Cover not available

In:Exploring and Exploiting Parallel Corpora of Spanish: The PaCorES corpus collection in language and translation education and research
Edited by Irene Doval and M. Teresa Sánchez Nieto
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 129] 2026
► pp. 136–159

The use of the German-Spanish Parallel Corpus (PaGeS) in the translation classroom

 | University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
 | University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Translation students now have more resources at their disposal than ever. Of the many tools available to them, corpora can be particularly valuable, since they provide direct answers to translation problems; however, students frequently fail to make use of them. The purpose of this study was to examine how ten students from the University of the Basque Country interacted with the German-Spanish Parallel Corpus (PaGeS). In an experiment, we made audio recordings of the students’ verbalizations and videos of their computer monitors during a translation task. It can be concluded from our study that there was a predominance of basic searches, suggesting that students were not taking full advantage of the corpus’s potential. This may be due to a preference for other resources or insufficient exposure to the corpus itself.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The use of corpora in translation teaching
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Source texts
    • 3.3Data analysis process
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1What do they search for?
      • Legal terminology
      • Verbs of motion
      • Phraseological units
      • Others
    • 4.2How do they search?
    • 4.3Reflections and reactions from students
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
References (22)
References
Aston, G. (1999). Corpus use and learning to translate. Textus, 12, 289–314. Retrieved on 30 March 2026 from [URL]
Borg, C., Heine, C., & Risku, H. (2025). Observations and diaries. In A. M. Rojo López, & R. Muñoz Martín (Eds.), Research methods in cognitive translation and interpreting studies (pp.108–132). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Borja Albi, A. (2019). How corpora can assist legal translation learners: The GENTT TransTools Corpora platform and Sketch Engine. Quaderns de Filologia: Estudis Lingüístics XXIV, 24, 21–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Buendía-Castro, M. (2025). Dictionaries vs. AI-based resources: Preferences of trainee translators. Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America, 46(1), 103–120. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cifuentes-Férez, P., & Rojo, A. (2015). Thinking for translating: A think-aloud protocol on the translation of manner-of-motion verbs. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies, 27(2), 273–300. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doval, I., & Sánchez Nieto, M. T. (2026). Parallel corpora Spanish (PaCorES): A collection of multifunctional parallel corpora. Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics, 39(2), 1–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Enríquez Raído, V., Angelone, E., & Olalla Soler, C. (2025). Screen recording. In A. M. Rojo López, & R. Muñoz Martín (Eds.), Research methods in cognitive translation and interpreting studies (pp.133–156). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frankenberg-Garcia, A. (2015). Training translators to use corpora hands-on: Challenges and reactions by a group of thirteen students at a UK university. Corpora, 10(3), 351–380. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jääskeläinen, R. (1999). Tapping the process: An explorative study of the cognitive and affective factors involved in translating. University of Joensuu.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Think-aloud protocol. In L. van Doorslaer & Y. Gambier (Eds.), Handbook of translation studies (pp.371–373). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jakobsen, A. L. (2003). Effects of think aloud on translation speed, revision and segmentation. In F. Alves (Ed.), Triangulating translation. Perspectives in process oriented research (pp.69–95). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kübler, N. (2011). Working with different corpora in translation teaching. In A. Frankenberg-Garcia, L. Flowerdew, & G. Aston. New trends in corpora and language learning (pp.62–80). Continuum. [URL]
Kübler, N., Pecman, M., & Volanschi-Mestivier, A. (2015). A study on the efficiency of corpus use for translation students during terminology processing and LSP translation. CULT Conference, 26–29 May, Alicante.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, K. (2020). Corpus-assisted translation teaching. Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, K., Su, Y., Lai, C., & Jin, T. (2024). How do students engage with parallel corpora in translation? A multiple case study approach. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 34(4), 1746–1766. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, K., Su, Y., Li, D. (2023). How do students perform and perceive parallel corpus use in translation tasks? Evidence from an experimental study. In J. Pan & S. Laviosa (Eds.), Corpora and translation education. Advances and challenges (pp.135–157). Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marco, J., & van Lawick, H. (2009). Using corpora and retrieval software as a source of materials for the translation classroom. In A. Beeby, P. Rodríguez Inés, & P. Sánchez-Gijón (Eds.), Corpus use and translating. Corpus use for learning to translate and learning corpus use to translate (pp.9–28). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roiss, S. (2021). Y las máquinas rompieron a traducir... Consideraciones didácticas en relación con la traducción automática de referencias culturales en el ámbito jurídico. Trans, 25, 491–505. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rojo, A. (2013). Diseños y métodos de investigación en traducción. Editorial Síntesis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sycz-Opoń, J. (2019). Information-seeking behavior of translation students at the University of Silesia during legal translation — An empirical investigation. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 13(2), 152–176. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zanettin, F. (2002). DIY corpora: The WWW and the translator. In B. Maia, J. Haller, & M. Ulrych (Eds.), Training the language services provider for the new millennium (pp.239–248). Universidade do Porto.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue