What You See Is What You Get? Access to Visual Information in Translation Interfaces: A Pilot Experiment José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group of Research Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Outline What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain) 1.Intro to a problem 2.Pilot experiment design 3.Results 4.Conclusions

1. Intro to a problem What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Translation Interfaces A definition: A translation interface is the visual environment that translators see on screen as they “edit the text”. What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

A Bit of Text Linguistics A text is made up by verbal and non-verbal information elements. Verbal elements: the characters Non-verbal elements: –Images –Layout –Space distribution of information (tables, headings, paragraphs, etc.) What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

The Problem In many translation interfaces, the non-verbal information elements are not present or displayed as they are displayed in the source text, or will be displayed in the target text. What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Hypotheses Filtering out the non-verbal information of texts when students translate using a non- WYSIWYG translation interface affects negatively on the quality of the target texts produced, and on the production speed. Texts translated using WYSIWYG translation interfaces include fewer errors than those translated using non-WYSIWYG interfaces. When translators use WYSIWYG translation interfaces, they work faster than when they use non-WYSIWYG interfaces. What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

2. The Pilot Experiment What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Experiment Design I Informants: 6 Postgrad Students En >> Es language combination Semi-professionals Limited expertise using TM tools What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Experiment Design II Tools: –Trados + Word: WYSIWYG Interface –Trados TagEditor: non-WYSIWYG Interface Same Tool 2 Translation Interfaces What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Experiment Design III Texts: 2 Texts (En >> Es) User manuals Comparable length and structure Adapted to evaluate the informants’ performance in specific situations: –Punctuation errors and foreign rules –Unclear syntax –References to images –Homonymy What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Experiment Design IV Data Compilation: Translated Texts Direct Observation (researcher present during translation) Screen-recording videos of the computer activity –Analyze decisions –Evaluate time devoted to the activities What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

3. Results What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Punctuation All the informants had the same or fewer errors when they translated with the WYSIWYG interface. Total errors –WYSIWYG: 12 –Non-WYSIWYG: 20 What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Images, Homonymy, Syntax Subject-matter knowledge more relevant than visual information –Little subject-matter knowledge + non- WYSIWYG interface = More risk of errors No clear group patterns Qualitative data from each informant –References to images in text What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Other Observed Issues Inconsistent marking of button names with punctuation marks. Inconsistent use of capitalization. Problems not detected because the informant focused on another confusing element of the same segment. What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Timing No clear time difference between time needed and the interface used. When they used the non-WYSIWYG interface, informants worked faster in the “easy” parts, and needed extra time to make “complex” translation decisions. What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

4. Conclusions What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Final Thoughts I Lack of visual information in the translation environment is directly related to: –punctuation problems –inadequate translation decisions because of lack of awareness of a problem (in some scenarios) –extra time needed to make right translation decisions (when aware of a potential problem – in some scenarios) What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Final Thoughts II Lack of visual information in the translation environment may also involve faster translation decisions in low-risk parts of the text (fewer distraction elements). Translation strategies changed depending on the tool used. Training on tools for translators should go beyond the technical know-how. What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

Discussion José Ramón Biau Gil joseramon.biauATurv.cat joseramon.biauurv.cat Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili Tarragona (Spain) What You See Is Waht You Get? José Ramón Biau Gil 2007 Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)