 120 male and female university students majoring in English translation (ET) were selected based on convenience sampling. Then, two questionnaires, namely CT and RT, were administered to them. Along with the questionnaires, two texts were given to all participants to translate. The quality of translations was assessed based on Farahzad’s (1992) model by two raters. After data collection and analysis, it was revealed that there was a positive and significant relationship between participants’ CT and RT and their translation quality. Moreover, further data analysis showed that RT was a better predictor of translation quality than CT. The findings of this study would be applicable to translation learners, teachers, and translation training courses.