Interactive Translation vs. Pre-Translation in the Context of Translation Memory Systems:

Investigating the Effects of Translation Method

on Productivity, Quality and Translator Satisfaction

Julian WallisLRC XI – European Foundation

October 25th, 2006

Challenges in the Translation Market

Increased demand for translation Globalization New products “Information Society”

Shorter deadlines Online resources Simultaneous shipment, or “Simship”

Shortage of translators “Babyboomer” generation Lack of graduates from translation programs

Result: Translators are turning to tools for help, especially Translation Memory (TM) tools

Impact of TMs on Translation Market Translators – want to use TMs to accelerate the

translation process Clients – want translators to use TMs to save time and

money

Current Situation Ownership

Translators – “intellectual property” Clients – TM is a value to them

Payment Clients – Demand discounted rates Translators – Expect some compensation

Other issues Cost of technology, experience with specific system

Potential solution? Pre-translation

Methods of working with a TM

Interactive translation Translator works one sentence at a

time, consulting and evaluating matches proposed by system

Pre-translation The entire ST is compared against the

TM database and matches are automatically inserted to create a “hybrid text”, which the translator must then edit

Hybrid text

Pilot Study

Objective: To compare interactive translation vs pre-

translation to determine which approach is more beneficial with regard to:

Productivity Quality Translator satisfaction

Limitations TM system Participants Languages Texts

Experiment Execution

Translators: Blue, Green, Red, Yellow

Translation order: Blue - ST2 using interactive

translation& Red - ST1 using pre-translation

Green - ST1 using interactive translation& Yellow - ST2 using pre-translation

Time and Resources Questionnaire

Data Analysis - Productivity Factors influencing

results ST2 more difficult

than ST1 (Green) Results of Blue and

Yellow argue this Technical difficulties

(Red) Familiarity with

software Number of results in

interactive mode Quality of finished

translations Method of translation

has no significant effect on productivity

Translators InteractiveTranslation

Pre-Translation

Blue 49 min (ST2) 49 min (ST1)

Red 64 min (ST2) 55 min (ST1)

Green 51 min (ST1) 60 min (ST2)

Yellow 46 min (ST1) 46 min (ST2)

Blue and Yellow – same amount of time to translate both texts

Red and Green – show exact opposite results

Data Analysis - Quality

IT - 5/8 higher scores PT - 2/8 higher scores

Factors influencing results Difficulty of texts Quality of finished

translations Amenability of one

text to IT IT produces slightly

higher quality than Pre-translation

  IT PT Higher Quality

Margin of Imp.

Blue

EV 1 0% 0% 0 0

EV 2 31% 27% IT 4%

Red

EV 1 35% 27% IT 8%

EV 2 78% 25% IT 53%

Green

EV 1 57% 60% PT 3%

EV 2 45% 73% PT 28%

Yellow

EV 1 21% 14% IT 7%

EV 2 65% 40% IT 25%

Data Analysis – Translator Satisfaction

Interactive Translation Not enough screen

space Faster and more

efficient Better productivity Principle resource

Pre-translation Time consuming Too many windows

open at once Inconsistent style Not principle resource

o General consensus = Interactive mode superior to Pre- translation modeo All translators preferred working in Interactive mode

Interactive mode is superior to Pre-translation mode in terms of job satisfaction

Conclusion

Interactive Translation keeps translators interested and proves to increase the quality of translations produced

Using the pre-translation option and giving translators a hybrid text may not prove to be as beneficial for clients

Conclusions reached are preliminary but merit further research

For more information please contact: jwall035@uottawa.ca