Translation technology adoption: evidence from a postgraduate programme for student translators in China

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe ability to use translation technology is considered a key component of a translator’s translation competence. However, few studies have investigated the extent of use of translation technology, especially among student translators. This paper reports on a survey of translation technology adoption among 441 students enrolled on a Master-level Programme in Translation and Interpreting. A questionnaire was used to measure student knowledge and frequency of use for six common types of translation technology tools and resources: electronic dictionaries, search engines, online encyclopaedias, corpora, machine translation and computer-aided translation tools. The results show that there is a strong, positive correlation between student knowledge and their use of translation technology. More specifically, the second-year students generally used translation technology more frequently than the first-year students. This paper provides a baseline for future comparisons of translation technology use, which has implications for teaching translation technology in China and similar contexts elsewhere.