The activity of producing translations, in all variations from literature through patient information leaflets to subtitles, does not occur in isolation in a single translator’s mind independent of that individual’s physical setting. It necessarily involves tools, from those as traditional as pen and paper to complex technology that combines translation memory with adaptive neural Machine translation. Anyone who has been involved in the activity of translation in the last decade or two is aware that it has become inseparable from access to electronic resources, language technology, and human-computer interaction. The latter is often addressed within the discipline of ergonomics, which more broadly is concerned with “understanding the interactions among humans and other elements of a system”, as defined by the International Ergonomics Association (IEA). In the case of translation, the other elements of the system include not only source texts, parallel texts, various types of resources, software, computers, and other equipment but also the physical, social, and organizational setting in which the translator is situated or embedded.

References

Bednárová-Gibová, Klaudia

2021 “Organizational Ergonomics of Translation as a Powerful Predictor of Translators’ Happiness at Work?” Perspectives 29(3): 391–406.

Cadwell, Patrick, Sharon O’Brien, and Carlos S. C. Teixeira

2018 “Resistance and Accommodation: Factors for the (Non-) Adoption of Machine Translation among Professional Translators.” Perspectives 26 (3): 301–321.

Chesterman, Andrew

2009 “The Name and Nature of Translator Studies.” Hermes: Journal of Language and Communication Studies 42: 13–22.

Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen, Andrea Hunziker Heeb, Gary Massey, Ursula Meidert, Silke Neumann, and Heidrun Becker

2016 “An International Survey of the Ergonomics of Professional Translation.” ILCEA 27.

Elia

2019 Language Industry Survey –Expectations and Concerns of the European Language Industry 2019. Brussels: European Language Industry Association. https://​euatc​.org​/wp​-content​/uploads​/2019​/11​/2019​-Language​-Industry​-Survey​-Report​.pdf

Lavault-Olléon, Élisabeth

2011 “L’ergonomie, nouveau paradigme pour la traductologie.” ILCEA 14.

LeBlanc, Matthieu

2013 “Translators on Translation Memory (TM). Results of an Ethnographic Study in Three Translation Services and Agencies.” The International Journal for Translation & Interpreting 5 (2): 1–13.

O’Brien, Sharon, Maureen Ehrensberger-Dow, Marcel Hasler, and Megan Connolly

2017 “Irritating CAT Tool Features that Matter to Translators.” Hermes: Journal of Language and Communication in Business 56: 145–162. https://​tidsskrift​.dk​/her​/article​/view​/97229​/146028

Risku, Hanna

2004 Translationsmanagement. Interkulturelle Fachkommunikation im Informationszeitalter. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.

Teixeira, Carlos S. C., and Sharon O’Brien

2017 “Investigating the Cognitive Ergonomic Aspects of Translation Tools in a Workplace Setting.” Translation Spaces 6 (1): 79–103.

Vink, Peter, and Jussi Kantola

2011 Advances in Occupational, Social, and Organizational Ergonomics. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Further essential reading

Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen

2021 “Translation, Ergonomics and Cognition.” In Routledge Handbook of Translation and Cognition, ed. by Fabio Alves, and Arnt Lykke Jakobsen, 147–160. London: Routledge.

Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen, and Riitta Jääskeläinen

2019 “Ergonomics of Translation: Methodological, Practical, and Educational Implications.” In Moving Boundaries in Translation Studies, ed. by Helle V. Dam, Matilde Nisbeth Brøgger, and Karen Korning Zethsen, 132–150. London: Routledge.

Risku, Hanna, Regina Rogl, and Jelena Milosevic

(eds) 2019 Translation Practice in the Field: Current Research on Socio-cognitive Processes. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.