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Article In: Translation Spaces: Online-First Articles

Investigating the workplace networks of Chinese in-house translators in the GenAI era

ORCiD logo with link | The Chinese University of Hong KongShenzhen
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Abstract
Social network analysis (SNA) posits that individuals’ professional activities are shaped by their relationships with other actors and should therefore be understood through a network-based perspective. With generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) increasingly demonstrating agentic features and becoming integrated into translation workplaces, translators are required to interact with both human stakeholders and GenAI tools, which complicates their work. To investigate how translators’ workplace practices are shaped in the GenAI era, this explorative study adopts an ego-centred SNA approach and employs the three-concentric-circles model in semi-structured interviews with seven in-house translators in China. By examining the structure of translators’ professional networks, the study elucidates their interactions with both human stakeholders and GenAI within their workplace settings. It further provides practical insights into the design of AI-integrated translation workflows from a socio-technical perspective and offers implications for translation training programmes in preparing students for AI-integrated translation workplaces.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Workplace research in translation studies
  • Social network analysis
  • Methodology
    • Research design
    • Data collection
      • Participants
      • Process
    • Data analysis
  • Results
  • Discussion
    • Human-human interactions in the work practices of translators
    • Human-AI interactions in the work practices of translators
    • Implications for AI-integrated translation workplace and training
    • Limitations and further research
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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