The time variable in translation, Part 1

TL;DR

Translators under time pressure may improve the quality of their translations, but there are challenges in designing and conducting research to explore this hypothesis.

Transcript

hypothesis um is a simple affirmative statement that might be right and it might be wrong it should be able to be right and it should be able to be wrong but it must be interesting and interesting means nobody knows if it's right or it's wrong and a good hypothesis is pure gold it doesn't have to be right just has to be interesting hypothesis under... Read More

Key Insights

• 👨‍🔬 Hypothesis statements in research should be interesting, even if they turn out to be wrong.
• 🥺 Time pressure may lead to improvements in translation quality, but the benefits may vary among translators.
• 👨‍🔬 Designing research studies on time pressure and translation quality involves considerations such as comparability of subjects, text selection, and learning effects.

Questions & Answers

Q: How do translators under time pressure improve the quality of their translations?

Translators may focus more and produce higher quality translations due to the urgency and the need to quickly convey the message accurately. The pressure may eliminate unnecessary revisions and ensure a more efficient translation process.

Q: What challenges arise when conducting research on time pressure and translation quality?

The researcher needs to create time pressure while ensuring all participants finish their translations. Assessing the quality of half-completed translations is challenging, and determining a fair way to assign points for completion can be arbitrary.

Q: How can researchers address the issue of comparability of subjects in translation studies?

One approach is to include a large enough group of translators to establish a consistent completion time under non-time pressure. Then, a test with time constraints can be designed based on the average completion time of this group to achieve comparability.

Q: What is the ecological validity of research in translation studies?

Ecological validity refers to the extent to which research accurately reflects real-world translation practices. Researchers should use methodologies that allow translators to work in a way that closely resembles their usual process to ensure ecologically valid results.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Translators may make fewer mistakes and improve the discursive quality of their translations under time pressure.

• Conducting a study to test this hypothesis involves making students translate a 250-word text in both 20 and 13 minutes and assessing the quality through peer review.

• Practical problems include creating time pressure while ensuring everyone finishes their translation and assessing the completion of a half-finished translation.