O Brien, Sh. Eye Tracking in Translation Process Research. Methodological Challenges and Solutions

Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 20

O‘Brien, Sh.

Eye Tracking in
Translation Process Research.
Methodological Challenges and
Solutions.

Evelina Tutlytė
Formulate a research question/
hypothesis
• The background and experience of the three
translators varied slightly.
• … <>this might be a problem because the
researcher had been trying to assemble a
homogeneous group, but the differences brought
forth the strengths and weaknesses of each
observational approach in relation to experience,
and how they can be used together to get a
better understanding of the translation process.
Research process (I)
• The translation was carried out in the natural work
setting of all three translators. In the case of Toyota,
the reseacher went to their Scarborough office and
observed the translators in their work environment
with the tools they were accustomed to using.
Translators had their computers, databases, and
electronic and traditional reference materials. It was an
open concept office and the translators were free to
consult with their colleagues. The researcher observed
the third translator in her natural work environment
with a computer, dictionaries and the electronic
resources she is used to consulting.
Research process (II)
• The researcher prepared each computer in
advance by installing two software programs,
Translog and Camtasia. Translog is a translation
recording program used to obtain quantitative
results. Camtasia is a recording software that
creates a video file of the computer screen and
records all moves on the computer. The video
camera was set up to capture facial expressions
and work done away from the computer. It also
recorded think-aloud verbalizations.
Data collection
• The data collection was a three step process: informing and preparing the
subjects; the actual translation process combined with think-aloud,
computer recordings, direct observation, and audio and video recording;
and retrospective interviews with and without computer playback of the
translation process. During the pretranslation discussion, the translators
were introduced to the study and the methods of observation. They were
encouraged to ask questions and use Translog in order to become familiar
with the program and its features. All three translators were asked to
verbalize whatever came to their mind and to speak freely during the
translation process. I emphasized the need to feel comfortable and to
work as if it were an average day on the job. Once the translators were
ready to begin, I acted as a strict observer and had no contact with them.
After the translation was complete, I conducted two retrospective
interviews. The first included general questions on how the translator felt
about the translation and the methods of observation. The second
interview included a playback of the Camtasia recording allowing the
translator to see the entire process and make further comments.
Results (I)
• The researcher was quite surprised by the
results of the think-aloud verbalizations. As
part of the pre-translation preparation, the
participants were asked to verbalize whatever
came to mind.
Results (II)
• Once the preparation was finished and I was confident that the
translators had understood what was expected of them, the
reseacher started the camera and stepped aside. The first translator
started by reading the entire text very carefully. The researcher
assumed he would begin talking once he started translating. Several
minutes later, he had still not said a word. Even though the
researcher knew not to interfere with the process, the researcher
quietly said to him “remember to think-aloud.” He looked at me
with great surprise and said “I am not thinking about anything” and
went back to typing. Several minutes later, he was still not saying
anything. Once again, the researcher quietly asked him to think-
aloud. He said he was just looking for a word in the dictionary, but
did not give any details. Luckily, the researcher had the camera to
zoom in and could see that he was looking up the word écarter. He
then continued to translate and did not say another word until he
finished two hours later.
Results (III)
• The researcher asked why he had not
verbalized and he replied that he had found it
very difficult and that having to think about
talking while translating took him away from
the actual work.
Results (IV)
• the third translator who felt more comfortable
thinking aloud once said “I’m not talking at all
now. I could talk more but that would slow me
down and it doesn’t feel normal.” These
comments say a lot of about how the testing
environment influences both motivation and
the translation process no matter how
comfortable the translators feel in their
natural setting.
Results (V)
• Furthermore, it shows that the everyday
emphasis on factors such as speed were
extremely important for the translators even
though the testing environment did not
demand an accelerated pace. Within the
context of another study, it would be very
interesting to evaluate how culture relates to
the success or failure of think-aloud protocols
during translation.
Results (VI)
• In the English Canadian context, it is not
natural for translators who work alone to talk
while translating and therefore the
information may not be as easy to obtain as in
another more oral culture. The two translators
who felt comfortable thinking aloud usually
spoke during hesitations that indicated
moments of difficulty. They would repeat the
words to themselves and demonstrate
conscious reasoning.
Results (VII)
• Furthermore, it is quite intrusive and alters the normal
work environment. On several occasions, the translators
who vocalized would suddenly realize they were not talking
and force themselves to say something. Although I have
concerns about forcing people to talk when they usually do
not, the translations do not seem to have been negatively
affected by talking. Thinking aloud provides information
about reflection, reasoning, self-revision, and other
processes required for translation. Thecircumstances
surrounding hesitations or moments of difficulty resurfaced
during the retrospective interview with playback, but the
translators gave more general descriptions rather than
detailed step-by-step accounts of how they had worked
something through.
Conclusions (I)
• Based on the observations of the three translators in this study, the
translation process can be broken down into three general
strategies: understanding and reasoning; searching; and revising.
These strategies are not clear cut or straightforward, and they
overlap and reoccur throughout the translation process.The
understanding and reasoning part of the process is the most
obvious, especially to an external party. At this stage, the
translators started by reading and becoming familiar with the text
and eventually produced an equivalent target language text. To
arrive at this end, they used a number of strategies such as reading,
comparing the source and target texts, consulting with colleagues,
reading outloud, comparing language structures and working out
acceptable equivalents. All three translators stayed very close to the
structure of the source text, most commonly translating at the word
or sentence level
Conclusions (II)
• As can be expected, experience played a significant
role in how the translators worked through the text,
especially regarding syntactic structure. For example,
the two translators with more experience translated
mais le constructeur automobile du Japon without any
comments or pauses and came up with but the
Japanese car manufacturer. The required word order
was deeply embedded and they did not verbalize the
change in position. The translator with less experience
was able to verbalize the thought processes required to
convert the structure because it had not yet been
automated
Conclusions (III)
• as translators acquire more experience they are
no longer able to verbalize processes that have
become automatic (Séguinot, 1996; Ericsson and
Simon, 1980). The understanding and reasoning
stage of the translation process involved a lot of
decision making. Translog and Camtasia were
most useful in capturing this stage. They recorded
the execution of the translation whether it was
verbalized or not. The camera was also useful to
capture verbalizations.
Conclusions (IV)
• During the searching stage, the translators looked for
words, expressions, terms, titles and collocations using a
variety of resources including dictionaries, websites,
databases and advice from colleagues. All three translators
used paper and electronic dictionaries and glossaries as
well as bilingual and monolingual websites to search for
information. One translator used a parallel concordance
website to see how expressions and strings of text had
been translated in the past. The translator who had done
the most translating, relied heavily on past experience
when searching for equivalences. Body language and eye
movements captured with the camera strongly indicated
internal searching. He used very few external searching
tools.
Conclusions (V)
• The video camera captured the work done
with paper resources. Camtasia was most
useful in following the search paths and
helping understand how and why the
translators searched for information
Conclusions (VI)
• Like the other stages, revision reoccurred many
times through out the translation process.
Revision strategies included reading and
rereading the text, comparing the source and
target texts for accuracy and idiomatic language,
verifying and changing lexical choices, adjusting
grammatical structure, changing word order,
revising syntax and improving the overall flow of
the text. Revision was done both immediately as
the translators typed, and later when reviewing
the sentence, paragraph and then the complete
text.
Conclusions (VII)
• The Translog recording of the translator who did not
vocalize shows several stops within a paragraph where
he would jump to another paragraph all together and
make revisions before going back where he had left off.
This is perhaps an indication of effective time usage.
Rather than dwelling on a difficult passage, the
translator cleared his mind by rereading and correcting
another part of the text before continuing. It could also
be that he was looking for information from the parts
he had already translated, and then saw an error that
he corrected before continuing.
Conclusions (VIII)
• In “Some Thoughts about Think-Aloud Protocols”,
Candace Séguinot explains that translation can be non-
linear and that though a translation has been found,
the mind continues to look for alternatives and comes
back to the same item or structure. She also says there
is evidence of parallel processing where the translator
works on more than one item, structure, etc. at a time.
(Séguinot, 1996). All three translators did a final
revision of their text once they had completed the
translation. Two translators took the text and pasted it
into word, where they did the majority of their
revisions. When asked why, they said they were used
to using that programs editing features.

You might also like