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Article published In:
Target
Vol. 34:2 (2022) ► pp.309–342

The impact of text presentation on translator performance

ORCID logo | Zurich University of Applied Sciences | University of Zurich
| Lilt, Inc.
| Lilt, Inc.
| Lilt, Inc.
| University of Zurich | University of Edinburgh
| Lilt, Inc.

Widely used computer-aided translation (CAT) tools divide documents into segments, such as sentences, and arrange them side-by-side in a spreadsheet-like view. We present the first controlled evaluation of these design choices on translator performance, measuring speed and accuracy in three experimental text-processing tasks. We find significant evidence that sentence-by-sentence presentation enables faster text reproduction and within-sentence error identification compared to unsegmented text, and that a top-and-bottom arrangement of source and target sentences enables faster text reproduction compared to a side-by-side arrangement. For revision, on the other hand, we find that presenting unsegmented text results in the highest accuracy and time efficiency. Our findings have direct implications for best practices in designing CAT tools.

Keywords: computer-aided translation, human-computer interaction, user interface, text presentation, productivity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Text and document visualisation
    • 2.2Text and document visualisation in CAT tools
    • 2.3Understanding translator performance
  • 3.Preliminary feedback from potential users
    • 3.1Method
    • 3.2Ideation
    • 3.3Concept testing
      • 3.3.1Praise and opportunities
      • 3.3.2Criticism and limitations
  • 4.Experimental methods
    • 4.1Tasks
      • 4.1.1Text reproduction (copy)
      • 4.1.2Error identification (scan)
      • 4.1.3Revision (revise)
    • 4.2Materials
      • 4.2.1Texts
      • 4.2.2User Interfaces (UIs)
    • 4.3Participants
    • 4.4Procedure
    • 4.5Data analysis
  • 5.Experimental results
    • 5.1Text reproduction (copy)
      • 5.1.1Speed
      • 5.1.2Accuracy
    • 5.2Error identification (scan)
      • 5.2.1Speed
      • 5.2.2Accuracy
    • 5.3Revision (revise)
      • 5.3.1Speed
      • 5.3.2Accuracy
    • 5.4UI preference
  • 6.Discussion and design implications
    • 6.1Segmentation
    • 6.2Orientation
    • 6.3Limitations
    • 6.4Future work
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 23 November 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.20006.lau
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