Translation Method Research Articles

Translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of Numerical Pain Rating Scale and Global Rating of Change in Tibetan musculoskeletal trauma patients

Tibetan-speaking patients seeking care in predominantly Mandarin-speaking healthcare settings frequently face communication barriers, leading to potential disparities and difficulties in accessing care. To address this issue, we translated, culturally adapted, and validated the Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) and the Global Rating of Change (GRoC) into Tibetan (NPRS-Tib and GRoC-Tib), aiming to facilitate cross-linguistic and cross-cultural interactions while examining potential challenges in the adaptation process. Using standard translation-backward translation methods, expert review, pilot testing, and validation through a cross-sectional study with a short-term longitudinal component, we engaged 100 Tibetan patients with musculoskeletal trauma for psychometric validation, including 37 women (aged 22–60 years, mean age 39.1 years). The NPRS-Tib and GRoC-Tib exhibited outstanding psychometric properties, with an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) of 0.983 for NPRS-Tib indicating superb test–retest reliability, and expert review confirming good content validity for both instruments. A Spearman's correlation coefficient (Rho) of -0.261 (P = 0.0087) revealed a significant, albeit weak, correlation between changes in NPRS-Tib scores and GRoC-Tib scores. The adaptation process also presented notable challenges, including translation discrepancies from translators' diverse backgrounds and levels of expertise, ambiguity in scale options, and the lack of established tools for criterion validity assessment in Tibetan.

A Study on Chinese-English Translation of Culture-Loaded Words in Shanghais Intangible Cultural Heritage under the Theory of Functional Equivalence

In todays era of rapid globalization, effective cross-cultural communication and precise translation work are more vital than ever. Cultural-loaded words, which carry the nuanced meaning to particular cultures, stand at the forefront of this cultural exchange. Shanghai is an international metropolis renowned for its abundant and diverse intangible cultural heritage. Given this rich tapestry of cultural treasures, the demand for an accurate and good translation is imperative. Ensuring that the essence of Shanghai's cultural heritage is accurately preserved and communicated across linguistic boundaries is therefore a crucial task in todays interconnected world. This paper delves into the challenges and strategies involved in translating the cultural-loaded words from Chinese into English within the context of Shanghais intangible cultural heritage. Taking the Functional Equivalence Theory as the theoretical framework, various translation methods including literal translation, transliteration, and free translation are examined in this research, emphasizing their effectiveness in preserving cultural meanings. Practical applications and challenges in translating terms with culturally nuanced terms are demonstrated by analyzing the case studies from the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage. This research not only highlights the significance of balancing cultural context and intelligibility in between source language (SL) and target language (TL), but also demonstrates the role of Functional Equivalence Theory as a vital tool for facilitating cultural exchange. In conclusion, the paper provides valuable insights into the complexities of translating cultural-loaded words and presents approaches for translating cultural-loaded words in Shanghais intangible cultural heritage.

Explicitation of Conjunctions in Two English Translations of Luoyang Jialan Ji

The translation of Chinese classics is vital to promoting Chinese culture, gaining increasing attention from the academic community in recent years. This study selected Luoyang Jialan Ji, a representative of Chinese classics, as the research data. The study examines conjunctions in different texts by constructing comparable and parallel corpora of the source text and two English translations. The findings indicate that the frequency of conjunctions in the two English versions is higher than that in the Chinese version, which proves a tendency of explicitation in the translation process from Chinese to English. Notably, there are some differences between the two English versions in the use of conjunctions, especially conditional and causal conjunctions, which reveals the different styles of translators. Furthermore, the paper summarizes translation methods of conjunctions, offering insights into the translation practice of Chinese classics.

Neural style transfer of weak lensing mass maps

We propose a new generative model of projected cosmic mass density maps inferred from weak gravitational lensing observations of distant galaxies (weak lensing mass maps). We construct the model based on a neural style transfer so that it can transform Gaussian weak lensing mass maps into deeply non-Gaussian counterparts as predicted in ray-tracing lensing simulations. We develop an unpaired image-to-image translation method with Cycle-Consistent Generative Adversarial Networks (Cycle GAN), which learn efficient mapping from an input domain to a target domain. Our model is designed to enjoy important advantages; it is trainable with no need for paired simulation data, flexible to make the input domain visually meaningful, and expandable to rapidly-produce a map with a larger sky coverage than training data without additional learning. Using 10,000 lensing simulations, we find that appropriate labeling of training data based on field variance allows the model to reproduce a correct scatter in summary statistics for weak lensing mass maps. Compared with a popular log-normal model, our model improves in predicting the statistical natures of three-point correlations and local properties of rare high-density regions. We also demonstrate that our model enables us to produce a continuous map with a sky coverage of ∼166deg2 but similar non-Gaussian features to training data covering ∼12deg2 in a GPU minute. Hence, our model can be beneficial to massive productions of synthetic weak lensing mass maps, which is of great importance in future precise real-world analyses.

Lättfärdiga måltexter

Light or easily made target texts. The methods of Swedish schlager translationSchlager was used as a term for songs on the Swedish popular music market from the 1920s and on. Coincidentally, song translation practices developed that varied rather seamlessly between liberty and fidelity. Nevertheless, based on an extensive corpus of Swedish target song lyrics, released 1916–2011, I identify and name six roughly distinguishable text methods: near-enough translation, perspective-shift translation, hook transposition, single-phrase spinoff, phonetic calque, and all-new target song lyrics. Examining the chronological distribution of the variation, most exploration of the experimental middle ground was found in the 1960s and 1970s. One decisive factor may be increased tailoring of lyrics for specific performers or venues. From the 1980s and on, changing circumstances seem to have made imported music released with Swedish lyrics less prevalent on the market, but widely variable song translation methods continue to be practiced in later decades too.

Compilation of Dictionaries and Scientific and Technological Translations by Western Protestant Missionaries in China in the Nineteenth Century

The 19th century saw the important transformation of modern Western concepts into Chinese lexical resources. The missionaries were the initiators and important driving force for the translation of Western books into Chinese in modern China. They promoted ‘translating terms’ and ‘coining terms’ in their translations of Western books and the compilation of dictionaries with the cooperation of Chinese intellectuals. Their work provided a tangible ‘word’ carrier of ‘concepts’ for disseminating modern knowledge from the West to the East. Compiled by missionaries, the English–Chinese bilingual dictionaries introduced a brand-new concept of dictionary compilation and changed China’s history of having zidian (字典, character dictionaries) but no cidian (辞典, specialized dictionaries). In particular, John Fryer applied the translation method of creating new words or characters in the translation of chemical terminology. Members of the School and Textbook Series Committee, including John Fryer and Calvin Wilson Mateer, made great contributions to theories and strategies for translation, which keep inspiring Chinese–English translation of terminology and its theoretical construction.

Специфика перевода немецкого субстантивированного инфинитива на русский язык (на материале немецко-русского корпуса параллельных текстов Национального корпуса русского языка)

The purpose of this research is to identify the peculiarities of translating German nominalized infinitives into Russian based on the Russian National Corpus parallel texts German-Russian corpus. The scientific novelty of this work is that for the first time it analyses the translation of German nominalized infinitives into Russian based on material that is not limited to the translation of works by individual authors, but includes contexts from texts of different functional styles (fiction, publicistic and scientific) and their translations by a number of professional translators. The article examines in detail the possibilities of translating into Russian both fixed and occasional single-component German nominalized infinitives formed from high-frequency verbs based on diverse linguistic material; it also analyses the grammatical and lexical-semantic transformations used in translation. The research reveals the specifics of translating German nominalized infinitives into Russian: it identifies the most and least frequent translation methods and presents the quantitative ratio of transformations performed during translation.

Mask-aware transformer with structure invariant loss for CT translation

Multi-phase enhanced computed tomography (MPECT) translation from plain CT can help doctors to detect the liver lesion and prevent patients from the allergy during MPECT examination. Existing CT translation methods directly learn an end-to-end mapping from plain CT to MPECT, ignoring the crucial clinical domain knowledge. As clinicians subtract the plain CT from MPECT images as subtraction image to highlight the contrast-enhanced regions and further to facilitate liver disease diagnosis in the clinical diagnosis, we aim to exploit this domain knowledge for automatic CT translation. To this end, we propose a Mask-Aware Transformer (MAFormer) with structure invariant loss for CT translation, which presents the first effort to exploit this domain knowledge for CT translation. Specifically, the proposed MAFormer introduces a mask estimator to predict the subtraction image from the plain CT image. To integrate the subtraction image into the network, the MAFormer devises a Mask-Aware Transformer based Normalization (MATNorm) as normalization layer to highlight the contrast-enhanced regions and capture the long-range dependencies among these regions. Moreover, aiming to preserve the biological structure of CT slices, a structure invariant loss is designed to extract the structural information and minimize the structural similarity between the plain and synthetic CT images to ensure the structure invariant. Extensive experiments have proven the effectiveness of the proposed method and its superiority to the state-of-the-art CT translation methods. Source code is to be released.

Expanding the defect image dataset of composite material coating with enhanced image-to-image translation

In the defect detection based on machine vision, the limited datasets have consistently impeded the efficacy of deep learning in defect identification. Restricted datasets lead to inadequate model generalization and reduced detection accuracy. Creating simulated images is one proposed solution to address this challenge. However, existing defect image generation methods have limitations in diversity and realism. An enhanced Image-to-image translation method, named E-Pix2Pix, is proposed for enhancing defect image datasets of composite material coating on solid motors to expand the current dataset and enhance the precision of classification models. This method not only improves the quality of generated images, but also has strong generalization ability. This study examines how different convolution kernel sizes and the coefficient of the L1 loss function affect the generation performance. The results of the experiments show that the defect images generated by E-Pix2Pix have realistic visual effects and better capture the essential features of defects. The structure similarity index measurement (SSIM) value reaches approximately 0.9 under appropriate parameters. Moreover, this study intends to investigate how the content of generated images impacts the classification model. By doubling the dataset size using the generated images, the accuracy of ResNet50 model recognition can be improved by 7%. The accuracy of ResNet101 model recognition can be improved by 5% when the dataset is expanded to 1.5 times. The generated images have harmful effects on the weaker models. Our method has also been validated on two public datasets, and satisfactory results have been obtained.

Paraphrasing impact on narrative unity in Disney's theme songs

Walt Disney is a distinguished company who has spread its well-known works of children’s series to various countries. In the process of distributing the series to numerous countries, indeed there is a translation process that must be done first. In this study, into Indonesian. The researchers limited only the paraphrasing translation method used and the effect of this method on the series' theme songs' narrative unity. In this article, the researchers tried to convey the translating way in the series to make it acceptable by the audience and its main goal to maintain the storyline contained in the lyrics. The theories by Dinda Gorlée and John Christman delves into the subject of the impact of paraphrasing techniques and narrative unity in the theme song translation of Disney's children animated series. The researchers emphasized the importance of translating the theme song correctly to ensure that children can understand and enjoy the series. . This study is descriptive and qualitative in design and the results of the analysis showed that the pattern of paraphrasing techniques used in translating the theme song had significant impacts on the narrative unity of the series.

A Chinese Version of the Aesthetics Scale: Cultural Adaptation and Psychological Measurement

The Aesthetics Scale is one of the most commonly used aesthetics evaluation scale in HCI. In this study, a Chinese version of the Aesthetics Scale (C-AS) was translated and validated using the forward–backward translation method. The C-AS passed the content validity and face validity tests. We then recruited 310 Chinese users and tested the psychological properties of the C-AS using the China Railway Customer Service Center ticketing platform as the test material. The experimental results showed that the C-AS has high reliability, validity, and sensitivity. Following rigorous testing, the results of this work may provide Chinese UX practitioners with a standardized aesthetics scale that researchers and practitioners can use with confidence.

Delving into the translator identity from a translingualism perspective

Abstract The theory of translingualism has been well constructed in sociolinguistics, yet it has not been applied fully to the study of literary translation and translator identity. This paper attempts to analyze the English version of Mayra Montero’s Spanish novel In the Palm of Darkness (1997) within the framework of translingualism. Through the analysis of code-meshing and code-switching events, this article focuses on the identity construction of Edith Grossman, the English translator of the novel In the Palm of Darkness. The occurrence of translingualism is attributed to the complex dynamics of ethnic identity. Through co-participating in the construction process of Montero’s identity in different scenarios, namely resistance, transformation, and inclusiveness, translingualism helps to solve problems of translation methods on a micro scale, translator identity on a meso scale, and the approach of native culture ‘going global’ on a macro scale.

Multilingual Neural Machine Translation for Indic to Indic Languages

The method of translation from one language to another without human intervention is known as Machine Translation (MT). Multilingual neural machine translation (MNMT) is a technique for MT that builds a single model for multiple languages. It is preferred over other approaches, since it decreases training time and improves translation in low-resource contexts, i.e., for languages that have insufficient corpus. However, good-quality MT models are yet to be built for many scenarios such as for Indic-to-Indic Languages (IL-IL). Hence, this article is an attempt to address and develop the baseline models for low-resource languages i.e., IL-IL (for 11 Indic Languages (ILs)) in a multilingual environment. The models are built on the Samanantar corpus and analyzed on the Flores-200 corpus. All the models are evaluated using standard evaluation metrics i.e., Bilingual Evaluation Understudy (BLEU) score (with the range of 0 to 100). This article examines the effect of the grouping of related languages, namely, East Indo-Aryan (EI), Dravidian (DR), and West Indo-Aryan (WI) on the MNMT model. From the experiments, the results reveal that related language grouping is beneficial for the WI group only while it is detrimental for the EI group and it shows an inconclusive effect on the DR group. The role of pivot-based MNMT models in enhancing translation quality is also investigated in this article. Owing to the presence of large good-quality corpora from English (EN) to ILs, MNMT IL-IL models using EN as a pivot are built and examined. To achieve this, English-Indic Language (EN-IL) models are developed with and without the usage of related languages. Results show that the use of related language grouping is advantageous specifically for EN to ILs. Thus, related language groups are used for the development of pivot MNMT models. It is also observed that the usage of pivot models greatly improves MNMT baselines. Furthermore, the effect of transliteration on ILs is also analyzed in this article. To explore transliteration, the best MNMT models from the previous approaches (in most of cases pivot model using related groups) are determined and built on corpus transliterated from the corresponding scripts to a modified Indian language Transliteration script (ITRANS). The outcome of the experiments indicates that transliteration helps the models built for lexically rich languages, with the best increment of BLEU scores observed in Malayalam (ML) and Tamil (TA), i.e., 6.74 and 4.72, respectively. The BLEU score using transliteration models ranges from 7.03 to 24.29. The best model obtained is the Punjabi (PA)-Hindi (HI) language pair trained on PA-WI transliterated corpus.

SWIGH-SCORE: A translational light-weight approach in computational detection of rearranged immunoglobulin heavy chain to be used in monoclonal lymphoproliferative disorders

We present a lightweight tool for clonotyping and measurable residual disease (MRD) assessment in monoclonal lymphoproliferative disorders. It is a translational method that enables computational detection of rearranged immunoglobulin heavy chain gene sequences.•The swigh-score clonotyping tool emphasizes parallelization and applicability across sequencing platforms.•The algorithm is based on an adaptation of the Smith-Waterman algorithm for local alignment of reads generated by 2nd and 3rd generation of sequencers.For method validation, we demonstrate the targeted sequences of immunoglobulin heavy chain genes from diagnostic bone marrow using serial dilutions of CD138+ plasma cells from a patient with multiple myeloma. Sequencing libraries from diagnostic samples were prepared for the three sequencing platforms, Ion S5 (Thermo Fisher Scientific), MiSeq (Illumina), and MinION (Oxford Nanopore), using the LymphoTrack assay. Basic quality filtering was performed, and a Smith-Waterman-based swigh-score algorithm was developed in shell and C for clonotyping and MRD assessment using FASTQ data files. Performance is demonstrated across the three different sequencing platforms.

Hindi translation and cultural adaptation of the quality of recovery score-40 (QoR-40 score): A validation study.

The quality of recovery (QoR)-40 score has been used worldwide and validated in many surgical cohorts to assess global patient recovery. We aim to translate and culturally adapt the QoR-40 score into Hindi and test the validity and reliability of the translated version in patients undergoing cancer surgery. The translation of the QoR-40 questionnaire was based on the forward and backward translation methods. Patients filled out the translated version of the QoR-40 preoperatively, on the third postoperative day in the morning (POD3) and the evening. The reliability of the translated questionnaire was checked for internal consistency, test-retest reliability and split-half reliability. Construct validity was assessed with a correlation coefficient value between the total QoR-40 score, visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain and total length of hospital stay. Content validity was evaluated for feasibility and understanding. The questionnaire was completed by 350 patients. The correlation coefficient r for repeatability was 0.21, the split-half test was 0.92, and Cronbach's alpha was 0.82. The correlation between QoR-40 on POD3 with VAS score and length of stay was -0.35 and -0.67, respectively. The average time to complete the questionnaire was 3.8 minutes; 90% of the respondents found the translated questionnaire easy to understand, and 92% of the patients related the questions to their recovery. The Hindi translation of the QoR-40 questionnaire is a valid and reliable version of the original questionnaire in English to assess the QoR in Hindi-speaking patients after cancer surgery.

Traditional Vs Modern English Language Teaching Methods: Study Based on a Survey

The study compares traditional and modern English language teaching methods and examines the prevalence and adoption of these methods by English language teachers. The sample consists of 100 English language teachers. The researchers use OLS regression, binary logistic regression and structural equation modelling to establish an association between adopting a particular language teaching method and the characteristics of the language teachers. Results indicate that experienced teachers prefer the social learning method, while less experienced teachers advocate the bilingual, experiential, and listening and observation methods. There are gender differences in accepting these language teaching methods. Female language teachers show an inclination towards the listening and observation method, whereas male teachers ardently favour the bilingual and experiential methods. Regression analysis reveals a higher probability of adoption of bilingual translation methods by non-English educational background teachers. Experienced teachers adopt the Social Learning Method, while less experienced teachers prefer experiential learning and bilingual translation methods more. Results of the path analysis using structural equation modelling indicate that the gender of the teachers mediates their educational background in the adoption of the particular language teaching method.

Translatability of Arabic Cultural References to English: A Case Study of The Queue Novel

Cultural references are phrases and words embedded within a source text that refer to entities, persons, or even ideas that are not present in the target language and culture or are significantly different in terms of sociocultural equivalents. Translating cultural references into a language where translated texts are interpreted through the prism of cultural norms presents a substantial challenge. The objective of this study is to investigate the translatability of cultural references in Arabic literary texts; it describes the presence of textual and matricial operational norms portrayed in the translator’s translation procedures and shifts. The analysis focuses on one Arabic novel, Basma Abdel Aziz’s The Queue, and follows Toury’s (2012) theory on translation norms. After a comprehensive examination of "The Queue," data were methodically underscored, classified, and analysed. The findings emphasize the translator's key role in addressing cultural disparities between Arabic and English societies through selected translation methods, ensuring adherence to the target language's norms despite significant linguistic and cultural gaps. According to this study, the acceptability of the target text is enhanced not only because of cultural requirements but also because of language norms, which prevail over translation choices that can be applied by the translator.

Translation and Evaluation of Psychometric Properties of the Persian 8-Item Internalized Transphobia (IT) Scale in Iranian Transgenders.

Internalized transphobia (IT) is influenced by societal norms and expectations, and it can have significant negative effects on the well-being and mental health of transgender individuals. The aim of this study was to translate and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian 8-item IT scale among Iranian transgender individuals in order to enhance the quality and quantity of research in this field. This cross-sectional and methodological study utilized convenience sampling to recruit 119 transgender individuals in Mashhad, the second most populous city in Iran, in 2021. The Persian translation of the IT scale was developed using the backward-forward translation method. Subsequently, various types of validity and reliability were assessed, including content validity using the content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR), face validity based on the impact score, construct validity through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), internal consistency measured by Cronbach's alpha, and test-retest stability analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The CVR ranged from 0.600 to 1, the CVI ranged from 0.800 to 1, and the impact score exceeded 1.5, indicating the appropriate content and face validity of the 8-item IT scale. The construct validity analysis revealed that the questionnaire is one-dimensional. The internal consistency, as measured by Cronbach's alpha, was 0.917, and the ICC for test-retest stability was 0.871. The Persian version of the IT scale demonstrated high and acceptable psychometric properties. The brevity of this scale facilitates its dissemination and utilization in clinical settings.

On Translation Strategies and Methods of Foshan Woodcut New Year Pictures in Cross-cultural Communication

The cultural connotations of Foshan woodcut New Year pictures are rich, which are roughly reflected in the aspects of praying for good luck, warding off evil, worshipping gods, moral education, religious belief, folk customs, and so on. In cross-cultural communication, the following strategies can be used to deal with the cultural connotations in the translation of Foshan woodcut New Year pictures: preserving the cultural identity of the folk culture, following the principle of seeking common ground while reserving differences, and grasping the scale of wording. At the same time, the following specific translation methods can be adopted: combination of transliteration and free translation, transliteration with annotations, amplification method, and borrowing words translation.

TPMS2STEP: Error-Controlled and [formula omitted] Continuity-Preserving Translation of TPMS Models to STEP Files Based on Constrained-PIA

Triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) is emerging as an important way of designing microstructures. However, there has been limited use of commercial CAD/CAM/CAE software packages for TPMS design and manufacturing. This is mainly because TPMS is consistently described in the functional representation (F-rep) format, while modern CAD/CAM/CAE tools are built upon the boundary representation (B-rep) format. One possible solution to this gap is translating TPMS to STEP, which is the standard data exchange format of CAD/CAM/CAE. Following this direction, this paper proposes a new translation method with error-controlling and C2 continuity-preserving features. It is based on an approximation error-driven TPMS sampling algorithm and a constrained-PIA algorithm. The sampling algorithm controls the deviation between the original and translated models. With it, an error bound of 2ϵ on the deviation can be ensured if two conditions called ϵ-density and ϵ-approximation are satisfied. The constrained-PIA algorithm enforces C2 continuity constraints during TPMS approximation, and meanwhile attaining high efficiency. A theoretical convergence proof of this algorithm is also given. The effectiveness of the translation method has been demonstrated by a series of examples and comparisons. The code will be open-sourced upon publication.