Training translators to use corpora hands-on: challenges and reactions by a group of thirteen students at a UK university

Abstract

The use of corpora is no longer restricted to a small community of researchers working on language description and natural language processing. Anyone with an Internet connection is now able to access corpora to help them with everyday questions about language, including questions for which dictionaries, grammars and other language resources do not always have clear answers. Translators are among those who have much to gain from using corpora, and this is widely acknowledged in the literature. Yet much of the research at the crossroads of translation and corpora seems to focus on the use of corpora in Translation Studies, and there does not seem to be enough information on the use of corpora in actual translation training and practice. In this paper, I discuss some of the challenges of training translators to use corpora and then describe how a group of thirteen students studying for an MA in Translation at the University of Surrey reacted to a hands-on module on learning to use corpora in everyday translation. The latter is based on the students’ responses to a questionnaire and on a corpus of self-reports containing authentic examples of students using corpora in translation practice.