The implementation of computer assisted tranlation tools in translating technical documents the case of english translation and interpreting senior students at can tho university

CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE B.A THESIS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED TRANSLATION TOOLS IN TRANSLATING TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS: THE CASE OF ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING SENIOR STUDENTS AT CAN THO UNIVERSITY Field of study: English Translation and Interpreting Supervisor: Student: TRƯƠNG THỊ NGỌC ĐIỆP, M.Ed TRẦN ĐỨC TÀI Senior lecturer Student code: 7116873 Class: XH11Z8A1 Course: 37 Can Tho, May 2015 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, and it has not been submitted for any other degrees All of sources I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by the complete references Trần Đức Tài April, 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my supervisor, Mrs Truong Thi Ngoc Diep, who has given me valuable comments and guidance Without her dedicated support and patience, the thesis could not have been completed Next, I would like to appreciate Mr Chau Thien Hiep for his valuable suggestions on my interview questions I also would like to express my appreciation to Mr Le Sang Thien Phu, and Ms Luu Thanh Phung Co for helping me finding necessary materials to conduct this thesis Finally, I would like to thank all participants of this thesis Without their assistance, my research study could not have been completed TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES v ABSTRACT vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Research aims 1.3 Research significance 1.4 Research organization CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 An overview of translation, technical translation, and technical documents 2.1.1 Definitions of translation 2.1.2 Definitions of technical translation 2.1.3 Definitions of technical documents 2.1.4 Types of technical documents 2.1.5 Problems encountered when translating technical document 2.2 An overview of computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools 2.2.1 Definitions 2.2.2 Types of CAT tools 2.2.3 Benefits of CAT tools and users’ skill requirements 12 2.3 CAT implementation in technical translation 13 2.4 Research questions 14 2.5 Expected outcomes 14 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS 16 3.1 Research design 16 3.2 Participants 16 3.3 Instruments 17 3.3.1 Questionnaire 17 3.3.2 Interview 18 3.4 Data collection 18 3.4.1 Questionnaire 18 3.4.2 Interview 19 3.5 Data analysis 19 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 20 4.1 Research results 20 4.1.1 Questionnaire 20 4.1.1.1 The implementation of online and electronic dictionaries, glossaries when translating technical documents 20 4.1.1.2 The implementation of tools that can capture data into electronic form, spelling checker, grammar checker, and Google Translate 21 4.1.1.3 Terminology management methods 21 4.1.1.4 The implementation of translation softwares 22 4.1.1.5 Students’ definition of CAT tools 23 4.1.2 Interview 23 4.1.2.1 Frequency of CAT tools use 23 4.1.2.2 Benefits of CAT tools when translating technical documents 25 4.1.2.3 Effectiveness of CAT tools 26 4.1.2.4 Types of documents that students used CAT tools to translate 27 4.2 Discussion 28 4.2.1 The popularity of CAT tools among students when translating technical documents 28 4.2.2 The frequency of CAT tools implementation among students 29 4.2.3 Types of technical documents that students use CAT tools to translate 29 4.2.4 Benefits and effectiveness of CAT tools 29 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 31 5.1 Conclusions 31 5.2 Limitations 32 5.3 Recommendations 32 5.4 Directions for further research 33 REFERENCES 34 APPENDIX A 37 APPENDIX B 39 LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Chart 2.1 Table 20 Table 21 Table 22 Table 22 Table 23 ABSTRACT Computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools are prominent and beneficial tools for translators in the translation process, especially in translating technical documents Although CAT tools are very popular among translation-majored students, research studies on CAT tools implementation in translating technical documents in Can Tho University have not been found This research study aims to describe the implementation of CAT tools among students and to explore students’ perception on the benefits of CAT tools application when they translate technical documents Descriptive quantitative and qualitative data were collected from a 16-item questionnaire and a 6-item interview There were 60 participants from English Translation and Interpreting major at Can Tho University The findings suggested that (1) simple CAT tools were more popular than complicated CAT tools, (2) the students used CAT tools very often although they did not have a clear understanding of CAT tools, (3) manuals were the most popular technical documents type that the students use CAT tools to translate, and (4) most students considered CAT tools as effective tools in translating technical documents This research study can help students and teachers to have a better understanding of CAT tools, thus they can consider teaching or applying these tools for more effective technical translation TĨM LƯỢC Các cơng cụ dịch thuật có hỗ trợ máy tính (CAT) cơng cụ bật có nhiều lợi ích cho dịch giả trình dịch thuật, đặc biệt dịch văn kỹ thuật Tuy nhiên nghiên cứu liên quan đến đề tài ứng dụng công cụ CAT dịch văn kỹ thuật Đại học Cần Thơ khơng tìm thấy công cụ CAT sử dụng phổ biến sinh viên ngành dịch thuật Nghiên cứu nhằm mô tả việc sinh viên ứng dụng công cụ CAT tìm quan điểm họ lợi ích việc ứng dụng công cụ CAT dịch văn kỹ thuật Dữ liệu mô tả định lượng định tính thu thập thơng qua bảng câu hỏi gồm 16 câu bảng vấn gồm sáu câu Đã có 60 sinh viên chuyên ngành Biên Phiên Dịch tiếng Anh trường Đại học Cần Thơ tham gia vào nghiên cứu Kết nghiên cứu (1) công cụ CAT đơn giản phổ biến công cụ CAT phức tạp, (2) sinh viên sử dụng công cụ CAT thường xuyên họ không hiểu rõ chúng, (3) hướng dẫn sử dụng sản phẩm thiết bị loại văn kỹ thuật thường sinh viên sử dụng công cụ CAT để dịch nhất, (4) hầu hết sinh viên đánh giá công cụ CAT công cụ hiệu dịch văn kỹ thuật Nghiên cứu giúp giảng viên sinh viên hiểu rõ công cụ CAT nhờ họ giảng dạy áp dụng công cụ nhằm đạt dịch kỹ thuật hiệu CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter describes (1) the rationale of the current research, (2) research objectives, (3) research significance, and (4) research organization 1.1 Rationale Through out history, translation has been playing an indispensable role in communication by means of written texts According to Newmark (1988), first signs of translation can be traced back to 3000 B.C, in the Old Egyptian Kingdom era Translation is a tool for communication and interaction between languages as long as languages contact with each other (Newmark, 1988) In the Eastern world, signs of translation can be traced back to the translation of the Buddhist sutras from Sanskrit to Chinese in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms Period (Munday, 2001) Newmark (1988) also emphasized the importance of translation by addressing the case of the mistranslation of the word mokasuiu in the Japanese telegram sent to the United States of America prior to Hiroshima bombing, when mokasuiu was translated as “ignored” instead of “considered” Translation also has a great impact on the whole society as it appears in big, international events to small, daily events (Hatim & Munday, 2004) Thus, the importance of translation and translation studies are undeniable Documents are classified into genres or types Technical translation is the translation of technical documents It is stated that any documents in any specialized fields that have technical terms are properly classified in technical documents (Dickins, Hervey, & Higgins, 2002) From a different point of view, technical document is claimed to be the communicating tool used to transfer technical information to a small group of professional readers (Nirmaldasan, 2005) Swift advances in computer technologies and information technologies have resulted in great benefits for translators in the translating process A new form of translation arrives from these advances is computer-assisted translation (or computer-aided translation, machine-assisted translation) in which human translator incorporates with 10 consistency, make it easy to plan and construct reference material, and improve the accuracy of the translation process (7) In conclusion, two mainly mentioned benefits of CAT tools were that CAT tools could help the students to find appropriate terminologies and vocabularies, and that CAT tools were fast and convenient 4.1.2.3 Effectiveness of CAT tools The interview responses of the item (4): (1) “Very effective” (2) “Very effective” (3) “Very effective” (4) “Very effective” (5) “Very effective” (6) “Some CAT tools seem really effective” (7) “Effective” (8) “Rather good” (9) “It is very helpful and convenient when I need to look up new words” (10) “Quite effective” The overall participants considered CAT tools as very effective tools due to the fact that seven comments from the participants (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), and (8) had the words “Very effective”, “really effective“, “very helpful and convenient” considered CAT tools as very effective tools in translating technical documents Other comments (7), (8) and (10) had the words “quite effective”, “it’s rather good”, and “effective” that considered CAT tools as effective or quite effective The interview responses of the item (5): (1) “Google Translate” (2) “Online dictionaries and thesaurus” (3) “I think it’s Google Translate” (4) “Google Translate” 35 (5) “For me, Lac Viet is the most effective tool” (6) “Online dictionaries” (7) “In my opinion, Trados is extremely good thing” (8) “Lacviet dictionary” (9) “In my opinion, it’s Lacviet” (10) “Online dictionaries” The majority of the students considered online or electronic dictionaries as the most effective tool in translating technical documents Six comments (2), (5), (6), (8), (9), and (10) mentioned “Lacviet” or “dictionaries” focused on online or electronic dictionaries Among them, three of the comments (5), (8) and (9) referred to Lac Viet dictionary Google translate was also noticeable as the most effective CAT tool with three comments (1), (3), and (4) mentioned “Google Translate” “Trados” was also mentioned by one comment (7) In conclusion, the majority of the students considered online or electronic dictionaries as the most effective tool in translating technical documents 4.1.2.4 Types of documents that students used CAT tools to translate The interview responses of the item (6): (1) “Manuals, certificates” (2) “Reports, user guides and research proposals” (3) “Manuals and advertisements” (4) “Manuals” (5) “Manuals” (6) “Instructions, Certifications, Advertisements” (7) “I once translated the manual of coffee maker and its parts” (8) “Software user guides, Annual examine health report” (9) “Manuals, instructions for use of technical products” (10) “It’s manuals and forms” All participants provided information on the type of technical documents that they used CAT tools to translate All comments had the words “Manuals”, “user guides”, 36 “Instructions”, “the manual of coffee maker and its parts”, “Software user guides”, that clearly confirmed manual were the type of technical documents that probably all students use CAT tools to translate They also used CAT tools to translate other types of technical documents namely: certificates (1) and (6), advertisements (3) and (6), reports (2) and (8), research proposals (2) and forms (10) However just a minority of the students used CAT tools to translate these types of technical documents 4.2 Discussion 4.2.1 The popularity of CAT tools among students when translating technical documents The results of this current research study suggested that in general, CAT tools were very popular among students when translating technical documents However, as only one-third of the students could correctly define CAT tools, the majority of the students used CAT tools without fully understanding the tools This was probably due to the gap between proper teaching and actual implementation of CAT tools among students The finding also confirmed the first expected outcome in Chapter More specifically, online or electronic dictionaries, glossaries were the most popular type of CAT tools among students as most students used this type of CAT tools when translating technical documents Among this type of CAT tools, Lacviet Dictionary was the most popular Although one-fourth of the students preferred printed dictionaries to online or electronic dictionaries, most of them still used the latter Hence stressed the popularity of this type of CAT tools Spelling and grammar checkers were also popular with a slightly less popularity level Google translate, tools that can capture data into electronic forms, and Microsoft Word were also popular among the students Although the majority of the students had heard about translation softwares and therefore, proved this type of CAT tools was also popular, only one-third of the students actually used them to translate technical documents Trados stood out as the 37 most popular translation software with high popularity level while other translation softwares were not popular It could be concluded from this finding that more complicated CAT tools were not as popular among the students as simpler CAT tools 4.2.2 The frequency of CAT tools implementation among students CAT tools were used very frequent according to the results of the interview Most of the students reported to use CAT tools very often A significant number of students even reported to use CAT tools in every translation situation More detailed, online or electronic dictionaries, glossaries were used very frequent by the students Lacviet dictionary was the most popular tool among this type This showed the dominant popularity of Lac Viet dictionary among other electronic dictionaries The finding in this part denied the expected outcome that Google Translate would be the most frequently used CAT tools Google translate was also used frequently when translating technical documents 4.2.3 Types of technical documents that students use CAT tools to translate All of the students used CAT tools to translate manuals The finding in this part confirmed the expected outcome that manuals would be the most frequent type of technical document that students apply CAT tools to translate Other types of technical documents that students used CAT tools to translate include certificates, advertisements, reports, research proposals and forms However, few students used CAT tools to translate these types of technical documents 4.2.4 Benefits and effectiveness of CAT tools The majority of the students considered CAT tools as very effective and therefore confirmed the expected outcome in Chapter According to the interview results, online or electronic dictionaries, glossaries and Google Translate were two most effective CAT tools when translating technical documents Trados was also evaluated as one of the most effective CAT tools by a small number of students 38 According to the findings, the two most prominent benefits of CAT tools belonged to the two most effective CAT tools More than half of the students considered CAT tools as a good way to find suitable terminologies and vocabularies This finding confirmed Wikipedia (“Computer-assisted translation”, 2015) statement that CAT tools can help the translators to easily manage and search for terminologies appear in the translation process Also, nearly half of the students evaluated CAT tools as fast and convenient tools when translating technical documents This finding agreed with Barrachina et al (2009) in their research study on translation memory as the finding of less typing effort in their study would be likely lead to faster and more convenient translation process In addition, CAT tools had been reported to have some other benefits such as: they could preserve the format of the original documents, ensure the terminology consistency due to the ability to find and manage terminology use in the translation process (which also agreed with Merkel (1996) statement that a type of CAT tools can help with consistency in technical translation), make it easy to plan and construct reference material, and improve the accuracy of the translation process 39 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS This chapter presents (1) conclusion, (2) limitations and (3) recommendations and (4) directions for further research 5.1 Conclusions In order to answer the research questions presented in Chapter 2, namely: 1/ How popular are CAT tools among students when translating technical documents? 2/ How often students use CAT tools to translate technical documents? 3/ What types of technical documents students use CAT tools to translate? 4/ What benefits students think CAT tools provide them? The conclusions are demonstrated in this section First, the results of this research study stated that CAT tools were very popular among English Translation and Interpreting senior students at Can Tho University Online or electronic dictionaries, glossaries are the most popular CAT tool Spelling checker and grammar checker were also very popular While Google Translate and tools that can capture data into electronic forms were popular as well However, more complicated and professional translation softwares were not as popular among the students as simpler tools Second, the findings of this research study also indicated that English Translation and Interpreting senior students at Can Tho University used CAT tools very often although not having a clear understanding of these tools The students used online or electronic dictionaries, glossaries and Google Translate most often Third, manuals were the most popular technical documents type that English Translation and Interpreting senior students at Can Tho University used CAT tools to translate Other types of technical documents that the students used CAT tools to translate were certificates, advertisements, reports, and forms though the students did not frequently use CAT tools to translate these types of technical documents 40 Fourth, most English Translation and Interpreting senior students at Can Tho University considered CAT tools as very effective tools with two main benefits They were fast and convenient and they had the ability to help the students to find appropriate terminologies and vocabularies Other benefits of CAT tools were also mentioned namely: the ability to preserve the format of the original documents, and the ability to ensure terminology, easy to plan and construct reference material, and improve accuracy 5.2 Limitations This research study had three obvious limitations The first limitation was the number of participants The current study just surveyed 60 English Translation and Interpreting senior students at Can Tho University and interviewed just ten participants With a low number of participants, the recent study could not ensure high reliability The second limitation was time so further research on each individual type of CAT tools could not be conducted The research did not provide detailed information about each particular type of CAT tools The third limitation was the resources of previous research studies that led to difficulties in finding related research studies or background theories for literature review This limitation greatly challenged the researcher to find relevant research studies on the same topic For that reason, this research could not find various previous studies to review 5.3 Recommendations The findings of this research study indicated that most students used CAT tools when translating technical documents despite the majority of them did not have a clear understanding of these tools Moreover, the use of professional CAT tools such as Trados and other famous translation softwares was not popular Therefore, there should be courses to teach students how to use CAT tools appropriately in order to 41 maximize the benefits of CAT tools and popularize the use of professional CAT tools among these future translators 5.4 Directions for further research Regarding further research on this topic, researchers should increase the number of participants not only to English Translation and Interpreting senior students but also to third-year students As the sample size increases the reliability of this research study would also increase In addition, there should not be time restriction so the researchers can further develop the study each particular type of CAT tools The implementation of each particular type of CAT tools would be better described and therefore would help the students to consider choosing the most suitable type of CAT tools Finally, the researcher should compare between the practice of CAT application and translation quality The researcher can also investigate into the effectiveness of CAT tools in translating other kinds of documents 42 REFERENCES Baakes, K (1994) Key Issues of Syntax in the Special Languages of Science and Technology: English-German J Groos Babbie, E (2003) The Practice of Social Research Wadsworth Barrachina, S., Bender, O., Casacuberta, F., Civera, J., Cubel, E., Khadivi, S., Vilar, J.-M (2009) Statistical Approaches to Computer-Assisted Translation Computational Linguistics Retrieved April 15th, 2015 from http://aclweb.org/anthology/J/J09/J09-1002.pdf Bhatia, V K (2002) A generic view of academic discourse London & Newyork Longman Bowker, L (2002) Computer-aided Translation Technology: A Practical Introduction University of Ottawa Press Byrne, J (2006) Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation Springe Calmorin, L P & Calmorin, M A (2007) Research Methods and Thesis Writing (2nd Ed) Manila Book Store, Inc (RBSI) Các phần mềm hỗ trợ dịch (CAT) có thị trường giới (2009) Retrieved May 2nd, 2015, from www.thegioichu.com/forum/tabid/58/forumid/5/threadid/129/scope/posts/default.aspx Computer-assisted translation (n.d.) Retrieved April 10, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-assisted_translation 43 Craciunescu, O., Gerding-Salas, C., & Stringer-O'Keeffe, S (2004) Machine Translation and Computer-Assisted Translation: a New Way of Translating? Retrieved from http://translationjournal.net/journal/29computers.htm Dickins, J., Hervey, S., & Higgins, I (2002) Thinking Arabic Translation: A Course in Translation Method: Arabic to English Routledge Gay, L R & Airasian, P (2003) Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Applications (7th Ed) New Jersey Merrill Prentice Hall Hatim, B., & Munday, J (2004) Translation: An Advanced Resource Book London Routledge Leedy, P D., & Ormrod, J E ( 2001) Practical Research: Planning and Design Merrill Prentice Hall Merkel, M (1996) "Consistency and variation in technical translations – a study of translators’ attitudes" In: Unity in Diversity, Translation Study Conference Dublin Milne, John (1999) Questionnaires: Advantages and Disadvantages, Centre for CBL in Land Use and Environmental Sciences, Aberdeen University Retrieved March 20th, 2015 from http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/ltdi/cookbook/info_questionnaires/ Munday, J (2001) Introducing Translation Studies Routledge Newmark, P (1988) A Textbook of Translation Prentice Hall International Nguyen, Phuc Tu (2013) An investigation into CTU's English Speaking Anxiety and Preferable Feedback Strategies Can Tho University 44 Nguyen, T.T.L (2014) Technical translation: An investigation into Challenges Facing Can Tho University English Translation and Interpreting Majored Students in Translating Manuals Can Tho University Nida, E A., & Taber, C R (1982) The Theory and Practice of Translation Brill Academic Pub Nirmaldasan (2005) The Technical Texts SDNB Vaishnav College Qualitative and Quantitative Research (n.d) Retrieved May 1st, 2015, from http://www.bl.uk/bipc/resmark/qualquantresearch//qualquantresearch.html Technical Writers (2014) Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S Department of Labor Retrieved April 28th, 2015 from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-andcommunication/technical-writers.htm Terminology (n.d.) Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/terminology 45 APPENDIX A SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH QUESTIONNAIRE Dear participant, My name is Tran Duc Tai, student’s code: 7116873, from English Translation and Interpreting Class XH11Z8A1, Course 37, Department of English Language and Culture, School of Foreign Languages The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect information for my study on the implementation of computer assisted translation tools in translating technical documents Please spend 10 minutes to answer all the questions in this questionnaire Your answers will be used for my thesis only and will be kept confidential If you have any questions about my research, please contact my supervisor, Ms Truong Thi Ngoc Diep, M.Ed at ttndiep@ctu.edu.vn Thank you very much, Tran Duc Tai A GENERAL INFORMATION Name: (optional) ………………………… Female:……… Class: ………………………… Male:… … Course:………………… B QUESTIONS Question 1/ Have you learned technical translation in your university? yes no Question 2/ Have you translated technical documents (manuals, product or service instructions, reports, research proposals, scientific documents, etc)? yes no Question 3/ Do you use online or electronic dictionaries, glossaries? (If no, go to Question 6) yes no Question 4/ Do you prefer printed dictionaries to electronic dictionaries? yes no Question 5/ Do you use online or electronic dictionaries when translating technical documents? yes no Question 6/ Do you use GOOGLE TRANSLATE when translating technical documents? yes no Question 7/ Do you use spell checker or grammar checker (in Microsoft Word or in other softwares) when translating technical documents? yes no 46 Question 8/ Do you use scanning device or photo-pdf-document conversion softwares to convert hard copy documents to editable, electronic documents? yes no Question 9/ Do you use online or electronic glossaries when translating technical documents? yes no Question 10/ Do you keep your terminologies after translating technical documents? (if no, go to Question 12) yes no Question 11/ Where you keep your terminologies after translating technical documents? (can choose more than one) a/ in Microsoft Word documents b/ in notebook c/ in other softwares Other softwares: …………………………… Question 12/ Have you ever heard about translation softwares? (If no, go to Question 17) yes no Question 13/ Have you ever heard about these translation softwares? (can choose more than one) WORDFAST Omega-T TRADOS Babylon Pro Déjà Vu Others: …………………………… Question 14/ Have you ever used translation softwares in translating technical documents? yes Question 15/ Have you ever used these softwares when translating technical documents? (can choose more than one) WORDFAST Omega-T TRADOS Babylon Pro Déjà Vu Others: …………………………… Question 16/ How you define a computer-assisted translation tool (computer-aided translation, machine-assisted translation)? a/ It is a very special software specifically designed for professional translators b/ Any computer and electronic tool that help me when I translate c/ I not know THANK YOU 47 no APPENDIX B INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Dear participant, My name is Tran Duc Tai, student’s code: 7116873, from English Translation and Interpreting Class XH11Z8A1, Course 37, Department of English Language and Culture, School of Foreign Languages The purpose of this interview is to collect information for my study on the implementation of computer assisted translation tools in translating technical documents Please spend 10 minutes for this interview Your answers will be used for my thesis only and will be kept confidential If you have any questions about my research, please contact my supervisor, Ms Truong Thi Ngoc Diep, M.Ed at ttndiep@ctu.edu.vn Thank you very much, Tran Duc Tai A GENERAL INFORMATION Name: (optional) ………………………… Female:……… Class: ………………………… Male:… … Course:………………… 1/ How often you use computer assisted translation tools? Very often 2/ What CAT tools you use most often? Online dictionaries (Oxford, Merriam-Webster, tratu…) Google Search Google translator Online pdf-word converter 3/ Why you use CAT tools when translating technical documents? Look up meaning of new words, definitions Fast, translate new words in a short time Preserve the format of the original documents 48 4/ How effective you think CAT tools can help you when translating technical documents? Some CAT tools seem really effective 5/ What CAT tools you think is the most effective when translating technical documents? Why? Online dictionaries 6/ Give examples of technical documents you use CAT tools to translate? Instructions, Certifications, Advertisements 49