Publication type: Conference other
Type of review: Not specified
Title: Translators in the loop : understanding how they work with CAT tools
Authors: Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen
Conference details: HaCat 2014 Human in the Loop: Workshop on Humans and Computer-Assisted Translation EACL, Gothenburg, Sweden, 26 April 2014
Issue Date: 2014
Language: English
Subjects: Human-machine interaction; ErgoTrans_Presentation; CAT tool; Cognitive ergonomics
Subject (DDC): 004: Computer science
418.02: Translating and interpreting
Abstract: The research that we have been carrying out at translators’ workplaces over the past few years has provided indications that some CAT tools are not being used to their full potential or are even being ignored by the users they were (or should have been) designed for. Since by nature humans seem to resist  changing habits and procedures that do the job, it is easy to attribute that to the intransigence of older translators and shift the focus to designing new tools for digital natives. However, the cognitive demands of processing complex input in one language while producing and revising and/or assessing and revising output in another add a new dimension to the usual considerations of the human-machine loop of interaction, which may be independent of the translators’ age or experience. In fact, the productivity constraints that many professional translators work under means that they might be adjusting more to their tools than adjusting their tools’ settings to optimize their (the translators’) performance. And if those tools have not been designed to meet their users’ cognitive and physical ergonomic needs, their use may actually slow down the translation process and have potentially detrimental effects on quality.
URI: https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/4906
Fulltext version: Published version
License (according to publishing contract): Licence according to publishing contract
Departement: Applied Linguistics
Organisational Unit: Institute of Translation and Interpreting (IUED)
Appears in collections:Publikationen Angewandte Linguistik

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Ehrensberger-Dow, M. (2014). Translators in the loop : understanding how they work with CAT tools. HaCat 2014 Human in the Loop: Workshop on Humans and Computer-Assisted Translation EACL, Gothenburg, Sweden, 26 April 2014.
Ehrensberger-Dow, M. (2014) ‘Translators in the loop : understanding how they work with CAT tools’, in HaCat 2014 Human in the Loop: Workshop on Humans and Computer-Assisted Translation EACL, Gothenburg, Sweden, 26 April 2014.
M. Ehrensberger-Dow, “Translators in the loop : understanding how they work with CAT tools,” in HaCat 2014 Human in the Loop: Workshop on Humans and Computer-Assisted Translation EACL, Gothenburg, Sweden, 26 April 2014, 2014.
EHRENSBERGER-DOW, Maureen, 2014. Translators in the loop : understanding how they work with CAT tools. In: HaCat 2014 Human in the Loop: Workshop on Humans and Computer-Assisted Translation EACL, Gothenburg, Sweden, 26 April 2014. Conference presentation. 2014
Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen. 2014. “Translators in the Loop : Understanding How They Work with CAT Tools.” Conference presentation. In HaCat 2014 Human in the Loop: Workshop on Humans and Computer-Assisted Translation EACL, Gothenburg, Sweden, 26 April 2014.
Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen. “Translators in the Loop : Understanding How They Work with CAT Tools.” HaCat 2014 Human in the Loop: Workshop on Humans and Computer-Assisted Translation EACL, Gothenburg, Sweden, 26 April 2014, 2014.


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