Postgraduate Course: Technology and Translation in the Workplace (CLLC11065)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The main goal of the Technology and Translation in the Workplace (TTW) course is to equip students with key technology skills and techniques required as professional translators. Classes are practice-oriented with project-based translation exercises, group work and discussions. At the end of the course, the students will have become familiar with different computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, in particular SDL Trados Studio 2021. Students will also gain an understanding of the basic principles of machine translation (MT) engines and the uses and impact of these technologies. The course schedule reflects the fact that CAT Tools and MT are becoming more and more intertwined.
Students will also have acquired skills and knowledge required in a professional environment, including the development of certain techniques and resources for background research, terminology management, and document preparation. Overall, the course intends to give students a good practical and theoretical understanding of the digital tools used in the translation industry. The course will also cover practical questions concerning the translation profession, for instance industry workflows, collaboration, remuneration and networking. |
| Course description |
Week 1: Introduction to translation technology
This session introduces translation as a technology-based activity and provides an overview of Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) Tools and their main components.
Week 2: Introduction to Machine Translation
This session offers an overview of the development of Machine Translation (MT), including the relation between CAT and MT; different types of MT, e.g., Statistical Machine Translation (SMT), Rule-based Machine Translation (RBMT), Hybrid Machine Translation and Neural Machine Translation (NMT).
Weeks 3-5 and 7-9: CAT Tools in practice
You will work with different computer-assisted translation tools used in the translation industry, mainly SDL Trados Studio 2021, but also Déjà Vu and Wordfast Anywhere. The sessions offer hands-on experience in translation using translation memory tools and include issues such as handling matches, terminology management, quality assurance functions and dealing with different file types.
Week 10: Implications of using Machine Translation: Workflow and Ethics
This session covers the implications of using MT (both in the workflow and ethics) and current research in MT. It also includes post-editing exercises on how to spot errors of MT results using different engines such as Google Translate and DeepL.
Week 11: Recap, Q&A, advanced CAT Tool features
Software used:
Trados Studio 2021 - Translation Software
MultiTerm 2021 - Terminology Management Software
Wordfast Anywhere | Wordfast
Déjà Vu X3 Professional - Atril Solutions
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 4,
Other Study Hours 4,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
168 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
Pre-recorded Lecture Hours 10
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Weekly activities (30%), practical tasks to be submitted in weeks 3-5 and 8-10
2,500-word essay (70%), due in Week 12 |
| Feedback |
For each activity, formative feedback is provided in class and on Learn. The weekly activities are practical tasks designed to prepare the students for the final essay.
The weekly activities are not graded individually. A final grade is awarded for completion (as defined in the assessment guidelines) of all six weekly activities. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate professional skills in the area of translation technology important for their future career as a translator.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the principal techniques and functions of translation memory tools (CAT Tools) - mainly SDL Trados - and how to apply these practically in the translation of a wide range of documents and formats.
- Demonstrate an understanding of current developments in machine translation and reflect critically on the impact of such technologies, in connection with CAT tools and on their own.
- Reflect and comment on the advantages/disadvantages and overall impact of the widespread use of CAT Tools and machine translation on the workflow of translators, and on the translation industry more broadly.
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Reading List
Bowker, L., and Corpas Pastor, G. (2015) 'Translation Technology' in Mitkov, R. et al. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Computational Linguistics (2nd ed.) [Online]. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bowker, L. (2021) 'Translation Technology and Ethics' in Pokorn, N. K. & Koskinen, K. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Ethics. Abingdon: Routledge, 262-278.
Bowker, L. (2022) 'Computer-assisted Translation and Interpreting Tools' in Zanettin, F. and Rundle, C. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Methodology. London: Routledge. pp. 382-409.
Cabré, M. T. (2010) 'Terminology and Translation' in Gambier, Y. & van Doorslaer, L. (eds.) Handbook of Translation Studies Volume 1. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 356-365.
Chan, S. (2015) (ed.) The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Technology. London: Routledge.
Chan, S. (2017) The Future of Translation Technology: Towards a World without Babel, London: Routledge.
Doherty, S. (2016) The Impact of Translation Technologies on the Process and Product of Translation. International Journal of Communication, 10: 947-969.
Duoxiu, Q. (2015) 'Translation Technology in China' in Chan, S.-W. (ed.) The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Technology. Abingdon & New York: Routledge, 255-266
García, I. (2015) 'Computer-Aided Translation: Systems' in Chan, S.-W. (ed.) The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Technology. Abingdon & New York: Routledge, 68-87.
Gouadec, D. (2010) Translation as a Profession, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Kenny D. (2011) 'Electronic Tools and Resources for Translators' in Malmkjaer, K. and Windle, K. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Translation Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1-18.
Moorkens, J. (2018) What to Expect from Neural Machine Translation: a Practical In-class Translation Evaluation Exercise. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer. [Online] 12 (4), 375-387.
Muegge, U. (2012) The Silent Revolution: Cloud-based Translation Management Systems. tcworld Magazine [Online]. Available from: https://works.bepress.com/uwe_muegge/67/
Nunes Viera, L. (2019). 'Post-editing Machine Translation' in O'Hagan, M. (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Technology [Online]. London: Routledge, 319-335.
O'Brien, S. et al. (2017) Irritating CAT Tool Features That Matter to Translators. Hermes - Journal of Language and Communication in Business, 56: 145-162.
O'Hagan, M. (2019). The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Technology [Online]. London: Routledge.
Quah, C. K. (2006) Translation and Technology. London: Palgrave Macmillan
Reinke, U. (2013) State of the Art in Translation Memory Technology. Translation: Computation, Corpora, Cognition. [Online].
Schäffner, C. (2020) 'Translators' Roles and Responsibilities' in Angelone, M., Ehrensberger-Dow, M. & Massey, G. (eds.) The Bloomsbury Companion to Language Industry Studies [Online]. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 63-90.
Schneider, D. et al. (2018) Translation Memories and the Translator: A Report on a User Survey. Babel, 64(5-6): 734-762.
Screen, B. A. (2016) What does Translation Memory do to Translation?: The Effect of Translation Memory Output on Specific Aspects of the Translation Process. The International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research, 8 (1), 1-18.
Sun, Sanjun (2021) 'Measuring the User Experience of Computer-Aided Translation Systems: a comparative study' in Muñoz Martín, R., Sun, S. and Li, D. (eds.) Advances in Cognitive Translation Studies (New Frontiers in Translation Studies). Singapore: Springer. pp. 67-88.
van der Meer, J. (2020) 'Translation Technology - Past, Present and Future' in Angelone, M., Ehrensberger-Dow, M. & Massey, G. (eds.) The Bloomsbury Companion to Language Industry Studies [Online]. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 285-310.
Vieira, L.N., O¿Hagan, M. & O'Sullivan, C. (2021) Understanding the Societal Impacts of Machine Translation: a Critical Review of the Literature on Medical and Legal Use Cases. Information, Communication & Society. [Online] 24 (11), 1515-1532. Available from: doi:10.1080/1369118X.2020.1776370.
Way, A. (2019) 'Machine Translation: Where Are we at Today?' in Angelone, M., Ehrensberger-Dow, M. & Massey, G. (eds.) The Bloomsbury Companion to Language Industry Studies [Online]. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 311-332.
Zaretskaya A. et al. (2015). Integration of Machine Translation in CAT Tools: State of the Art, Evaluation and User Attitudes. SKASE Journal of Translation and Interpretation, 8(1): 76-88.
Zetzsche, J. (2019). 'Freelance Translators' Perspectives' in O'Hagan, M. (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Technology [Online]. London: Routledge, 166-182. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Karin Bosshard
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Lina Gordyshevskaya
Tel:
Email: |
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