Translation Difficulty: How to Measure and What to Measure

Abstract The present research opens up the theoretical light on measuring translation difficulty through various perspectives. However, accurate evaluation of translation difficulty by means of the level of the text, translator’s characteristics, and the quality of translation are significant for translation pedagogy and accreditation. To measure translation difficulty, one has to scrutinize it into four ways as (1) the identification of resources of translation difficulty, (2) the measurement of text readability, (3) the measurement of translation difficulty by means of translation evaluation products such as holistic, analytic, calibrated dichotomous items (CDI), and the preselected items evaluation (PIE) methods, and (4) the measurement of mental workload. This article will expand on the mentioned factors in detail in order to shed light upon translation difficulty on how and what to measure.

[1]  P. Hajdu.  The New Hungarian Translation of Aristotle's Poetics When Translation and Commentary Disagree , 2002 .

[2]  S. Ervin,et al.  Translation Problems in International Surveys , 1952 .

[3]  R. P. McDonald,et al.  Test Theory: A Unified Treatment , 1999 .

[4]  Mikel Garant,et al.  A case for holistic translation assessment , 2009 .

[5]  F. Lord.  Applications of Item Response Theory To Practical Testing Problems , 1980 .

[6]  W. Wiersma,et al.  Educational measurement and testing , 1985 .

[7]  Christopher Waddington.  Should student translations be assessed holistically or through error analysis? , 2004 .

[8]  B. Hatim,et al.  The Translator As Communicator , 1997 .

[9]  Adriana Ceschin Rieche.  MEMÓRIA DE TRADUÇÃO: AUXÍLIO OU EMPECILHO? , 2015 .

[10]  R. L. Ebel,et al.  Essentials of educational measurement , 1972 .

[11]  Ricardo Muñoz Martín.  On paradigms and cognitive translatology , 2010 .

[12]  S. Hart,et al.  Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index): Results of Empirical and Theoretical Research , 1988 .

[13]  Albert J. Rehmann,et al.  Handbook of Human Performance Measures and Crew Requirements for Flightdeck Research. , 1995 .

[14]  F. Thomas Eggemeier,et al.  Workload assessment methodology. , 1986 .

[15]  Amparo Hurtado Albir,et al.  Competence-based Curriculum Design for Training Translators , 2007 .

[17]  Christiane Nord,et al.  Text analysis in translation : theory, methodology, and didactic application of a model for translation-oriented text analysis. , 1992 .

[18]  Mohsen Mobaraki,et al.  A Study on Different Translation Evaluation Strategies to Introduce an Eclectic Method , 2012 .

[19]  Siu Ling Koo,et al.  10. A Quality-Assurance Model for Language Projects , 2000 .

[20]  G. Mulder.  Mental Load, Mental Effort and Attention , 1979 .

[21]  Anthony Pym,et al.  Exploring Translation Theories , 2009 .

[22]  W. Karwowski.  International encyclopedia of ergonomics and human factors , 2001 .

[23]  Sharon O'Brien,et al.  Research Methodologies in Translation Studies , 2014 .

[24]  François Lasnier,et al.  Réussir la formation par compétences , 2000 .

[25]  K. Koskinen.  Translating Institutions: An Ethnographic Study of EU Translation , 2014 .

[26]  Pere J. Ferrando,et al.  Assessing the discriminating power of item and test scores in the linear factor-analysis model , 2012 .

[27]  Hendrik Kockaert,et al.  Evaluation of Legal Translations: PIE method (Preselected Items Evaluation) , 2017 .

[28]  June Eyckmans,et al.  The perks of norm-referenced translation evaluation , 2009 .

[29]  Valerie Ruth Mariana.  The Multidimensional Quality Metric (MQM) Framework: A New Framework for Translation Quality Assessment , 2014 .

[30]  E. Fry,et al.  Reading Formulas--Maligned but Valid. , 1989 .

[31]  J. Peter Kincaid,et al.  Electronic authoring and delivery of technical information , 1988 .

[32]  Sebastian M. Rasinger.  Quantitative Research in Linguistics: An Introduction , 2008 .

[33]  R. Flesch.  A new readability yardstick. , 1948, The Journal of applied psychology.

[34]  Nicole Martínez Melis,et al.  Assessment in translation studies : Research needs , 2001 .

[35]  J. House.  How do we know when a translation is good , 2017 .

[36]  Michael A. Vidulich,et al.  The Cognitive Psychology of Subjective Mental Workload , 1988 .

[37]  G. Spache,et al.  A New Readability Formula for Primary-Grade Reading Materials , 1953, The Elementary School Journal.

[38]  Lynne Bowker,et al.  Towards a Methodology for a Corpus-Based Approach to Translation Evaluation , 2001 .

[39]  dkk Donald Ary.  Introduction to research in education , 1972 .

[40]  G. Harry McLaughlin,et al.  SMOG Grading - A New Readability Formula. , 1969 .

[41]  S. Campbell,et al.  Translation and interpreting assessment in the context of educational measurement , 2003 .

[42]  Bernice E. Leary,et al.  What makes a book readable , 1935 .

[43]  John R. Bormuth,et al.  READABILITY--A NEW APPROACH. , 1966 .

[44]  Dick de Waard,et al.  The measurement of drivers' mental workload , 1996 .

[45]  M. Taras,et al.  ASSESSMENT – SUMMATIVE AND FORMATIVE – SOME THEORETICAL REFLECTIONS , 2005 .

[46]  C. Wickens,et al.  Dissociation of Performance and Subjective Measures of Workload , 1988 .

[47]  Sultan Idris,et al.  ITEM ANALYSIS OF STUDENT COMPREHENSIVE TEST FOR RESEARCH IN TEACHING BEGINNER STRING ENSEMBLE USING MODEL BASED TEACHING AMONG MUSIC STUDENTS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES , 2013 .

[48]  Slava Kalyuga,et al.  Cognitive Load in Adaptive Multimedia Learning , 2011 .

[49]  Malcolm Williams,et al.  The Application of Argumentation Theory to Translation Quality Assessment , 2001 .

[50]  Lilo Moessner,et al.  Genre, Text Type, Style, Register: A Terminological Maze? , 2001 .

[51]  N. Meshkati,et al.  Toward development of a cohesive model of workload , 1988 .

[52]  Hans P. Krings,et al.  Repairing Texts: Empirical Investigations of Machine Translation Post-Editing Processes , 2001 .

[53]  V. D. Hopkin.  Mental Workload Measurement in Air Traffic Control , 1979 .

[54]  Pere Joan Ferrando Piera.  Assessing the discriminating power of item and test scores in the linear factor-analysis model , 2012 .

[55]  Daniel Gopher,et al.  Workload: An examination of the concept. , 1986 .

[56]  Sanjun Sun,et al.  Measuring translation difficulty: Theoretical and methodological considerations , 2015 .

[57]  Peter Robinson,et al.  Second language task complexity : researching the cognition hypothesis of language learning and performance , 2011 .

[58]  M. Coleman,et al.  A computer readability formula designed for machine scoring. , 1975 .

[59]  Wolfram Wilss,et al.  The science of translation : problems and methods , 1982 .

[60]  N. Moray.  Mental workload : its theory and measurement , 1979 .

[61]  Tomás Conde,et al.  Translation evaluation on the surface of texts: a preliminary analysis , 2011 .

[62]  N Galley,et al.  The evaluation of the electrooculogram as a psychophysiological measuring instrument in the driver study of driver behaviour. , 1993, Ergonomics.

[63]  Hankins Tc,et al.  A comparison of heart rate, eye activity, EEG and subjective measures of pilot mental workload during flight. , 1998, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine.

[64]  June Eyckmans,et al.  Assessing translation competence , 2013 .

[65]  J. Chall,et al.  A FORMULA FOR PREDICTING READABILITY , 1948 .

[66]  An Index of the Discriminating Power of a Test at Different Parts of the Score Range , 1959 .

[67]  J. C. Byers,et al.  Comparison of Four Subjective Workload Rating Scales , 1992 .

[68]  C. Waddington.  Different Methods of Evaluating Student Translations: The Question of Validity , 2001 .

[69]  E T Doherty,et al.  Speech measures indicating workload demand. , 1994, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine.

[70]  K. Hendy,et al.  Measuring Subjective Workload: When Is One Scale Better Than Many? , 1993 .

[71]  Kristian Tangsgaard Hvelplund Jensen,et al.  Indicators of Text Complexity , 2009 .

[72]  Sandra G. Hart,et al.  Nasa-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX); 20 Years Later , 2006 .

[73]  F. T. Eggemeier,et al.  Recommendations for Mental Workload Measurement in a Test and Evaluation Environment , 1993 .