POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT and ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERT EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Te
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POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERT EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Temizöz Dipòsit Legal: T.58-2014 ADVERTIMENT. L'accés als continguts d'aquesta tesi doctoral i la seva utilització ha de respectar els drets de la persona autora. Pot ser utilitzada per a consulta o estudi personal, així com en activitats o materials d'investigació i docència en els termes establerts a l'art. 32 del Text Refós de la Llei de Propietat Intel·lectual (RDL 1/1996). Per altres utilitzacions es requereix l'autorització prèvia i expressa de la persona autora. En qualsevol cas, en la utilització dels seus continguts caldrà indicar de forma clara el nom i cognoms de la persona autora i el títol de la tesi doctoral. No s'autoritza la seva reproducció o altres formes d'explotació efectuades amb finalitats de lucre ni la seva comunicació pública des d'un lloc aliè al servei TDX. 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UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Temizöz ISBN: DL: ÖZLEM TEMİZÖZ POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: Subject-Matter E perts versus Professional Translators DOCTORAL THESIS UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI Tarragona 2013 UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Temizöz ISBN: DL: UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Temizöz ISBN: DL: UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Temizöz ISBN: DL: UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Temizöz ISBN: DL: ZLEM TEMZZ POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: Subject-Matter E perts versus Professional Translators DOCTORAL THESIS Supervise. by Professor Anthony Pym Department of English an. German Stu.ies Intercultural Stu.ies Group UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI Tarragona 2013 UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Temizöz ISBN: DL: UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Temizöz ISBN: DL: Abstract The present research aims to explore the specific characteristics of the postediting processes performed by subject-matter experts as opposed to professional translators. We compare the ways engineers and professional translators postedit a technical text, in terms of processing speed, time spent on documentation and the number of changes. We also compare the texts postedited by engineers and professional translators with regard to quality, using LISA QA Model 3.1. Further, we explore which of the following workflows is faster and produces outputs of higher quality: Postediting MT output by engineers and revising the postedited text by professional translators, or vice-versa. We conducted two sets of experiments that were screen-recorded with BB Flashback. First, ten professional translators and ten engineers postedited a 482-word text on the dismantling of end-of-life vehicles; the text had previously been translated by Google Translate. Then they filled out post-assignment questionnaires. Second, each group revised the posteditings performed by the other group. The findings suggest that expertise and experience in the subject-matter are the main factors determining postediting quality. When the recurrent errors are penalized and the outlier participants were removed, the engineers’ postediting of technical texts is of significantly higher quality than the translators’. When postediting, the translators’ and the engineers’ processing speed did not differ significantly. For technical texts, the quality improvement (added value) brought about by engineer-revision of translator-postediting is higher than vice-versa. However, this added value is significant only when the recurrent errors are penalized. Further, the quality of both the postedited texts and their revised versions (either performed by professional translators or engineers) changes significantly as a result of penalizing and unpenalizing recurrent errors. Keywords Postediting, machine translation, professional translators, subject-matter experts, processing speed, translation quality, recurrent errors, technical translations, LISA QA Model 3.1., Google Translate, documentation, self-revision. i UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Temizöz ISBN: DL: UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Temizöz ISBN: DL: Professor Anthony Pym URV. Av. Catalunya 35 43002 Tarragona, Spain [email protected] July 2, 2013 I hereby certify that the present study Postediting Machine Translation Output And Its Revision: Subject-Matter Experts versus Professional Translators , presented by Özlem Temizöz for the award of the degree of Doctor, has been carried out under the supervision of myself at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and that it fulfills the requirements for the mention “International Doctorate”. Professor Anthony Pym President Intercultural Studies Group European Society for Translation Universitat Rovira i Virgili Studies Tarragona, Spain iii UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Temizöz ISBN: DL: UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION OUTPUT AND ITS REVISION: SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS Özlem Temizöz ISBN: DL: Ac2no3ledgments My most sincere thanks go to Professor Anthony Pym, for this PhD program which provided me with the elusive opportunity to take part in a dynamic learning environment enriched with the leading figures in Translation Studies and fellow students from around the world. My learning experience throughout the program have influenced me profoundly. Moreover, I was privileged to have Dr Pym as my superviser, who not only read the numerous drafts of the thesis and commented on every single detail but also gave continuous guidance and support during the entire program. I wish to thank Dr Lynne Bowker for her support providing the literature and to Dr Tina Paulsen Christensen for devoting time to my questions on her research. I would also like to thank Esther Torres Simón and David Orrego Carmona for their kind assistance regarding formatting and printing the thesis. I am grateful to my friend Christy Fung-Ming Liu for her willingness to help in getting access to the literature and being there whenever I need her support and encouragement. I am also grateful to Courtney Parkins for his encouragement and friendship during the hard times of this endeavor. My gratitudes also go to the participants for making this study possible. Last but not least, my special thanks go to my husband, Ayhan, for sharing pain and pleasure of this study with me and to my dearest son, Alp, who started studying with me on this research from the very beginning of his life! Without their support and love, this work would not have existed. v UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI POSTEDITING MACHINE TRANSLATION