Professional Translators Research Articles

Large language models "ad referendum": How good are they at machine translation in the legal domain?

This study evaluates the machine translation (MT) quality of two state-of-the-art large language models (LLMs) against a traditional neural machine translation (NMT) system across four language pairs in the legal domain. It combines automatic evaluation metrics (AEMs) and human evaluation (HE) by professional translators to assess translation ranking, fluency and adequacy. The results indicate that while Google Translate generally outperforms LLMs in AEMs, human evaluators rate LLMs, especially GPT-4, comparably or slightly better in terms of producing contextually adequate and fluent translations. This discrepancy suggests LLMs' potential in handling specialized legal terminology and context, highlighting the importance of human evaluation methods in assessing MT quality. The study underscores the evolving capabilities of LLMs in specialized domains and calls for reevaluation of traditional AEMs to better capture the nuances of LLM-generated translations.

Google and Legal Translation: The Case Study of Contracts

In recent years, the need for Machine Translation (MT) has grown, especially for translating legal contracts between languages like Arabic and English. This study primarily investigates whether Google Translator can adequately replace human translation for legal documents. Utilizing a widely popular free web-based tool, Google Translate, the research method involved translating six segments from various legal contracts into Arabic and assessing the translations for lexical and syntactic accuracy. The findings show that although Google Translate can quickly produce English-Arabic translations, it falls short compared to professional translators, especially with complex legal terms and syntax. Errors can be categorized into: polysemy, homonymy, legal doublets, and adverbs at the linguistic level, and morphological parsing, concord, and modality at the syntactic level. The study concludes with recommendations for enhancing machine translation systems and suggests caution in using Google Translate for legal purposes, advocating for continued reliance on human expertise in legal settings.

German language adaptation of the Cogniphobia Scale for Headache Disorders (CS-HD) and development of a new short form (CS-HD-6).

This study is part of the ODIN-migraine (Optimization of Diagnostic Instruments in migraine) project. It is a secondary, a priori analysis of previously collected data, and aimed to assess the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Cogniphobia Scale for Headache Disorders (CS-HD). We aimed to construct a German-language version and a short version. Cogniphobia is the fear and avoidance of cognitive exertion, which the patient believes triggers or exacerbates headache. High cogniphobia may worsen the course of a headache disorder. The 15-item CS-HD was translated into German and back translated in a masked form by a professional translator. Modifications were discussed and carried out in an expert panel. A cross-sectional online survey including the CS-HD and further self-report questionnaires was conducted in a sample of N = 387 persons with migraine (364/387 [94.1%] female, M = 41.0 [SD = 13.0] years, migraine without aura: 152/387 [39.3%], migraine with aura: 85/387 [22.0%], and chronic migraine: 150/387 [38.8%]). Exploratory factor analysis resulted in two clearly interpretable factors (interictal and ictal cogniphobia). Confirmatory factor analysis yielded an acceptable to good model fit (χ2(89) = 117.87, p = 0.022, χ2/df = 1.32, RMSEA = 0.029, SRMR = 0.055, CFI = 0.996, TLI = 0.995). Item response theory-based analysis resulted in the selection of six items for the short form (CS-HD-6). Reliability was acceptable to excellent (interictal cogniphobia subscale: ω = 0.92 [CS-HD] or ω = 0.77 [CS-HD-6]; ictal cogniphobia subscale: ω = 0.77 [CS-HD] or ω = 0.73 [CS-HD-6]). The pattern of correlations with established questionnaires confirmed convergent validity of both the CS-HD and the CS-HD-6. Both the CS-HD and the CS-HD-6 have good psychometric properties and are suitable for the assessment of cogniphobia in migraine.

Analyzing the Reasons for Pinduoduo s Stock Market Rise

Due to global consumption trends, people prefer to buy items with lower prices and greater cost-effectiveness. Pinduoduo focuses on sinking the market and takes low prices as its company philosophy. The purpose of this research was to explore how Pinduoduo surpassed Alibaba in U.S. stock market capitalization. Temu, a foreign cross-border e-commerce platform that Pinduoduo launched, will serve as the case study for a thorough analysis. Pinduoduo' s stock market information, Temu downloads, product sales, and other data will be used for analysis and observation. The analysis shows that Temu' s advertising investment in promotion, product discounts, and after-sales services for products has caused Pinduoduo' s stock market to rise. For Pinduoduo to maintain and continue its stock market rise in the future, the suggestions given are to continue advertising, reduce product discounts and promotions to increase Temu' s net profit, and set up 24-hour customer service and professional translation to provide more complete after-sales services.

Pragmatic Equivalence in the Translation of Cultural References from Uzbek into English

The problem of translating cultural references has been one of the most critical aspects of translation studies in recent years. Due to the complexity and diversity of nations, several issues including cognitive dissonance, misinterpretation of customs and traditions, loss of national color, and omission of national connotations can arise during the translation process. Representation of pragmatic features in the context aids in keeping the core meaning of cultural references in translation. This article highlights possibilities of pragmatic equivalence in translating culture-specific words from Uzbek to English based on a case study of two novels. Furthermore, a new model of implementing pragmatic equivalence has been proposed to cover the cultural gap between the addresser (translator) and the addressee (reader). This model is created based on the theory of equivalence by Baker (2006) and the theory of conversational implicatures by Grice (1989). The obtained results may serve to train professional translators and to increase the quality of translations from Turkic languages into English

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.

“Stumbling blocks” in the translation of technical documentation

The objective of this study is to clarify the notion of “technical documentation” and explore the challenges and strategies involved in translating this type of text. Technical documentation is crucial in helping customers understand how to use the product effectively that is why it should be well-structured, allowing users to find the information they need quickly and easily. Examples of technical writing include technical manuals, operating instructions, scientific books, monographs, academic papers and articles, and patent translations. However, several obstacles can impede the translation process, potentially resulting in inaccuracies or misunderstandings. Common translation difficulties include untranslatable words, multiple-word meanings, differences in grammatical and syntactic systems, technical and specialized terminology, and “false friends.” The process of translation of such texts is intricate, involving the transfer of information from one language to another while considering cultural, linguistic, and contextual factors. While translating technical texts, the translator may encounter various obstacles, such as linguistic challenges, source text issues, expertise gaps, and realia. Improving the effectiveness of translating technical documentation involves a combination of best translation practices. Effective communication and collaborative efforts are crucial elements for project success. It is also important for professional translators to be vigilant and use the right resources to avoid common pitfalls and deliver high-quality. By combining these strategies, you can enhance the efficiency and accuracy of translating technical documentation, ensuring that the information is effectively communicated to a global audience.

Construction and Application of the Translation Teaching Model for MTI from the Perspective of Digital Humanities

With the deep integration of science and technology and humanities, great changes have taken place in the ways that human beings contact and learn. Digital humanities are an interdisciplinary and extended field, dealing with digital versions of knowledge products and helping to enhance and transform humanities and social science research. With the principles of practice-driven, process-oriented, cooperation-supported, and interaction-enhanced, the translation practical training and teaching platform has been developed. A translation-project-centered translation teaching model for MTI has been established with the Project-Based Learning theory based on the translation practical training and teaching platform. Students-centered and translation-projects-based, the processes of homework, including selecting, assigning, completing, correcting, and feedback, are well-organized in and out of class in this teaching model, which facilitates the transition of students from passive receivers to active constructors. The aim is to comprehensively improve students’ competence in translation and provide favorable conditions for cultivating professional translators with expertise. Effect test has been down and the result presents that there is a great improvement for students with the operation of the translation-project-centered translation teaching model, and both teachers and students have positive evaluation for it.

Examining the Cultural Connotations in Human and Machine Translations: A Corpus Study of Naguib Mahfouz's Zuqāq al-Midaqq

The translation of culture-specific terms constitutes a major challenge for professional translators as it necessitates a thorough understanding of both the linguistic and cultural elements. With rapid technological advancement over the past few years, machine translation has enhanced translation quality. This study investigates the transability of cultural connotations in the Arabic-English translation of Naguib Mahfouz’s Zuqāq al-Midaqq. A descriptive qualitative research design was adopted to achieve the intended goals of the study. The data comprised human and machine translations from Google Translate and ChatGPT. Through qualitative content analysis, the translations were compared for accuracy in transferring the cultural connotations prevalent in the Arabic source text. The findings revealed that the human translation showed greater naturalness and accuracy in rendering cultural connotations. Machine translation has struggled with rhetorical devices, idioms, and cultural nuances. The results also indicated that the AI-enhanced machine represented by ChatGPT captured the cultural elements more effectively than Google Translate. The study concluded that human expertise remains essential for the high-quality translation of literary works to maintain cultural significance. The findings can inform translator training and guide improvements to AI-enhanced translation for literary texts.

Volunteer translators in non-governmental organizations: exploring their identity and power through discourse analysis

The need for immediate communication in a world characterized by an ever-increasing flow of information has led to a rapid increase in volunteer translation in recent decades. While previous studies have focused on aspects such as volunteer translators’ motivation and the attendant ethical issues of voluntary translation, comparatively little research has explored the phenomenon from a discursive perspective. The research reported in this article explored the discursive construction of the volunteer translator in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in Spain using critical discourse analysis. Drawn from analysis of 25 semi-structured individual interviews with volunteer translators in five different NGOs, the findings reveal that volunteer translators are seen either as an agent and actor of social change who facilitates communication and possesses a strong sense of identity and social status, or as someone who is interfering in a sector traditionally limited to professional translators and who consequently has a weaker sense of identity and social status. This suggests that the role of the volunteer translator currently lacks definition, and that further research is needed to better understand the relationship between volunteer and professional translators in the 21st century.

Translation Equivalence Degrees among Indonesian EFL Undergraduate Students

PurposeThe way to produce an equivalent translation text appears hard that every translation work should engage with diverse language and cultural systems. The issues are expected to affect both translation students and professional translators. Therefore, this current work aims to discover in-depth information about translation equivalence degrees among Indonesian EFL undergraduate students.MethodThis study employed qualitative content analysis. The research data included documentation of the translation texts from English into the Indonesian language, which resulted in 22 students majoring in English education at a public university in Banten Province, Indonesia. The source language texts were derived from the news-item texts published in national newspapers. The data analysis procedure comprised comparing the two texts, classifying, discussing, drawing conclusions, and making interpretations. Results/findingsThe study of the translation texts revealed that 11 texts (50%) referred to near-optimal translation, six texts (27%) to partial translation, and five texts (23%) to poor translation.ConclusionGiven that none of the students' translation outputs achieved the optimal equivalency; this conclusion suggests that students' translation knowledge and skills still need to be improved by regular practice and discussion at each translation course meeting.

Quality Assessment for The Translations of Museum Texts: A Case Study of The Archaeology and Ethnography Museum of Edirne

Museums have significant roles in promoting and presenting cultural heritage and cultural values in various ways. An intrinsic part of intercultural communication in museums, bilingual museum texts (e.g. labels, brochures, explanatory texts etc.) have become an important field to be investigated within the framework of Translation Studies. In order to make a contribution to the analysis of translation of museum texts, this study aims to provide a quality assessment of English translations of texts in the Archeology and Ethnography Museum of Edirne. Even though English translations of different texts types such as labels, brochures and explanatory texts are available in the museum, this study specifically focuses on the translation of explanatory texts presenting the ethnographic identity and archeological findings of the city. For this purpose, twenty-three texts displayed in information boards have been selected and their translations have been analyzed according to translation quality assessment model of Multidimensional Quality Metrics (MMQ). As a result of a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of the selected texts, the type, distribution and frequency of translation errors encountered in the selected corpus have been described according to eight dimensions of the metric. Based on this text-based and linguistically-oriented methodology, the functionality of the translated museum texts has been evaluated. It is concluded that this study will provide a theoretical framework and methodological guide to improve the quality assessment competences of lectures and students at the departments of translation studies as well as professional translators and researchers working in the area of museum translation.

Factors Affecting Acceptance of Cloud-Based Computer-Assisted Translation Tools Among Translation Students

Translation technology is a fundamental aspect of the translation profession. Cloud-based computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools are becoming popular among translators because of their simplicity and usability. However, studies on the factors affecting the use of cloud-based CAT tools by translators and translation students are scarce. Therefore, this study explores the factors that influence the acceptance and use of such tools among translation students using the technology acceptance model (TAM). The hypothesized model is empirically validated using a survey of 181 participants. Using structural equation modeling, data analysis suggests that translation students' intention to use cloud-based CAT tools and their perceived usefulness are key adoption factors, while actual use is less significant. The simplicity of cloud-based CAT tools is also an important consideration, particularly for translation students with limited information technology experience. The implications for tool developers and translation instructors are discussed considering these findings.

Языковая личность переводчика и прагматическая вариативность перевода (на материале переводов романа Дж. Остин «Гордость и предубеждение»)

The research aims to identify the translation solutions that reflect a translator’s linguistic personality. The translations of Jane Austen’s novel “Pride and Prejudice” by I. S. Marshak, I. G. Gurova, and A. Ya. Livergant served as the research material. The paper examines the notions of “translation variability” and “a translator’s linguistic personality”, investigates the transformations of speech acts in different translation variants taking into account the manifestation of translators’ linguistic personality. The translation process is determined by many factors, including pragmatic ones, which is manifested in the choice of speech acts for the final version of the translation. The research is original in that it considers the transformation of speech acts as a translator’s individual choice based on the analysis of such objective pragmatic components of translation discourse as proposition and presupposition. As a result of the research, it was found that a professional translator is looking for an objective, adequate and harmonious (in cognitive, linguistic, and cultural terms) translation variant, deciphering the pragmatic parameters of the original text taking into account their influence on the addressee, which leads to the transformation of speech acts in the translation process.

Teaching sight translation to Economics and Management majors

Relevance. Teaching professionally oriented translation to students in non-linguistic areas of study is important and relevant, since future specialists will have to use the foreign language as part of their professional activities, which includes the translation of professionally oriented texts. Teaching visual-oral translation (sight translation) as a separate type of professionally oriented translation for economics and management majors is considered to be necessary to prepare future graduates for successful professional activities.Research Methods. The study used methods such as qualitative and quantitative analysis of the most typical difficulties of students (emotional, cognitive and motor difficulties), as well as the errors they make when sight translating.Results and Discussion. The authors provide typological characteristics of sight translation as a separate type of translation activity. We discuss the main obstacles that students of non-linguistic areas of training encounter when mastering the skills of sight translation of texts related to economic and managerial discourse. Among them are the following: translation of terminological vocabulary, recognition of syntactic connections at the level of sentences and phrases, translation of modern realities, stylistically colored vocabulary and idioms, translation of lexical inclusions of other industry discourse. The reasons leading to distortions in translation from the sheet are analyzed, ways of overcoming translation difficulties that have been tested and have shown their effectiveness in the Odintsovo branch of Moscow Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation are considered.Conclusions. Skills of translating from a foreign language (English) into one’s native language (Russian) contributes not only to the formation of professional translation competence, but also a number of other academic and professional skills. To successfully implement this, a clear and competent course structure is required, taking into account the need to learn to translate modern English-language texts of economic discourse.

How external and internal factors affect translators’ source preferences – survey results

ABSTRACT Existing studies on translators’ information-seeking behavior (ISB) have either investigated translators in general or a selected group of translators (e.g. legal translators). The aim of this study was to investigate whether there were differences in the source preferences of translators according to selected factors, such as age, experience, direction of translation, use of CAT tools, post-editing practice, working language, and translation speed. The data were collected through a survey of 226 Polish professional translators. In order to examine the possible differences, we compared the answers of the selected translator subgroups (divided according to the above factors) to one question: ‘On a scale of 1–5, how often do you use the following sources when translating?’ The results were tested for statistical significance. It was found that the authorless online sources were used more often by younger and less experienced translators. MT and CAT technologies do not relieve translators of information research (no drastic differences in the frequency of source use). Translation into the mother tongue generally requires more source consultation than translation into the L2. Translators using technology rely more on non-traditional information sources.

Exploring user perspectives

Abstract Since the advent of Google NMT in 2016, human translators have been overwhelmed by the concern about being replaced by machine translation. Although professional translators argue that the machine translation output is not refined enough to surpass human translators, their claims are sometimes emotional and based on incorrect perceptions, without verification and substantiation from user evaluation and specific quality evaluation data. Therefore, this study examines the evolution of NMT output from English to Korean diachronically and provides specific user evaluation data that can verify and substantiate the claims. Despite the steady improvement in NMT performance observed in recent years, it has been recognized that there is still a significant gap that must be bridged for NMT to achieve parity with human translation. Nevertheless, as the collaboration between NMT and human translators is expected to increase, it is essential to reinforce relevant systems, such as technological and legal support systems.

Didactic requirements for fostering the growth of future translators� technology proficiency within the framework of their localization-focused training

Relevance. The transition of society�s spheres of activity to new technological systems implies the need to introduce changes in educational standards, as well as to change approaches to the professional education of future industry specialists, including in the training of professional translators. Purpose. The study aims to identify the pedagogical conditions necessary for the development of future translators� technological competence, especially in the context of their localisation-based training. Methodology. The study applied systemic-structural and interdisciplinary approaches, as well as dialectical, historical, and legal comparative, logical and semantic and other methods. Results. The study found that in the context of the current realities, not only the classical professional knowledge of future translators needs to change, but also the adaptation of pedagogical programmes to the rapid development of technological processes. The active expansion of contacts between different countries of the world and the increasing importance of developing information communication between representatives of different countries make the latest technologies particularly valuable in areas designed to address global and international issues. One of these areas of professional activity is translation, which includes not only translation technologies but also translation education in the context of training professional translators. Conclusions. The complexity of the translation process due to its technology requires the development of the technological competence of professional translators. The practical significance of this study lies in the possibility of implementing the results achieved in the process of improving the content of existing or opening new educational programmes for future professional translators to adapt them to the requirements of the modern environment. Keywords: professional education; localisation; information technology; automated systems; strategy; post-editing

The Relationship between Interpreting Anxiety and Learning Motivation Assisted by Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network Algorithms

The Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network algorithm has achieved significant results in natural language processing and speech recognition. This study explores the application of the LSTM algorithm in the study of the relationship between interpreting anxiety and learning motivation. The article mainly uses questionnaire survey method to obtain research data. The participates include students engaged in translation research and professional translators. After statistical analysis of the research data, it was found that there was a significant correlation between translation anxiety and learning motivation (r=-0.62, p<0.001). According to calculation results, the average score is 3.42 and the standard deviation is 0.76. The average score of evaluating the learning enthusiasm of participants through corresponding questionnaires is 4.27, with an SD of 0.92. Further regression analysis of the data was conducted, and the results showed that respondents with low translation anxiety had stronger learning motivation（β=- 0.43, p<0.001). It can be seen that reducing learners' fear of translation can enhance their learning motivation, thereby stimulating their interest in learning. This indicates that reducing translation anxiety may be helpful to improve the learning motivation level of interpreting learners. The study is of great significance for improving the learning enthusiasm of translation learners and reducing translation anxiety and provides a new perspective and research method for future related research.

Hungarian adaptation of the cerebellar cognitive affective/Schmahmann Syndrome Scale

Recent studies have reported that cerebellar lesions can cause cognitive, behavioral, and affective symptoms. This constellation is called the cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome (CCAS). A bedside instrument, the CCAS-Scale, has been developed to screen for this clinical presentation. The aim of this study is to adapt the CCAS-Scale to Hungarian according to international cross-cultural guidelines. In cooperation with the senior author of the original CCAS-Scale, we defined a five-step adaptation protocol (license number 6758-1/2021). Step 1: translation of the scale from English to Hungarian by two separate teams. Step 2: comparison of the two translated versions, synthesis (preliminary version). Step 3: back translation by an independent professional translator. Step 4: authorization, revision, and correction. Step 5: pre-testing the scale, measuring the test times. Following our protocol, we produced the CCAS-H and the instructions booklet. We pre-tested healthy (n = 10) and cerebellar stroke patients (n = 10) and finalized the scale. Although not significantly, but cerebellar patients reached lower raw scores compared with healthy subjects. Testing times differed significantly between the two groups. A meticulous validation protocol was outlined to assess the validity and reliability of the newly adapted test. CCAS-H is a quick and adequate scale to examine the cerebellar-cognitive affective syndrome, which will be available for Hungarian professionals. Our main challenge was to define the stimuli and cues with adequate psycholinguistic and psychometric properties. As a next step, we are gathering data for the validation with the help of six other Hungarian Neurology departments.