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Article published In:
Interdisciplinarity in Translation and Interpreting Process Research
Edited by Maureen Ehrensberger-Dow, Susanne Göpferich and Sharon O'Brien
[Target 25:1] 2013
► pp. 140–154

Sound effects in translation

| Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Denmark

On the basis of a pilot study using speech recognition (SR) software, this paper attempts to illustrate the benefits of adopting an interdisciplinary approach in translator training. It shows how the collaboration between phoneticians, translators and interpreters can (1) advance research, (2) have implications for the curriculum, (3) be pedagogically motivating, and (4) prepare students for employing translation technology in their future practice as translators. In a twophase study in which 14 MA students translated texts in three modalities (sight, written, and oral translation using an SR program), Translog was employed to measure task times. The quality of the products was assessed by three experienced translators, and the number and types of misrecognitions were identified by a phonetician. Results indicate that SR translation provides a potentially useful supplement to written translation, or indeed an alternative to it.

Keywords: written translation, sight translation, oral translation, speech recognition, pronunciation, productivity, translation modalities
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology
    • 2.1Research questions and methods of analysis
    • 2.2Procedure
  • 3.Analyses
    • 3.1Results for phase 1
    • 3.2Comparison of results for phases 1 and 2 (March 2010 vs. December 2010)
      • 3.2.1Time and quality (Research questions 1 and 2)
      • 3.2.2Number and types of misrecognitions (Research question 3)
    • 3.3Quantitative conclusions
    • 3.4Retrospective interviews
  • 4.Discussion and conclusion
  • Dedication
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 4 March 2013
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.25.1.11mee
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