Transcript Ten years of PETRA - Pàgines de la UAB

Pericia y Entorno de la Traducción
Expertise & Environment in Translation
Ten years
of PETRA
Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona
Universidad de Vigo
Universidad del País Vasco
2013
Founded in 2000, PETRA is a loose group of likeminded researchers sharing two basic assumptions:
o Cognitive science is the
optimal framework to develop
translatological theories
focused on mental processes.
o Empirical research is the
touchstone for any
translatological endeavor.
We decided we needed a first phase to
gain direct insights on both TPR and
extant theoretical frameworks.
We set out to study different translation
subtasks within a unified perspective, such as:
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reading & comprehension
information search & retrieval
problem solving
drafting
creativity
self-correction
evaluation
We mistrusted introspection as a way to access mental processes
and were happy to adopt Translog. We also realized we needed to
get closer to cognitive psychology.
This first phase turned out
to span a whole decade!
With no funding, we focused on problem
solving, time pressure, and memory
while we studied translatological
functionalism and existing cognitive
and psycholinguistic approaches to
translation and interpreting based on
the information-processing paradigm.
We recruited young researchers mainly
from the PhD program “Translation &
Interpreting Processes” of the
University of Granada. Through the
years, we welcomed distinguished
guests such as Gyde Hansen, Zoltán
Kövecses, Paul Kussmaul, Amparo
Hurtado, Greg Shreve and Hanna Risku.
The first important results in our journey came out
in 2003, in the form of three PhD dissertations:
1. Christine Lachat, on problem-solving
2. Bart de Rooze, on time pressure in the translation process
3. Celia Martín de León, on the flaws of functionalism
By then we had already adopted situated cognition as our
main referential framework.
We had also concluded that we needed to
gather data that Translog could not
collect and started to combine it with
another keylogger, KGBSpy.
We were intrigued by the interface
between bilinguals and professional
translators, and started studying the
notion of Natural Translation.
Maribel Gómez finished her dissertation on translation
behavior and results in advanced trainees and bilinguals.
Our comparative trials of bilinguals
and translation trainees led us to
o focus on translation quality and
evaluation.
o explore how to profile test
subjects. We started using
several WAIS3 subtests to check
subjects’ working memory and
processing speed.
Mª Jesús Blasco finished her dissertation on
listening comprehension in trainee interpreters.
We also expanded our
theoretical base with
embodied cognition
And we started to apply some of what we
have learned so far in class, using
(socio-)constructivist approaches.
María Castro carried out a pilot
study in Copenhagen comparing
different kinds of reading with
eyetracking.
We focused more on what
professionalism entails and
enlarged data collection with
text analyses.
We further expanded our
theoretical base with extended
and distributed cognition.
Then we moved the group headquarters and welcomed new members.
Tomás Conde finished his dissertation
on the behavior and results of
different types of translation
assessors and evaluators.
We thought we finally had a clearer
picture of what a cognitive
translatology should look like and
started looking for appropriate
parameters and ways to study them.
We are now working on
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mental load
implicit beliefs
text mining
improving & standardizing research methods
José I. Perea finished his
dissertation on computerassisted revision
Petra Klimant started her
research on mental load
in translation
Jorge Amigo started his
research on the
proceduralization of culture
in empirical research
Shao Hui Liang started her
research on implicit
beliefs in novice trainees
We are currently
working on a project
on text profiling
We aim to combine text
mining with non-invasive
data collection of
translation processes
We feel we are now
nearly ready to start
our second phase
We’ll keep
you posted!
Pericia y Entorno de la Traducción
Expertise & Environment in Translation
J. Jorge Amigo Extremera
Alicia K. Bolaños Medina
María Castro Arce
J. Tomás Conde Ruano
Susana Cruces Colado
Petra Klimant
Álvaro Marín García
Celia Martín de León
Ricardo Muñoz Martín
José I. Perea Sardón
Marisa Presas Corbella
www.cogtrans.net