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Measuring the difficulty of text translation: The combination of text-focused and translator-oriented approaches

Liu, Yanmei; Zheng, Binghan; Zhou, Hao

Measuring the difficulty of text translation: The combination of text-focused and translator-oriented approaches Thumbnail


Authors

Yanmei Liu

Hao Zhou



Abstract

This paper explores the impact of text complexity on translators’ subjective perception of translation difficulty and on their cognitive load. Twenty-six MA translation students from a UK university were asked to translate three English texts with different complexity into Chinese. Their eye movements were recorded by an eye-tracker, and their cognitive load was self-assessed with a Likert scale before translation and NASA-TLX scales after translation. The results show that: (i) the intrinsic complexity measured by readability, word frequency and non-literalness was in line with the results received from informants’ subjective assessment of translation difficulty; (ii) moderate and positive correlations existed between most items in the self-assessments and the indicator (fixation and saccade durations) obtained by the eye-tracking measurements; and (iii) the informants’ cognitive load as indicated by fixation and saccade durations (but not for pupil size) increased significantly in two of the three texts along with the increase in source text complexity.

Citation

Liu, Y., Zheng, B., & Zhou, H. (2019). Measuring the difficulty of text translation: The combination of text-focused and translator-oriented approaches. Target: International Journal of Translation Studies, 31(1), 125-149. https://doi.org/10.1075/target.18036.zhe

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 10, 2018
Online Publication Date Jan 8, 2019
Publication Date Jan 8, 2019
Deposit Date Oct 10, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Target: International Journal of Translation Studies
Print ISSN 0924-1884
Electronic ISSN 1569-9986
Publisher John Benjamins Publishing
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 31
Issue 1
Pages 125-149
DOI https://doi.org/10.1075/target.18036.zhe

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Copyright Statement
This article is under copyright. Please contact the publisher John Benjamins Publishing Company for permission to re-use or reprint the material in any form.





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