Translation, post-editing and directionality

Abstract

Translation process research has focused on alphabetic scripts in post-editing and translation tasks from the second language (L2) into the mother tongue (L1). This chapter approaches translation and post-editing tasks involving Chinese, which has a logographic script, in combination with Portuguese. The aim is to compare task type (translation and post-editing) and directionality (L2-L1 and L1-L2) focusing on cognitive and temporal measures of effort. Eye-tracking and key-logging data were collected from 18 Chinese profes- sional translators in four consecutive translation/post-editing sessions. The results point to a significant impact of directionality and task type on virtually all cognitive measures investigated by means of a linear mixed-effect regression model. However, directionality and task type had no significant impact on total task time.