TREC Seminar, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona 2-3 July 2013

Mapping unchartered territory – a roundtrip: methodological and theoretical perspectives Riitta Jääskeläinen

Contents

• The beginning • Main trends in 1990 – 2013 – Methodology – Empirical testing of models and hypotheses – Conceptual analyses • The future Mapping unchartered territory/Jääskeläinen, UEF

The beginning

• Sonja Tirkkonen-Condit participated in the AILA Congress in Hamburg (13-15 August 1984) • Section dealing with process research (e.g. Gerloff, Krings, Lörscher)  Gerloff’s paper inspired Riitta Jääskeläinen to do her MA thesis on student translation processes • TAP experiments with students in 1985-1986: two sets of tasks (one for Sonja’s research, the other for Riitta’s MA thesis) • Summer 1986: Riitta working as a research assistant transcribing the TAP tapes • First research reports: general descriptions of student processes: use of time & dictionaries, problem-solving, decision-making (Tirkkonen-Condit 1987, 1989; Jääskeläinen 1987, 1989) • Research largely based on individual projects networking  international Mapping unchartered territory/Jääskeläinen, UEF

The beginning

• Early research characterised by general descriptions of what happens in the translation process  collecting ideas, creating hypotheses, refining tools • First attempts to identify e.g.

– Which processing features contribute to good quality – Which processing features are typical of professional translation – Which role do affective factors play in translation (Laukkanen 1997) – How particular linguistic items are handled by translators (Tirkkonen Condit 1993) – How translators manage uncertainty (Tirkkonen-Condit 2000) Mapping unchartered territory/Jääskeläinen, UEF

Main trends in 1990 – 2013

• After the beginning, three main trends can be identified (in the Savonlinna-based research) 1) Focus on methodology (TAPs) 2) Empirical testing of models and hypotheses 3) Conceptual analyses • Empirical research has forced researchers to specify their categories and concepts more precisely – For example, for Krings (1986), in language students, translation problems were the result of lacking knowledge or skill  findings from translation students and professional translators showed that sometimes sensitivity to potential problems is a sign of knowledge and skill Mapping unchartered territory/Jääskeläinen, UEF

Main trends in 1990 – 2013: methodology

• First process studies used think-aloud in data elicitation • Borrowed from cognitive psychology via SLA research • Methodological justification based on previous research in other fields (Krings 1986; Lörscher 1991; Jääskeläinen 1999) • Few studies focusing on think-aloud in the study of translation processes – a call for focusing on methodology (Jääskeläinen 2000) • Not much progress on that front – however, the pool of available data elicitation methods has expanded to include key-logging, eye tracking etc. • A large-scale systematic methodological study still pending (see Jääskeläinen 2011) Mapping unchartered territory/Jääskeläinen, UEF

Main trends in 1990 – 2013: empirical testing of models and hypotheses

• Interest in empirical testing of ideas, models and hypotheses proposed in TS literature – Tirkkonen-Condit (1992): how do translators apply world knowledge and linguistic knowledge while translating – Tirkkonen-Condit (1993): how do translators handle a typically Finnish linguistic item (the clitic particle –kin)  This line of research led to the ’unique items’ hypothesis which has been further developed and tested in relation to the proposed translation universals (see e.g. Tirkkonen-Condit 2004) – Tirkkonen-Condit (2000): how do translators handle metaphorical expressions Mapping unchartered territory/Jääskeläinen, UEF

Main trends in 1990 – 2013: empirical testing of models and hypotheses

• Literal translation hypothesis, Monitor model, and deverbalisation – The Monitor model (Ivir 1981/Toury 1995): The translator begins his search for translation equivalence from formal correspondence, and it is only when the identical-meaning formal correspondent is either not available or not able to ensure equivalence that he resorts to formal correspondents with not-quite-identical meanings or to structural and semantic shifts which destroy formal correspondence altogether .

– i.e. contrary to the deverbalisation view of the Paris school, it is proposed that translation tends to proceed literally until such a point at which literal translation does not work anymore; at that point, the Monitor steps in – empirical evidence supporting the Monitor model (e.g. Tirkkonen Condit 2005) Mapping unchartered territory/Jääskeläinen, UEF

Main trends in 1990 – 2013:conceptual analyses

• ’translation strategies’ – what do we mean by them? • Jääskeläinen (1993): first attempt to operationalise ’translation strategies’ for the purposes of TAP analyses • Korhonen (1998): MA thesis pointing out the difference between product- and process-oriented strategies • Jääskeläinen (2007): a second attempt at the elusive concept, now on a more general level (textual operations vs. processing activities) • Jääskeläinen (2009): the third attempt is no charm – the different definitions of ’translation strategy’ are described and discussed, but the final word is not provided … to be continued?

Mapping unchartered territory/Jääskeläinen, UEF

Main trends in 1990 – 2013:conceptual analyses

• ’professionalism’ and ’expertise’ (see Jääskeläinen 2010) • ’professional translator’ used as a self-evident category of subjects – Pragmatic aspect: anyone who earns their living by translating?

– Quality aspect: professionals turn out good translations (always?) – Ethical aspect: professionals follow professional rules of conduct (if any available?) • ’expertise’ defined in many ways as well – ‘the possession of a large body of knowledge and procedural skill’ (Chi et al. 1982: 8) – consistently superior performance in a domain (e.g. Ericsson 2006: 3)  The importance of defining your categories in research Mapping unchartered territory/Jääskeläinen, UEF

The future

• Work in progress – Sini Immonen – pause behaviour/cognitive rhythm in translation vs. monolingual text production (PhD project) – Minna Kumpulainen – the development of translation competence: a longitudinal study of BA-level translation students (PhD project) • Future projects – a wish list – Joint projects & international collaboration welcome, e.g.

• Large-scale methodological study • Nature of expertise in translation • Development of translation competence – NB! Finnish in the language combination may offer valuable insights  cooperation with the Crossling network: https://wiki.uef.fi/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=16586730 Mapping unchartered territory/Jääskeläinen, UEF

Thank you for your attention I’ll be happy to answer your questions

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(list of references available from me)

www.uef.fi