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- Volume 13, Issue 2, 2024
Translation Spaces - Volume 13, Issue 2, 2024
Volume 13, Issue 2, 2024
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Is post-editing really faster than human translation?
Author(s): Silvia Terribilepp.: 171–199 (29)More LessAbstractTime efficiency is paramount for the localisation industry, which demands ever-faster turnaround times. However, translation speed is largely underresearched, and there is a lack of clarity about how language service providers (LSPs) can evaluate the performance of their post-editing (PE) and human translation (HT) services. This study constitutes the first large-scale investigation of translation and revision speed in HT and in the PE of neural machine translation, based on real-world data from an LSP. It uses an exploratory data analysis approach to investigate data for 90 million words translated by 879 linguists across 11 language pairs, over 2.5 years. The results of this research indicate that (a) PE is usually but not always faster than HT; (b) average speed values may be misleading; (c) translation speed is highly variable; and (d) edit distance cannot be used as a proxy for post-editing productivity, because it does not correlate strongly with speed.
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The cultural localization of video games in Iran
Author(s): Amir Arsalan Zoraqi and Movahede Sadat Mousavipp.: 200–224 (25)More LessAbstractLocalization is the process through which products are tailored to the socio-cultural values of the recipient locale. This study seeks to shed light on the practice of video games cultural localization in Iran by focusing on two of the most prominent software localization and publication companies in Iran, namely Parnian and Gerdoo. Furthermore, identifying the types of content considered inappropriate by the Iranian game localization supervisory bodies constitutes another aim of the present study. To this end, six officially localized video games are compared and contrasted with their original English counterparts. As for the results, the modifications were observed at both diegetic and non-diegetic levels. Modifications revolved around the following themes: religious issues, socio-cultural issues, and socio-political references linked to Iran’s legal and religious frameworks. Regarding the strategies, the localized video games were modified by removing the cut scenes, applying graphical changes, and editing out the original soundtrack.
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Revising a literary translation for publication
Author(s): Claudine Borgpp.: 225–243 (19)More LessAbstractDespite the surge of interest in translation revision and its ubiquitousness in translation processes, minimal scholarly research has been carried out into the revision of literary translations (Koponen et al. 2021, 10). This article responds to calls in the literature for empirical studies examining the creation of actual published translations. It aims to partially address this gap by reporting on the processes and practices occurring during the revision of my Maltese translation of Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s Concerto à la mémoire d’un ange. Although numerous translation scholars are also practising translators, we rarely look at our own processes and practices. Not only is this reality of translation revision largely overlooked but also the wealth of empirical data generated during the translation process remains unexploited. Drawing on my own translation practice, this study adopts an autoethnographic approach to provide insights into how revision materialised in this specific literary translation. Meticulously conserved real-life data are analysed in order to shed light on the agents involved in the revision process, their role and power.
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Bad business practices in the language services industry
Author(s): Oliver Carreirapp.: 244–264 (21)More LessAbstractThe language services industry has enjoyed consistent economic growth over the past 15 years, yet not all participants have reaped its benefits. Individual language professionals have faced persistently low rates of pay, a lack of social benefits, and reduced job security. This predicament has been exacerbated by disruptions brought by technologies such as machine translation and artificial intelligence, and the questionable business practices of language services providers.
Existing research primarily focuses on economic and technological aspects, overlooking the experiences of linguists. This article seeks to broaden this area of study by compiling a comprehensive list of the bad business practices that individual practitioners experience. A survey of 682 freelance translators provides the foundation, yielding a catalogue of 17 detrimental practices along with their prevalence rates. The article also outlines proposals for addressing these issues and identifies potential avenues for future research in this domain.
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The Machine Translation Post-Editing Annotation System (MTPEAS)
Author(s): Romane Bodart, Justine Piette and Marie-Aude Leferpp.: 265–292 (28)More LessAbstractMachine translation post-editing quality evaluation has received relatively little attention in translation pedagogy to date. It is a time-consuming process that involves the comparison of three texts (source text, machine translation and student post-edited text) and the systematic identification and correction of students’ edits (or absence thereof) of machine translation (MT) output. There are as yet no widely available, standardized, user-friendly annotation systems for use in translator education. In this article, we address this gap by describing the Machine Translation Post-Editing Annotation System (MTPEAS). MTPEAS includes a taxonomy of seven categories that are presented in easy-to-understand terms: Value-adding edits, Successful edits, Unnecessary edits, Incomplete edits, Error-introducing edits, Unsuccessful edits, and Missing edits. We then assess the robustness of the MTPEAS taxonomy in a pilot study of 30 students’ post-edited texts and offer some preliminary findings on students’ MT error identification and correction skills.
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An eye-tracking study on the cognitive processing, reception, and perception of swearword translation in films
Author(s): Qihang Jiang and Stephen Dohertypp.: 293–329 (37)More LessAbstractTechnological advances lead to an increasing array of widely accessible online audiovisual (AV) products. However, translating these AV products poses challenges, especially for culturally sensitive content like swearwords. Using eye-tracking, this study investigates how audiences cognitively process translated swearwords in films from English to Chinese. The experiment involved 150 participants distributed among five different subtitling groups, with each group (n = 30) exposed to four clips under a distinct translation strategy for swearwords. While cognitive processing measures showed no significant differences across strategies, the mean fixation duration was notably higher in the softening strategy group during gunfight scenes, suggesting heightened audience engagement. Pre- and post-questionnaire responses revealed participants’ functional awareness of swearwords and a preference for literal translation. Additionally, no significant differences were found in immersion, satisfaction, enjoyment, comprehension, or perceived offensiveness across film clips. This study contributes empirically and methodologically to understanding subtitling practices, offering insights into audience reception.
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Point of view and narrative in Wikipedia translation
Author(s): Mark Shuttleworthpp.: 330–353 (24)More LessAbstractWikipedia prides itself on its ability to provide nuanced and largely neutral information, while as part of its participatory editing process translation is sometimes used to introduce content that can impact point of view. Because of the clear overlap between narrative and point of view, this article proposes an initial framework based on narrative theory — supplemented by Bakhtin’s notion of polyphony — to theorise point of view in Wikipedia and beyond. The article assembles a list of methods and tools for synchronic and diachronic analysis and exemplifies how different analyses might proceed. In this way, the article aims to problematise the concept of point of view, to contribute to the significant impact that translation studies has had on narrative theory and to advance research into the specifics of Wikipedia translation. Along the way, the English edition’s claimed neutral status is called into question as it also displays evidence of manipulation.
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