How external and internal factors affect translators’ source preferences – survey results

ABSTRACT

Existing studies on translators’ information-seeking behavior (ISB) have either investigated translators in general or a selected group of translators (e.g. legal translators). The aim of this study was to investigate whether there were differences in the source preferences of translators according to selected factors, such as age, experience, direction of translation, use of CAT tools, post-editing practice, working language, and translation speed. The data were collected through a survey of 226 Polish professional translators. In order to examine the possible differences, we compared the answers of the selected translator subgroups (divided according to the above factors) to one question: ‘On a scale of 1–5, how often do you use the following sources when translating?’ The results were tested for statistical significance. It was found that the authorless online sources were used more often by younger and less experienced translators. MT and CAT technologies do not relieve translators of information research (no drastic differences in the frequency of source use). Translation into the mother tongue generally requires more source consultation than translation into the L2. Translators using technology rely more on non-traditional information sources.

KEYWORDS:

• Information-seeking behavior
• ISB
• professional translators
• source use

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 “Tłumacze – grupa otwarta – zlecenia dla tłumaczy” (35,000 members), “TŁUMACZENIA” (10,000 members).

2 The survey included three ‘attention tests’ (Q48, Q68, Q129) where participants were instructed to select the 'Definitely Yes' answer. Responses that deviated from this instruction were carefully checked for inconsistencies or illogical answers by reviewing all the remaining questions. Q48 had three incorrect answers, and after analysing the remaining answers, one response was excluded. Q129 had three incorrect answers, and after analysing the remaining answers, one response was excluded. Q69 contained no incorrect answers.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joanna Sycz-Opoń

Joanna Sycz-Opoń is an assistant professor at the Institute of Linguistics and a freelance translator. She is the author of publications on legal translation, translators’ information behavior and translator training. She teaches legal and economic translation, interpreting and new technologies in translation.

Urszula Paradowska

Urszula Paradowska is an assistant professor at the Department of Foreign Languages and a freelance translator. Her main research interests include translation-related technologies, translator training and authentic project work. She teaches translation studies, new technologies in translation and translation projects.