Beyond dictionaries. Understanding information behavior of professional translators
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410810884084 |
| Published date | 25 July 2008 |
| Pages | 576-601 |
| Date | 25 July 2008 |
| Author | Marilyn Domas White,Miriam Matteson,Eileen G. Abels |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Beyond dictionaries
Understanding information behavior of
professional translators
Marilyn Domas White and Miriam Matteson
College of Information Studies, University of Maryland, College Park,
Maryland, USA, and
Eileen G. Abels
College of Information Science and Technology, Drexel University, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, USA
Abstract
Purpose – This paper characterizes translation as a task and aims to identify how it influences
professional translators’ information needs and use of resources to meet those needs.
Design/methodology/approach – This research is exploratory and qualitative. Data are based on
focus group sessions with 19 professional translators. Where appropriate, findings are related to
several theories relating task characteristics and information behavior (IB).
Findings – The findings support some of Bystro
¨m’s findings about relationship between task and
information use but also suggest new hypotheses or relationships among task, information need, and
information use, including the notion of a zone of familiarity. Translators use a wide range of
resources, both formal and informal, localized sources, including personal contacts with other
translators, native speakers, and domain experts, to supplement their basic resources, which are
different types of dictionaries. The study addresses translator problems created by the need to
translate materials in less commonly taught languages.
Research limitations/implications – Focus group sessions allow only for identifying concepts,
relationships, and hypotheses, not for indicating the relative importance of variables or distribution
across individuals. Translation does not cover literary translation.
Practical implications – The paper suggests content and features of workstations offering access
to wide range of resources for professional translators.
Originality/value – Unlike other information behavior studies of professional translators, this
article focuses on a broad range of resources, not just on dictionary use. It also identifies information
problems associated not only with normal task activities, but also with translators’ moving out of their
zone of familiarity, i.e. their range of domain, language, and style expertise. The model of translator IB
is potentially generalizable to other groups and both supports and expands other task-related research.
Keywords Interpreters,Qualitative research, Informationretrieval, Individual behaviour,Semantics
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
As a result of the war on terrorism and a burgeoning global economy, skilled professional
translators are in high demand, but far too few qualified translators are available to meet
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
The authors wish to thank Amy Weinberg for her assistance with the focus group sessions and
for her comments on a draft of this paper, So ojung Kim for her suggestions, the
translator-participants who presented much useful information about their activities and
concerns, and an unknown referee for the lead to corpus linguistics.
JDOC
64,4
576
Received 6 May 2007
Revised 12 September 2007
Accepted 18 September
2007
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 64 No. 4, 2008
pp. 576-601
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/00220410810884084
these needs, particularly in less commonly taught languages, such as Pashto and
Cebuano. In 2002, the US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence highlighted this high demand/low supply situation in intelligence:
The most pressing ... need is for greater numbers of foreign language-capable intelligence
personnel, with increased fluency in specific and multiple languages ... this is the single
greatest limitation in intelligence agency personnel expertise ... (US House of
Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 2002).
Throughout the world, 6,912 living languages, including sign languages, exist
(Gordon, 2005a). In some countries, hundreds of languages are spoken by their
citizenry. Collectively, for example, the people in Indonesia speak 737 living languages,
20 alone on the islands of Java and Bali (Gordon, 2005b).
Several long- and short-term solutions are possible:
.providingmachinetranslationbyitselforinconjunctionwithother
technological support to increase the efficiency of existing translators;
.offering incentives (increased pay, course-related financing) for translators to
learn new languages;
.using translators knowledgeable in one language to translate a related language;
.recruiting and supporting students in high-need languages for translating
careers; and
.hiring and training native speakers as translators (Westin, 2002).
Machine translation (MT) may seem to be a viable solution to the problem. On the web,
translation software allows for cross-language retrieval from websites in different
languages and quick translation of websites and e-mail, for example. In this context,
translating for thegist or essence of the document and imperfect, incomplete translation
have become acceptable. Hutchins comments that the “aim of using computers for
translationis not to emulate or rival human translationbut to produce rough translations
which can serve as drafts for published translations, as gists for information gathering,
and as cross-language communication aids” (Hutchins, 2005, p. 156). Still recognized,
however, is that, for quality translation, human translators must become involved.
With the growing global need for translation, especially for less commonly taught
languages, and the limits of MT, the time is opportune to study information needs and
behaviors of professional translators. Understanding the task of translation and its
influence on information behavior is an important step in designing and building more
effective tools and services for translators.
1.1 Research questions
This research focuses on three major research questions:
(1) What are the characteristics of translating as a task? Is it a complex task?
(2) How does the task of translation affect information needs of professional
translators?
(3) How do professional translators resolve their information needs?
The last two preceded the data gathering; the first emerged during the data analysis
but is presented in logical order above[1]. Two important foci in this article are
Beyond
dictionaries
577
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