Julian Wallis LRC XI – European Foundation October 25 th , 2006

1. 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 Wallis LRC XI – European Foundation October 25th, 2006

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. Hybrid text

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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 Blue and Yellow – same amount of time to translate both texts Red and Green – show exact opposite results

9. 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

10. 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 Data Analysis – Translator Satisfaction • General consensus = Interactive mode superior to Pre- translation mode • All translators preferred working in Interactive mode • Interactive mode is superior to Pre-translation mode in terms of job satisfaction

11. 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