Machine translation post-editing through emotional narratives

Machine translation (MT) and post-editing (PE) have become increasingly common in translation training (Guerberof-Arenas and Moorkens 2019; Sánchez Ramos 2022). However, few studies have explored how trainee translators’ emotional responses to MT and PE impact their motivation to incorporate these tools in their translation practice. Understanding and managing the emotions of students is crucial to integrating MT and PE within translator training as a whole, and to fully preparing students for their professional careers. Building on previous studies applying emotional narrative analysis to translators’ experiences with technology (Koskinen and Ruokonen 2017; Ruokonen and Koskinen 2017), this article explores the emotional responses of a group of 35 Spanish undergraduate translation students to MT and PE using an emotional narrative methodology. Participants were asked to write an emotional narrative in the form of either a love letter or a break-up letter addressed to MT. Overall, participants were found to be more positive than negative in their attitude towards MT and PE. Among the 35 emotional narratives, there were 20 love letters and 15 break-up letters. Thematic analysis revealed two main themes in the students’ narratives relating to (1) satisfaction with MT output and (2) the efficiency of MT. These exploratory findings reinforce Yang and Wang’s (2019) call for more research into what factors contribute to students’ intention to use MT and the consequent effects of using MT. They can also inform pedagogy so that translator trainers better understand the factors that motivate students to incorporate MT in their translation practice.