This article addresses the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) through the lens of pivot template subtitling, a practice deemed logistically efficient... Show moreThis article addresses the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) through the lens of pivot template subtitling, a practice deemed logistically efficient by some and ethically suspicious by others. Drawing on (i) a critical review of 29 European codes of ethics promoted by professional translation associations and (ii) the answers to our online questionnaire on pivot subtitling (completed by 376 subtitlers based in Europe), we analyse the main concerns raised about pivot subtitling from the standpoint of access to decent work and economic growth in the AVT industry. Findings suggest that, from the professional subtitlers’ point of view, current practices in pivottemplate-centredworkflows may slow down the progress on SDG8, worsen working conditions and clash with professional codes of ethics. We end by suggesting ways to improve the use of indirect translation, so it does not hinder progress on SDG8 in the AVT industry. Show less
Given the increase of non-English audiovisual content, translating through pivot templates is increasingly common. Yet, pivot templates have attracted scant scholarly attention. Several factors... Show moreGiven the increase of non-English audiovisual content, translating through pivot templates is increasingly common. Yet, pivot templates have attracted scant scholarly attention. Several factors remain unclear. Among the first factors are the questions of who creates pivot templates, from what languages are they translated, into what languages are they translated, and what audiovisual products and channels are they for? Secondly, what are the challenges involved in the creation of templates? The third factor would be whether there is any training available for pivot template cre-ators, and whether this training is effective. To provide more clarity on these issues, we distributed a questionnaire and elicited replies from 100 pivot templators and 75 subtitler trainers based in Europe. The results indicate that most pivot templators translate into English as L2. Because of this, diverse difficulties arise. Training in pivot template making seems rare, especially compared to training in subtitling in general. The training that is offered comes mainly from the industry and not academia. This is problematic for various reasons: (a) the former does not typically cover issues related to subtitler ethics or the sustainability of the profession, and (b) translator training and professional codes of conduct eye L2 translation with suspicion. Drawing on the respondents’ insights, we argue that much can be gained from teaching non-English-language native speakers how to create English-language templates Show less
Little is known about health professionals’ evaluation of translation options and expectations about communicating risks concerning the use of medical devices. Since translators’ decisions are (at... Show moreLittle is known about health professionals’ evaluation of translation options and expectations about communicating risks concerning the use of medical devices. Since translators’ decisions are (at least partially) based on what they believe readers expect from the translated product, investigating health professionals’ reception of translated medical texts is particularly useful. Adopting a cross-disciplinary approach to the study of translation norms, this article reports on a questionnaire involving 34 Portuguese health professionals who were asked to evaluate translated instructions for a medical device. This evaluation was followed by questions on the health professionals’ expectations. The results suggest that readers’ expectations about how translators should translate do not coincide with their evaluation of translation options. In other words, the findings point to a contradiction between what health professionals say translators should do when translating biomedical texts and what are their preferred translation options when evaluating translated excerpts. We believe these findings can contribute to the awareness of health professionals’ dominating discourses of faithfulness and fidelity towards the original in the translation of biomedical texts and their influence on perceptions of quality. These discourses, as the findings suggest, can have implications on how readers perceive how translators should translate. Show less
Due to the rapid scientific and technological breakthroughs and the surge of publications in the healthcare and medical sector, medical translation is a much-needed specialisation, and data suggest... Show moreDue to the rapid scientific and technological breakthroughs and the surge of publications in the healthcare and medical sector, medical translation is a much-needed specialisation, and data suggest that it is one of the top industry sectors (ELIS 2021, 2022). Medical translation happens in a myriad of healthcare contexts, such as pharmaceutical companies, NGOs, governmental institutions, hospitals and practices, to name just a few.Medical translation is mainly thought of as highly specialised and terminologically challenging, but medical translation is not restricted to highly specialised genres and its challenges are not limited to terminology (Montalt 2012: 1). Translated medical texts can vary in terms of the target audience (expert-to- expert communication, expert-to-layperson communication, or vice-versa, but also in a varying degree of semi-experts), modes (including Web texts, instructional videos, television documentaries or press conferences) and communicative contexts (from education and clinical practice to commercial). Due to the specificity of medical translation, training translators on how to translate miscellaneous texts for scientific and technical purposes or general purposes (sometimes referred to as ‘general translation’) is not enough. Show less
Machine Translation (MT), the process by which a computer engine such as Google Translate or Bing automatically translates a text from one language into another without any human involvement, is... Show moreMachine Translation (MT), the process by which a computer engine such as Google Translate or Bing automatically translates a text from one language into another without any human involvement, is increasingly used in professional, institutional and everyday contexts for a wide range of purposes.While a growing number of studies has looked at professional translators and translation students, there is currently a lack of research on nontranslator users and uses in multilingual contexts.This paper presents a survey examining how, when and why students at Leiden University’s Faculty of Humanities use MT. A questionnaire was used to determine which MT engines students use and for what purposes, and gauge their awareness of issues concerning privacy, academic integrity and plagiarism. The findings reveal a widespread adoption of Google Translate and indicate that students use MT predominantly to look up single words, as an alternative to a dictionary. Many seemed sceptical about thevalue of MT for educational purposes, and many assumed that the use of MT is not permitted by lecturers for graded assignments, especially in courses focusing on language skills.The results demonstrate a clear need for more MT literacy. Students may not need practical training in how to use MT, but there is much room for improvement in terms of when and why they use it. Show less
This paper explores decision-making in translation focusing on the self-revision process of novice and experienced translators of biomedical content in the English to European Portuguese language... Show moreThis paper explores decision-making in translation focusing on the self-revision process of novice and experienced translators of biomedical content in the English to European Portuguese language pair. Adopting process- and product-oriented methods, an experiment was designed to study thirty translations of a 244-word instructional text about a medical device intended for health professionals. The data elicited from fifteen novice translators and fifteen experienced translators included keylogging and screen-recording data. These data were triangulated and analyzed to describe the translation solutions in the interim and final versions in response to problematic translation units and to test if, during the self-revision process, novice and experienced translators tend to proceed from more literal versions to less literal ones, or vice versa, in biomedical translation. Contrary to expectations, the analysis points towards a literalization phenomenon in the translators’ processes. The data also indicates that the tendency to proceed from less literal versions to more literal ones is more pronounced in novice translators than in experienced translators. The findings reported here shed new light on the self-revision processes of novice and experienced translators and their relationship with prevailing translation norms, and enable us to better understand the practices in place in professional biomedical translation. Show less
In contrast to medical interpreting, there is much less information on translators’ beliefs about how to translate written medical content and how these beliefs differ from the translation... Show moreIn contrast to medical interpreting, there is much less information on translators’ beliefs about how to translate written medical content and how these beliefs differ from the translation preferences and expectations of health professionals. Investigating translators’ beliefs is nevertheless important if we want a more nuanced understanding of how translators’ choices are influenced by how they believe they should translate and what they believe health professionals expect from them. Adopting a sociological and philosophical approach to the study of expectations, this paper reports on the findings from a survey investigating novice translators’ beliefs about medical and biomedical translation from English to European Portuguese. The data suggests that translators’ beliefs about how they think they should translate do not coincide with their expectations about how readers believe they should translate. The research results represent a further step towards a fuller picture of the role of expectations about medical translation, as well as having implications for translators' training. Show less
Revisers’ practices, as well as translators’ decision-making are based on their attitudes towards and expectations about what the community expects from their work. It is relevant not only to... Show moreRevisers’ practices, as well as translators’ decision-making are based on their attitudes towards and expectations about what the community expects from their work. It is relevant not only to understand what are the attitudes and expectations of revisers, but also to compare those attitudes and expectations with what translators believe revisers expect of them. Since such types of beliefs are still understudied from a descriptive-oriented perspective in particular in scientific-technical contexts, this chapter adopts survey methodology to report on the attitudes and expectations of professional revisers and translators in English to European Portuguese biomedical translation. It analyses data elicited from a questionnaire to 71 professionals, and identifies attitudes and expectations of revisers about the competence and working practices of translators, and translators’ attitudes and expectations about revisers, describing revision and translation process expectations or, in other words, how the translator is expected to perform his/her work according to the reviser, and vice versa. Results show that while revisers mainly express negative attitudes and expectations about translators, referring to superficial self-revision practices and lack of communication, translators believe that quality is subjective, and that revisers mostly introduce preferential changes in their revisions. These findings contribute to creating a fuller picture of the relationship between revisers and translators, and enable us to better understand the practices in place in professional biomedical revision and translation Show less
Recent research has contributed to an understanding of the positive impact that peer feedback has on student learning, but there is a lack of experimental studies that focus on how peer feedback... Show moreRecent research has contributed to an understanding of the positive impact that peer feedback has on student learning, but there is a lack of experimental studies that focus on how peer feedback affects student translation competence. Our study investigates whether the latter are enhanced in the Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project (TAPP) with an experiment that included the explicit practice of student peer feedback competence and the negotiation of meaning among peers. Students – whether writing, translating or usability testing – collaborated online both within their own university peer group and with a partner university. The results of this intervention, however, suggest no clear tendencies or relation between peer feedback and meaning-related translation competence. Show less
