Self-efficacy as a protective factor when translating under time pressure

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between translation trainees’ self-efficacy, their hormonal and subjective responses to the stress of translating under strict time limits, and how this impacts their actual translation performance. Participants completed a questionnaire on self-efficacy beliefs (Costa, Serrano, & Salvador, 2016), along with the State-and-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). They were also tasked with translating three literary texts from English to Spanish under varying time constraints and afterward provided feedback on their performance. Additionally, five cortisol salivary samples were collected during the session. Overall, the results indicate that self-efficacy beliefs act as a protective factor against stress, mitigating the negative effects of translating under time pressure. Interestingly, translation trainees with higher self-efficacy produced less accurate translations in terms of meaning under strict time pressure, in contrast to those with lower self-efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, elevated cortisol levels appeared to positively impact translation accuracy under the same conditions.