Cognitive Processes and Translation Quality: Evidence from Keystroke-Logging Software

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between cognitive processes and translation quality in the context of English–Arabic translations of journalistic articles. Specifically, it explores the translation processes at the orientation, production, and revision stages and the relationship between such processing and translation quality, using keylogging software (i.e., Translog II) to record the experiment. Twenty-two translation trainees participated in the study, translating a news article from English into Arabic. Presas’s (2012) rubric for assessment was used to evaluate the translation quality, and several correlation analyses were applied to the data. Findings revealed negative correlations between translation quality and online revision, translation duration, and text production. The trainees’ translations demonstrated limitations in communicating the main ideas of the target text (TT) to the target language (TL). The findings also showed the trainees’ focus on online revision and editing and the concentration of translation time and cognitive effort in the drafting phase. The researchers recommend including the three phases of translation (reading, drafting, and revision) into translation training coursesand equipping translator trainees with the required skills for each translation stage.