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Translating Chinese Neologisms Without Knowledge of Context: An Exploratory Analysis of an Eye-Tracking and Key-Logging Experiment

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Explorations in Empirical Translation Process Research

Part of the book series: Machine Translation: Technologies and Applications ((MATRA,volume 3))

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Abstract

As would be intuitively expected, knowledge of context has a positive impact on the effort involved in translation. However, studies regarding how knowledge of context affects the grasp of meaning of words and how it influences the effort, translation strategy, and translation quality are still scarce. Our study seeks to explore how the absence of knowledge of context can be compensated for Chinese neologism translation utilizing eye-tracking and key-logging techniques along with a retrospective interview and holistic translation quality assessment. A pilot study was conducted among three groups of participants including one beginning translation student, one advanced translation student, and one professional translator. They were asked to perform three written from-scratch translations from Chinese to English, after which a retrospective interview was conducted to check their knowledge of context and their translation strategy for the neologisms. Various indicators of effort including ST and TT gaze measures and keystroke measures were analyzed and compared to the subjects’ self-assessment. Our study is expected to help get an understanding of the following issues: (1) Does compensation for the absence of knowledge of context induce an increased effort in Chinese neologism translation? Is translation expertise related to effort? (2) What translation process, vertical or horizontal, is more triggered for this compensation? (3) What strategies do translators use for compensation in terms of different categories of Chinese neologisms? The recursive model of translation proposed by Schaeffer and Carl (Transl Interpreting Stud 8:169–190, 2013) was used to help explain our findings.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Defeng Li and Professor Victoria Lei, from the University of Macau, for their guidance and assistance in my work. Thanks are also given to Professor Michael Carl from Kent State University and Mr. Yuxiang Wei from Dublin City University, for their comments on the chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Studies of Translation, Interpreting and Cognition, University of Macau, Macau, SAR, China

    Jinjin Chen

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  1. Jinjin Chen
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  1. Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA

    Michael Carl

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Chen, J. (2021). Translating Chinese Neologisms Without Knowledge of Context: An Exploratory Analysis of an Eye-Tracking and Key-Logging Experiment. In: Carl, M. (eds) Explorations in Empirical Translation Process Research. Machine Translation: Technologies and Applications, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69777-8_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69777-8_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-69776-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-69777-8

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