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Assessing indicators of cognitive effort in professional translators: A study on language dominance and directionality

Authors:
Aline Ferreira at University of California, Santa Barbara
Aline Ferreira
Stefan Th. Gries at University of California, Santa Barbara
Stefan Th. Gries
John W. Schwieter at Wilfrid Laurier University
John W. Schwieter
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Recently in translation studies, important advances have been made with respect to directionality (i.e., whether translation is done into one's native or non-native language). What was once considered the "elephant in the room, " directionality now has a growing number of empirical studies that analyze factors which contribute differentially to translation. In this chapter, we review variables that have been previously identified as related to a higher or a lower degree of cognitive activity in direct and inverse translation (DT and IT, respectively). Against this backdrop, we present a study conducted among professional translators of English and Span-ish who completed two translation tasks: one in which they translated a text from English into Spanish and another in which they translated another text from Span-ish into English. We use behavioral and eye-tracking measures to analyze time, mouse events, keypresses, saccade index, and gaze index data. We also explore the effects of age and sex/gender. The results suggest that in terms of length, although translators spent longer in IT compared to DT, this difference was not statistically significant. However, there was a correlation between translation direction and fix-ation index such that participants showed a higher gaze event duration in IT. Age was correlated to fixation index (lower fixation index among older translators) and sex/gender was also related to fixation index (females presented lower values in IT in comparison to DT). Results also suggested a higher gaze point index in IT and a higher keypress index for English-dominant translators, and a higher gaze point index in DT for Spanish-dominant translators. Overall, our study suggests that although some of the variability in the results is likely due to individual differences, the observed patterns help us better understand differences between DT and IT.
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
    
    
   
      
        
  
           
           
           
          
           
           
           
          
            
            
          
           
             
            
         
            
           
            
             
         
           
             
           
            
           
             
   
      

           
          
         
          
        
          
           
          
        
           
         
           
    
   
          
           
          
          
          
            
         
          
          
           
          
            
           
          
          
         
         
        
          
             

       
           
           
         
             
       
          
         
           
  
        
         
          
         
           
         
          
            
         
        
           
          
         
          
       
         
         
         
          
             
          
         
          
                
            
            
       
         
           
         

      
          
          
           
           
       
          
           
           
            
         
          
       
       
             
             
            
            
            
             
           
           
         
    
           
          
         
         
           
          
            
           
         
        
          
          
          

       
         
             
      
         
          
             
           
             
               
             
            
            
           
          
             
            
            
    
       
               
          
            
          
              
       
            
          
          
             
         
         
              
          
             
           
               
          
           
              

      
            
            
           
             
           
          
             
            
          
            
            
            
        
            
      
           
       
            
         
           
             
           
            
           
              
            
            
            
             
            
     
          
           
          
            
          
         

       
 
          
            
          
         
        
         
          
           
              
         
         
           
          
          
           
            
           
           
         
          
           
           
          
          
         
         
           
          
         
         
          
           
         
           
          
         
              

      
          
          
         
         

        
           
        
           
             
            
           
           
          
            
        
           
           
           
          
              
             
          
           
           
          
          
          
          
           
             
          
           
           
              
           
        
            
         

       
            
         
            
           
          
          
             
        
 
             
            
           
             
              
            
             
           
    
  
           
         
           
        
           
          
             
          
              
               
            
         
          

      
 
          
         
        
            
        
         
          
            
            
          
         
         
           
          
             
           
        
    
        
       
         
        
       
           
         
    
            
          
           
              
         
         
         
           

       
          
         
         
         
           
          
          
        
           
        
         
              
         
          
             
           
      
       
          
              
            
       
              
           
            
            
             
            
            
           
            
           
           
          
        
        
         
         
            

      
              
            
            
             
               
          
        
          
             
          
          
            
           
            
         
            
          
            
           
         
            
          
          
            
         
            
          
           
           
            
  
   
          
           
          
          
           

       
           
        
  
       
          
             
               
           
          
          
               
            
              
             
             
          
              
            
              
              
          
             
          
          
          
          
           
           
         
           
         
          
         
            
           
          
          

      
          
        
            
            
             
            
           
             
           
           
            
             
              
          
           
          
           
           
          
           
           
           
             
            
         
            
          
         
           
          
           
          
           
             
         
          
         
             
           


       
        
             
             
        
 

               
           
           
           
             
            
          
    
         
           
         
  
      

       
       
       

       
       
       
          
            
          
           
         
             
             
          

      
             
      
      
           
              
         
            
           
          
        
             
            

           
         
        
           
         
             
           

       
      
     

      
        
              
 
            
           
  
           
         
            
         
            
            
  
          
             
             
     
      

       
     
     

      
     
     

       
     
     

      
 
             
             
           
            
            
      
          
          
           
               
          
           
          
            
             
             
             
            
        
           
            
            
         
            
        
          
          
             
 
          
              
           
         
           
            
           
             

       
             

         
          
             
         
           
         
           
             
           
          
          
          
            
              
           
               
          
           
           
           
          
         
         
      
       
     
              
        
       
        
           
           
             
             

      
           
            
           
             
    
          
          
          
          
             
            
           
           
           
  
 
           
               
        
           
          
        
          
           
          
           
            
          
         
            
               
   

       

        
        
          
         

           
       
         
          
         
        

           
       
           
          
       
 
        
         
          

           
          
 
         
         
        
 
        
           
 
       
        
    

      
          
         
         
        
     
         
         
       
        
         
      
          
   
         
    
          
         
           
      
          
         
        
           
         

         
       
          
 
        
   
         
        
           
        
         
     

       
        
       
  
          
        
        
           
        

          
        
        
           
         
         
         
         

            
        
     
        
       

         
         
    
       
           
      
         
   
           
 
       
       
            
   

      
         
          
  
         
        
        
        
    
            
         
           
         
         
    
          
       
         
         
           
          
        
      
         
      

          
           

          
          
   
        
          

          
         
          
     

       
            
         
         
       
           
        

              
          
          
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... likewise, Baker and Wright (2011) suggest that a bilingual rarely has equal dominance regarding the competences of two languages. Ferreira et al. (2021) also suggest that assuming translators' equally high proficiency in both languages is commonly seen in translation studies. They emphasise that a lack of empirical evidence regarding bilingual competence could lead to misinterpretation of data. ...
... Translators with lower Bdav scores, indicating more balanced dominance in chinese and english, tend to produce higher-quality translations. Ferreira et al. (2021) highlight the significance of individual differences, including language experience, in modulating translators' performance (see also schwieter & Ferreira, 2018). They criticise the assumption that translators possess equally high levels of proficiency in both languages, arguing that this may lead to misinterpretations of translation data. ...
... They criticise the assumption that translators possess equally high levels of proficiency in both languages, arguing that this may lead to misinterpretations of translation data. The present study supports Ferreira et al. 's (2021) viewpoint and also challenges this assumption by suggesting that bilingual dominance could be an important factor to consider when predicting translation output. in addition, from a theoretical perspective, the finding validates the role of bilingual sub-competence within the PacTe model (2017), particularly its emphasis on the application of linguistic knowledge in both source and target languages, as translators with more balanced bilingual dominance may be better equipped to resolve lexical, syntactic, and cultural ambiguities. ...
From bilingualism to professionalism: the effect of bilingual dominance and professional experience on translation quality in Chinese-to-English translation
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2025
This study investigates the effect of bilingual dominance and professional experience on the quality of Chinese-to-English translation. Forty-two bilingual translators participated and provided data on their bilingual background, professional experience, and translation output. The results of the regression analyses revealed a significant negative correlation between bilingual dominance and translation quality, with professional variables significantly enhancing the models’ explanatory power. The results suggest that while a balanced bilingual dominance is crucial, professional expertise and target language immersion are strong predictors of translation quality. The findings have implications for the consideration of both bilingual and professional variables in developing translation competence and highlight the need for further research to explore additional influential variables on translation quality.
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... Additionally, investigations have addressed the acceptability of machine-translated content (Castilho, 2016;Castilho & O'Brien, 2017;Rivera-Trigueros, 2021;Taivalkoski-Shilov et al., 2022). However, these studies have primarily focused on the attitudes and perceptions of translation students, novice translators, professional translators, and post-editors, likely due to the convenience of access to respondents and research design (Moorkens et al., 2015;Rossi & Chevrot, 2019;Ferreiraa et al., 2021). Surprisingly, the acceptability of machine-translated content among non-professional users remains relatively understudied. ...
... The studies, particularly on professional translators, demonstrate that machine-translated text typically demands a higher cognitive load, to varying degrees, compared to human-translated or post-edited content. Earlier user-centered research analyzed raw machine translation, and identified reduced usability of machinetranslated instructions compared to post-edited output (Carl et al., 2011;Castilho, 2016;Castilho et al., 2014;Doherty & O'Brien, 2014;Doherty, 2016;Daems et al., 2017;Ferreiraa et al., 2021;Guerberof Arenas et al., 2021;Hu et al., 2020;Jakobsen & Jensen, 2008;Kasperé et al., 2023;Moorkens, 2018;Stasimioti & Sosoni, 2021;Vardaro et al., 2019). ...
... Most MT research has traditionally focused on examining proficiency levels rather than AoA. These studies have generally revealed that translators exhibit higher cognitive loads and lower acceptability compared to less proficient bilinguals (Carl et al., 2011;Castilho, 2016;Doherty, 2016;Daems et al., 2017;Ferreiraa et al., 2021;Guerberof Arenas et al., 2021;Hu et al., 2020;Kasperé et al., 2023;Moorkens, 2018;Stasimioti & Sosoni, 2021;Vardaro et al., 2019). In the current study, it was observed that late bilingual speakers exhibited a superior ability to detect errors in translations compared to their early bilingual counterparts. ...
Machine translation: Turkish–English bilingual speakers’ accuracy detection of evidentiality and preference of MT
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2024
Machine translation (MT) is the automated process of translating text between different languages, encompassing a wide range of language pairs. This study focuses on non-professional bilingual speakers of Turkish and English, aiming to assess their ability to discern accuracy in machine translations and their preferences regarding MT. A particular emphasis is placed on the linguistically subtle yet semantically meaningful concept of evidentiality. In this experimental investigation, 36 Turkish–English bilinguals, comprising both early and late bilinguals, were presented with simple declarative sentences. These sentences varied in their evidential meaning, distinguishing between firsthand and non-firsthand evidence. The participants were then provided with MT of these sentences in both translation directions (Turkish to English and English to Turkish) and asked to identify the accuracy of these translations. Additionally, participants were queried about their preference for MT in four crucial domains: medical, legal, academic, and daily contexts. The findings of this study indicated that late bilinguals exhibited a superior ability to detect translation accuracy, particularly in the case of firsthand evidence translations, compared to their early bilingual counterparts. Concerning the preference for MT, age of acquisition and the accuracy detection of non-firsthand sentence translations emerged as significant predictors.
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... However, it is possible to refer to studies discussing directionality based on other eye-tracking and keylogging variables. In line with the study by Whyatt (2019) and Ferreira et al. (2021), the differences between the L1-L2 and L2-L1 translation directions were minimal, and therefore, it cannot be unequivocally stated that working into a foreign language always results in a higher cognitive effort. As Whyatt (2019) and Ferreira et al. (2021) point out, individual differences between the participants may strongly influence such results. ...
... In line with the study by Whyatt (2019) and Ferreira et al. (2021), the differences between the L1-L2 and L2-L1 translation directions were minimal, and therefore, it cannot be unequivocally stated that working into a foreign language always results in a higher cognitive effort. As Whyatt (2019) and Ferreira et al. (2021) point out, individual differences between the participants may strongly influence such results. ...
Eye-key Span as a Measure of Cognitive Effort in Translation: A Study on the Influence of Directionality on Cognitive Effort
Article
Full-text available
  • May 2025
This exploratory study aims to analyze the influence of directionality on cognitive effort operationalized in the eye-key span (EKS). Following the definition developed by Dragsted (2010), EKS is measured as a time lag that lasts from the last fixation on the analyzed point of interest in a ST to the moment when a translator starts translating it.A set of collocations occurring in the Polish and English source texts was defined as the “point of interest” for the study. The data were collected from 25 translation trainees using eye-tracking and keylogging. Participants worked in both directions in the Polish-English language pair. It was hypothesized that the participants would produce longer EKS in the L1-L2 translation direction. Although the descriptive statistics revealed differences in the mean duration of the EKS and in the data distribution that were visible on histograms, the results of the inferential statistics did not reach the level of statistical significance. The adopted hypothesis was not confirmed.
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... The role of translation direction-whether from L2 to L1 or vice versa-has been investigated across various dimensions, including metaphor processing [3], translation accuracy [3,[39][40][41][42] and cognitive load [17,[43][44][45]. For example, Chang [42] utilized eye-tracking and fMRI to evaluate whether cognitive asymmetries found at the word level persist in full-text translation. ...
Translators’ Allocation of Cognitive Resources in Two Translation Directions: A Study Using Eye-Tracking and Keystroke Logging
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2025
This study investigates how novice translators distribute their cognitive resources during translation between English and Chinese in both directions, with particular attention paid to the role of translation direction and the divergence between empirical findings and participants’ introspective reports. A combination of eye-tracking and keystroke logging was used to quantify cognitive effort, incorporating participant variation, attention unit type (ST, TT, parallel), gaze event duration, and average pupil dilation. A Generalized Linear Model (GLM) was applied, with average pupil dilation as the response variable and gaze event duration, AU type, and participant as covariates. An interaction term between gaze event duration and AU type was included in the E-C GLM but omitted from the C-E GLM due to non-significance. The results reveal distinct cognitive demands across translation directions. In English–Chinese (E-C) translation, ST processing significantly reduces pupil dilation (by 3.56%, p < 0.001), whereas TT processing leads to increased cognitive load, particularly during prolonged fixations, with pupil dilation increasing by 1.4% (p = 0.033). In Chinese–English (C-E) translation, ST processing does not significantly differ from parallel processing (p = 0.285), and TT processing reduces pupil dilation by 4.75% (p < 0.001), suggesting that it involves a lower cognitive effort than E-C translation. Gaze event duration significantly affects pupil dilation in C-E translation (p < 0.001); however, its influence in E-C translation varies according to the types of cognitive processing involved. Moreover, a significant gap is observed between the participants’ self-reported reflections and the quantitative data, a disparity that is strongly shaped by the direction of translation. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of cognitive effort in translation and raise implications for translator training, assessment, and cognitive translation studies, particularly in contexts where translation direction and processing mode interact to shape cognitive demand.
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... Source texts written in different languages also affect the cognitive processing in the translation process. Translating source texts written in the translator's mother language is more cognitively demanding than translating texts written in his or her foreign language (Ferreira et al., 2021). Texts from different domains also yield different degrees of cognitive effort in translation and PE. ...
Effect of text type on translation effort in human translation and neural machine translation post-editing processes: evidence from eye-tracking and keyboard-logging
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2023
Text type influences the translator’s decision in taking an overall translation approach and consequently selecting translation techniques. While the majority of studies to date have investigated this phenomenon as an end-product, the effect of text types on the translation process has received little attention in the area of cognitive translation processes, especially from an empirical perspective. To fill this gap, the current study employed eye-tracking and keyboard-logging approaches to investigate the effect of text type (informative text, expressive text, and operative text) on the cognitive efforts demanded in the Human Translation (HT) and Neural Machine Translation Post-Editing (PE) processes. The data was collected from 24 participants (12 professional translators and 12 undergraduate students), who were required to manually translate and post-edit three text types from Chinese into English. From the findings, it appears that text types affect the translator’s time investment, mental process, and technical input in both HT and PE processes. The findings also suggest that PE, as one mode of Human–Computer Interaction, emancipates translators from the effortful task of traditional from-scratch translation, and this effort change is also affected by the text type. The study has practical implications for both translators and translator training.
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Is machine translation a dim technology for its users? An eye tracking study
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2023
State-of-the-art research shows that the impact of language technologies on public awareness and attitudes toward using machine translation has been changing. As machine translation acceptability is considered to be a multilayered concept, this paper employs criteria of usability, satisfaction and quality as components of acceptability measurement. The study seeks to determine whether there are any differences in the machine-translation acceptability between professional users, i.e., translators and language editors, and non-professional users, i.e., ordinary users of machine translation who use it for non-professional everyday purposes. The main research questions whether non-professional users process raw machine translation output in the same way as professional users and whether there is a difference in the processing of raw machine-translated output between users with different levels of machine-translated text acceptability are analyzed. The results of an eye tracking experiment, measuring fixation time, dwell time and glance count, indicate a difference between professional and non-professional users' cognitive processing and acceptability of machine translation output: translators and language editors spend more time overall reading the machine-translated texts, possibly because of their deeper critical awareness as well as professional attitude toward the text. In terms of acceptability overall, professional translators critically assess machine translation on all components of which confirms the findings of previous similar research. However, the study draws attention to non-professional users' lower awareness regarding machine translation quality. The study was conducted within a research project that received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT, agreement No S-MOD-21-2), seeking to explore and evaluate the impact on society of machine translation technological solutions.
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Directionality in Collaborative Translation Processes. A Study of Novice Translators
Thesis
Full-text available
  • Oct 2007
The aim of this study is to compare L1 and L2 translation processes by novice translators, in order to isolate the features that differ significantly according to direction, with a view to improving translation teaching. To this end, the study sets out to test the following general hypothesis: “L1 and L2 translation display some differences that can be attributed to direction of translation”. More specifically, it is hypothesized that L1 and L2 translation differ not only in products, but also in some important aspects of translation processes. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are used to process the data.
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Old Habits Die Hard: Towards Understanding L2 Translation
Article
Full-text available
  • Oct 2018
The prejudice against L2 translation has become an old habit and old habits die hard. In this article the axiom that translators should translate only into their native language, that is the language of their habitual use, is being challenged on the grounds that it is old-fashioned, impossible to attain and most importantly lacking in empirical evidence. The first step to take is to understand L2 translation in the same way L2 use has been expounded in numerous studies within bilingualism research. The second step is to understand the challenges faced by the translator because of the translation process itself and its intrinsic error-prone nature which because of its complexity and multi-tasking is always present, irrespective of the direction of translation. The processing demands of L1 and L2 translation have rarely been researched and the existing findings lack statistical power to generalize. Overcoming this shortcoming is at the heart of the EDiT project which investigates how professional translators proceed when they translate into their L1 (Polish) and L2 (English). Key-logging, eye-tracking and screen recording are used to provide quantitative measures of cognitive effort. Corrections of the translations made by experienced proof-readers are analysed to show that L1 and L2 translation are not flawless and need to be improved.
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What Were They Thinking?! Students’ Decision Making in L1 and L2 Translation Processes
Article
Full-text available
  • Oct 2017
In spite of the ‘Golden Rule’ that translators should only work into their first language, translation into the second language (L2 translation) is a fact of life in settings involving languages of ‘limited diffusion’. Even in countries that use one of the traditionally ‘major’ languages, research into L2 translation and its training is becoming increasingly topical with the emergence of global translation markets and the worldwide dominance of English. This paper examines novice translators’ decision-making in video- and audio-recorded collaborative (group) translation processes in two directions: into the students’ first language (Croatian) and from that language into their second language (English). The study aims to identify and classify the different arguments the subjects use in deciding which of the tentative solutions to translation problems to use in the final version of their translation. It is hypothesised that similar arguments are used in both directions but with a different distribution. Only the former hypothesis is fully corroborated by the evidence from the verbal protocols.
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Facil or A Piece of Cake: Does variability in bilingual language brokering experience affect idiom comprehension?
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2017
Compared to studies of the effects of formal training in translation, little is known about the psycholinguistic impact of the experience of informal translation, or language brokering. The present study examined this issue in the context of idiom comprehension. Bilingual adults differing in prior brokering experience read English idioms and judged whether target words presented in English or Spanish were related to the idiom’s meaning. For brokers, relatedness judgments were not affected by whether the targets were in the same or different language as the idiom; however, non-brokers were faster for same-language than different-language idiom-target pairings. The findings suggest that language brokering experience facilitates idiom meaning comprehension even across language boundaries, with further differences related to idiom decomposability. More generally, the findings underscore the importance of considering systematic sources of variability in language practice among bilinguals, aside from differences related to proficiency, in theorizing effects associated with bilingualism.
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Cognitive effort in direct and inverse translation performance: Insight from eye-tracking technology
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 2016
This case study examined the translation performance of four professional translators with the aim of exploring the cognitive effort involved in direct and inverse translation. Four professional translators translated two comparable texts from English into Spanish and from Spanish into English. Eye-tracking technology was used to analyze the total time spent in each task, fixation time, and average fixation time. Fixation count in three areas of interest was measured including: source text, target text, and browser, used as an external support. Results suggested that although total time and fixation count were indicators of cognitive effort during the tasks, fixation count in the areas of interest data showed that more effort was directed toward the source text in both tasks. Overall, this study demonstrates that while more traditional measures for translation difficulty (e.g., total time) indicate more effort in the inverse translation task, eye-tracking data indicate that differences in the effort applied in both directions must be carefully analyzed, mostly regarding the areas of interest.
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Looking ahead: Future directions in, and future research into, second language acquisition
Article
  • Feb 2018
This article begins by situating modern-day second language acquisition (SLA) research in a historical context, tracing its evolution from cognitive to social to sociocognitive accounts. Next, the influence of the zeitgeist is considered. In this era of rapid change and turmoil, there are both perils and opportunities afforded by globalization. In addition, what globalization is bringing to the forefront is a need to grapple with the complexity of the world. It follows then that we need to think differently about SLA. I suggest that this thinking take two directions. The first is that the researchers in the field adopt an ecological perspective, whereby the relations among factors are what is key to elucidating the complexity. I offer as an example overcoming the bifurcation between research on individual differences and research on the SLA process. Doing so ushers in a person-centered, humanistic dimension of SLA. A second, related change is the renewed awareness of the importance of context and of the nature of constraints that shape any particular context. Language learning does not occur in an ideological vacuum but rather is affected in a serious way by prevailing beliefs in the society at large. I therefore make the case for language researchers to be more mindful of the social injustices that exist in the world concerning language learning and use, and I indicate several of the ideologies and myths that deserve to be challenged accordingly. Before concluding, I discuss the implications of these two changes for issues of language assessment, research, and teaching.
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