Abstract
This paper reports the results of a qualitative study which investigated localisation activities performed by translators working in two Language Service Providers. It argues that maintaining the appropriate quality level in this setting is a collaborative task which involves several translators. This perspective entails taking a broader view of the translation process than usually found in the Machine Translation (MT) literature and detailing the various knowledge sources which are deployed in this collaborative effort. The impact of collaboration on trust is examined, and a comparison is made between the relatively seamless flow of work between translators and the more strained relationships with remote contributors. In support of this view, the paper contrasts the flexibility of the analysed work practices with the rigid ways which tend to be followed when introducing MT into this setting. We identify the need to support collaboration and communication more actively as a broader issue in translation settings. While current strategies for introducing MT tend to further isolate translators from remote contributors, we propose that MT can serve as the catalyst for establishing a more dynamic and collaborative relationship between them.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beyer H, Holtzblatt K (1998) Contextual design: defining customer-centered Systems. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco
Bowers J, Button G, Sharrock W (1995) Workflow from within and without: technology and cooperative work on the print industry shopfloor. In: Proceedings of the fourth European conference on computer supported cooperative work, ECSCW ’95, Stockholm, Sweden, pp 51–66
Buxton B (2007) Sketching user experiences: getting the design right and the right design. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco
Carl M (2009) Grounding translation tools in translator’s activity data. In: MT summit 2009 workshop: beyond translation memories: new tools for translators, Ottawa, Canada. http://www.mt-archive.info/MTS-2009-TOC.htm. Accessed Dec 2010
Cooper A (2004) The inmates are running the asylum: Why high tech products drive us crazy and how to restore the sanity. SAMS Publishing, Toronto
Désilets A, Melan con C, Patenaude G, Brunette L (2009), How translators use tools and resources to resolve translation problems: an Ethnographic study. In: MT Summit 2009 Workshop: beyond translation memories: new Tools for Translators, Ottawa, Canada. http://www.mt-archive.info/MTS-2009-TOC.htm. Accessed Dec 2010
Dillinger M, Lommel A (2004) LISA best practice guides: implementing Machine Translation. Technical Report 2, localization industry standards association(LISA), Domaine en Prael, Switzerland. http://www.lisa.org/products/bestPractice/
Doherty S, O’Brien S, Carl M (2010) Eye tracking as an MT evaluation technique. Mach Transl 24: 1–13
Esselink B (2003) Localisation and translation. In: Somers H (ed) Computers and translation: a translator’s guide. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp 67–86
Glaser BG, Strauss AL (1968) The discovery of grounded theory. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London
Groves D (2008) Bringing humans into the loop: localization with machine translation at Traslan. In: AMTA-2008: MT at work: Proceedings of the eighth conference of the association for Machine Translation in the Americas, Waikiki, Hawaii, pp 11–22
Guerberof A (2009) Productivity and quality in MT post-editing. In: MT Summit 2009 Workshop: beyond translation memories: new tools for translators Ottawa, Canada. http://www.mt-archive.info/MTS-2009-Guerberof.pdf
He Y, Ma Y, Roturier J, Way A, van Genabith J (2010) Improving the post-editing experience using translation recommendation: a user study. In: AMTA 2010: The ninth conference of the association for Machine Translation in the Americas, Proceedings, Denver. pp 247–256
Hollan J, Hutchins E, Kirsh D (2000) Distributed cognition: toward a new foundation for human-computer interaction research. ACM Trans Comput Hum Interact 7(2): 174–196
Jensen A, Jakobsen A (2000) Translating under time pressure: an empirical investigation of problem-solving activity and translation strategies by non-professional and professional translators. In: Chesterman A, Salvador NGS, Gambier Y (eds) Translation in context. John Benjamins, Amsterdam. pp 105–116
Jurafsky D, Martin JH (2008) Speech and language processing. Prentice Hall , Upper Saddle River
Karamanis N, Luz S, Doherty G (2010) Translation practice in the workplace and Machine Translation. In: Proceedings of the 14th annual conference of the European association for Machine Translation (EAMT), Saint-Raphaël, France, pp 245–252
Kay M (1998) The proper place of men and machines in language translation. Mach Transl 12: 3–23
Koehn P (2009) A process study of computer-aided translation. Mach Transl 23: 241–263
Lagoudaki E (2006) Translation memories survey 2006: users perceptions around TM use. In: Proceedings of the ASLIB international conference translating the computer, Vol.28. London, pp 1–29
Macklovitch E (2006) Trans Type 2: The last word. In: Proceedings of the 5th international conference on languages resources and evaluation (LREC 06), Genoa, Italy, pp 167–172
Norman DA (2002) The design of everyday things. Basic Books , New York
O’Brien S (2007) An empirical investigation of temporal and technical post-editing effort. Transl Interpreting Stud 2(1): 83–136
Offersgaard L, Povlsen C, Almsten L, Maegaard B (2008) Domain specific MT in use. In: Proceedings of the 12th annual conference of the European association for Machine Translation (EAMT), Hamburg, Germany, pp 150–159
Plitt M, Masselot F (2010) A productivity test of statistical Machine Translation post-editing in a typical localisation context. Prague Bull Math Linguist 93: 7–16
Przybocki M, Peterson K, Bronsart S, Sanders G (2009) NIST 2008 Metrics for Machine Translation challenge overview methodology metrics and results. Mach Transl 23: 71–103
Randall D, Harper R, Rouncefield M (2007) Fieldwork for design:theory and practice. Springer, New York
Roturier J (2009) Deploying novel MT technology to raise the bar for quality: a review of key advantages and challenges. In: MT Summit XII, proceedings of the twelfth Machine Translation summit, Ottawa, Canada, pp 1–8
Sharp H, Rogers Y, Preece J (2007) Interaction design: beyond human computer interaction, 2nd edn. John Wiley Sons, Chichester
Somers H (2003) Translation memory systems. In: Somers H (ed) Computers and translation: a translator’s guide. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp 31–48
van Genabith J (2009) Next generation localisation. Localis Focus 8: 4–10
Viller S, Sommerville I (2000) Ethnographically informed analysis for software engineers. Int J Hum Comput Stud 53(1): 169–196
Wilson J, Straus S, McEvily B (2006) All in due time: the development of trust in computer-mediated and face-to-face teams. Organ Behav Hum Decis Proces 99(1): 16–33
Wittner J, Goldschmidt D (2007) Technical challenges and localisation tools. In: Localisation guide 2007. Multilingual Computing Inc, Sandpoint, pp 10–14
Yanishevsky A (2009) The emerging role of Machine Translation. In: Localisation guide 2009. Multilingual Computing Inc, Sandpoint, pp 12–13
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Karamanis, N., Luz, S. & Doherty, G. Translation practice in the workplace: contextual analysis and implications for machine translation. Machine Translation 25, 35–52 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10590-011-9093-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10590-011-9093-x