The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google search engine in L2 translation an... more The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google search engine in L2 translation and L2 learning in a blended-learning setting where the development of L2 translation skills and the learning of the foreign language itself merge into one complex process. During a face-to-face tutorial, a group of undergraduate students was asked to translate a short text from Czech, their native language, into English. Following an in-class demonstration of three tips for effective Google search, they were expected to produce, during their self-study and with the assistance of the search engine, a revised version of the translation, the aim being to improve the quality of language where appropriate. More details about the searches conducted by the study participants are provided through the analysis of selected draft translations and their revised versions as well as examples found in the questionnaires that were filled in during the experiment. The remaining answers in the questionnaire help better understand learners' viewpoints on the effectiveness of this online tool and their satisfaction with the revised versions.
Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Philologica, Dec 5, 2018
Although Jiří Levý, the most renowned Czech translation scholar, is not directly associated with ... more Although Jiří Levý, the most renowned Czech translation scholar, is not directly associated with translation pedagogy, many of the concepts that he left behind are still relevant for translator training as well as foreign language teaching. The present paper first explores the comprehension stage of Levý's model of translation process which he broke down in a commendably detailed manner in order to help future translators realize how many aspects and layers of the source text they have to understand and analyse before beginning with the actual translation. Examples of errors made by translator trainees as well as professionals are discussed to explain that insufficient comprehension of the surface (i.e. purely linguistic) level is a rather frequent occurrence which very often affects deeper levels of content (such as the author's attitude) and text coherence. At the same time, the objective is to explain how comprehension errors can be used in the translation classroom to develop research skills, including the use of language corpora. The latter half of the paper is a discussion of Levý's thoughts on translation procedures and the behavioural tendencies of literary translators. Levý himself suggested only a limited number of procedures to be taken by literary translators to transfer names and culture-bound terms but definitely left his mark by being probably the first scholar to explain in a systematic way the tendencies exhibited by translators whereby translations tend to be more general, neutral, logical and explicit than their source texts. Taken together, Levý's procedures as well as tendencies have been presented by Anthony Pym as one of many viable typologies of translation solutions, which might prove to be a key to getting language teachers and learners to think of translation as a communicative activity, thereby contributing to initiating the much-missed collaboration between Translation Studies and the teaching of foreign languages.
Despite being common practice in most of the world, translating from the translator's mother tong... more Despite being common practice in most of the world, translating from the translator's mother tongue (inverse translation) remains a relatively uncharted territory. In an attempt to contribute to an increased awareness of inverse translation, the present paper aims to discuss the difficulties involved in this activity. Drawing on questionnaires administered to translator trainees and professional translators, the paper first explores the respondents' views on the difficulty of this direction. Since inverse translation was considered the more difficult of the two directions by most of the respondents, an analysis was conducted of their English translations of a promotional text written in Czech. The analysis covers five segments reported as difficult to translate by most of the respondents; their solutions are commented on and contrasted with those proposed by the two native speakers of English who assessed the translations, seeking to identify the most frequent challenges specific to inverse translation from Czech into English.
The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google Search Engine in L2 translation an... more The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google Search Engine in L2 translation and L2 learning. A group of undergraduate students in Tourism Management was introduced to three tips for effective Google search as part of their optional course in the basics of translation. A week later, half of the students attended a session devoted to further practice of the tips. Later, both groups were asked to translate a short text from Czech, their native language, into English with the assistance of the Google Search Engine. Drawing on the participants’ translations, written protocols and search histories, the study analyses their online behavior during L2 text production, providing examples of successful applications of search strategies and explaining cases where online search techniques failed to connect effectively with the user’s language skills and reflection.
V roce 1983 se v kanadském Torontu při operním představení poprvé nad jevištěm objevily titulky s... more V roce 1983 se v kanadském Torontu při operním představení poprvé nad jevištěm objevily titulky s překladem zpívaného textu. Titulkování se ujalo a postupně rozšířilo do operních domů celého světa. Dnes si už bez nich divák návštěvu opery ani nedokáže představit. Spolu s novou technologií vznikl i nový typ překladatelské činnosti, velice vyhraněné a náročné. Snad vzhledem k relativní novosti tohoto jevu anebo proto, že k umění neodmyslitelně patří pluralita názorů a přístupů, je překlad operních titulků doposud disciplínou poměrně neustálenou, s řadou argumentů pro i proti, ale i odlišných přístupů k samotným překladatelským operacím. Tato diplomová práce si klade za cíl zmapovat historický vývoj a současný stav operního titulkování v České republice i v zahraničí z hlediska uměleckého, společenského i technologického a nahlédnout překlad operních titulků jak prizmatem vědeckých oborů lingvistických a translatologických, tak z hlediska hudební vědy i konkrétní divadelní praxe. Titul...
Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy nám. Jana Palacha , 6 8 Praha IČ: 6 8 DIČ: CZ 6 8 Jed á se... more Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy nám. Jana Palacha , 6 8 Praha IČ: 6 8 DIČ: CZ 6 8 Jed á se o rigoróz í práci, která je uz a ou diplo ovou či disertač í prací. Děkuje e za pochope í
V roce 1983 se v kanadském Torontu při operním představení poprvé nad jevištěm objevily titulky s... more V roce 1983 se v kanadském Torontu při operním představení poprvé nad jevištěm objevily titulky s překladem zpívaného textu. Titulkování se ujalo a postupně rozšířilo do operních domů celého světa. Dnes si už bez nich divák návštěvu opery ani nedokáže představit. Spolu s novou technologií vznikl i nový typ překladatelské činnosti, velice vyhraněné a náročné. Snad vzhledem k relativní novosti tohoto jevu anebo proto, že k umění neodmyslitelně patří pluralita názorů a přístupů, je překlad operních titulků doposud disciplínou poměrně neustálenou, s řadou argumentů pro i proti, ale i odlišných přístupů k samotným překladatelským operacím. Tato diplomová práce si klade za cíl zmapovat historický vývoj a současný stav operního titulkování v České republice i v zahraničí z hlediska uměleckého, společenského i technologického a nahlédnout překlad operních titulků jak prizmatem vědeckých oborů lingvistických a translatologických, tak z hlediska hudební vědy i konkrétní divadelní praxe. Titul...
Despite being common practice in most of the world, translating from the translator's mother ... more Despite being common practice in most of the world, translating from the translator's mother tongue (inverse translation) remains a relatively uncharted territory. In an attempt to contribute to an increased awareness of inverse translation, the present paper aims to discuss the difficulties involved in this activity. Drawing on questionnaires administered to translator trainees and professional translators, the paper first explores the respondents' views on the difficulty of this direction. Since inverse translation was considered the more difficult of the two directions by most of the respondents, an analysis was conducted of their English translations of a promotional text written in Czech. The analysis covers five segments reported as difficult to translate by most of the respondents; their solutions are commented on and contrasted with those proposed by the two native speakers of English who assessed the translations, seeking to identify the most frequent challenges spe...
2019 International Symposium on Educational Technology (ISET)
The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google search engine in L2 translation an... more The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google search engine in L2 translation and L2 learning in a blended-learning setting where the development of L2 translation skills and the learning of the foreign language itself merge into one complex process. During a face-to-face tutorial, a group of undergraduate students was asked to translate a short text from Czech, their native language, into English. Following an in-class demonstration of three tips for effective Google search, they were expected to produce, during their self-study and with the assistance of the search engine, a revised version of the translation, the aim being to improve the quality of language where appropriate. More details about the searches conducted by the study participants are provided through the analysis of selected draft translations and their revised versions as well as examples found in the questionnaires that were filled in during the experiment. The remaining answers in the questionnaire help better understand learners' viewpoints on the effectiveness of this online tool and their satisfaction with the revised versions.
The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google Search Engine in L2 translation an... more The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google Search Engine in L2 translation and L2 learning. A group of undergraduate students in Tourism Management was introduced to three tips for effective Google search as part of their optional course in the basics of translation. A week later, half of the students attended a session devoted to further practice of the tips. Later, both groups were asked to translate a short text from Czech, their native language, into English with the assistance of the Google Search Engine. Drawing on the participants’ translations, written protocols and search histories, the study analyses their online behavior during L2 text production, providing examples of successful applications of search strategies and explaining cases where online search techniques failed to connect effectively with the user’s language skills and reflection.
Translating into a non-mother tongue (L2 translation) has received increasing attention from tran... more Translating into a non-mother tongue (L2 translation) has received increasing attention from translation scholars over the past two decades in response to the growing proportion of this direction in translation markets in most parts of the world. One of the aspects of L2 translation that remains a relatively uncharted territory is the role of native speakers. Although they are normally involved in relatively few translations from a language of limited diffusion into a major language directly as translators, native speakers need not be entirely absent from L2 translation as it has been suggested that they can assume diverse roles in the process and that cooperation with native speakers brings obvious benefits to L2 translators. The present study aims at providing a more complex picture of the native speaker's role(s) in L2 translation, drawing on the results of a recent project on the qualitative and sociological aspects of L2 translation. By focusing on the questionnaires that t...
The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google search engine in L2 translation an... more The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google search engine in L2 translation and L2 learning in a blended-learning setting where the development of L2 translation skills and the learning of the foreign language itself merge into one complex process. During a face-to-face tutorial, a group of undergraduate students was asked to translate a short text from Czech, their native language, into English. Following an in-class demonstration of three tips for effective Google search, they were expected to produce, during their self-study and with the assistance of the search engine, a revised version of the translation, the aim being to improve the quality of language where appropriate. More details about the searches conducted by the study participants are provided through the analysis of selected draft translations and their revised versions as well as examples found in the questionnaires that were filled in during the experiment. The remaining answers in the questionnaire help better understand learners' viewpoints on the effectiveness of this online tool and their satisfaction with the revised versions.
Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Philologica, Dec 5, 2018
Although Jiří Levý, the most renowned Czech translation scholar, is not directly associated with ... more Although Jiří Levý, the most renowned Czech translation scholar, is not directly associated with translation pedagogy, many of the concepts that he left behind are still relevant for translator training as well as foreign language teaching. The present paper first explores the comprehension stage of Levý's model of translation process which he broke down in a commendably detailed manner in order to help future translators realize how many aspects and layers of the source text they have to understand and analyse before beginning with the actual translation. Examples of errors made by translator trainees as well as professionals are discussed to explain that insufficient comprehension of the surface (i.e. purely linguistic) level is a rather frequent occurrence which very often affects deeper levels of content (such as the author's attitude) and text coherence. At the same time, the objective is to explain how comprehension errors can be used in the translation classroom to develop research skills, including the use of language corpora. The latter half of the paper is a discussion of Levý's thoughts on translation procedures and the behavioural tendencies of literary translators. Levý himself suggested only a limited number of procedures to be taken by literary translators to transfer names and culture-bound terms but definitely left his mark by being probably the first scholar to explain in a systematic way the tendencies exhibited by translators whereby translations tend to be more general, neutral, logical and explicit than their source texts. Taken together, Levý's procedures as well as tendencies have been presented by Anthony Pym as one of many viable typologies of translation solutions, which might prove to be a key to getting language teachers and learners to think of translation as a communicative activity, thereby contributing to initiating the much-missed collaboration between Translation Studies and the teaching of foreign languages.
Despite being common practice in most of the world, translating from the translator's mother tong... more Despite being common practice in most of the world, translating from the translator's mother tongue (inverse translation) remains a relatively uncharted territory. In an attempt to contribute to an increased awareness of inverse translation, the present paper aims to discuss the difficulties involved in this activity. Drawing on questionnaires administered to translator trainees and professional translators, the paper first explores the respondents' views on the difficulty of this direction. Since inverse translation was considered the more difficult of the two directions by most of the respondents, an analysis was conducted of their English translations of a promotional text written in Czech. The analysis covers five segments reported as difficult to translate by most of the respondents; their solutions are commented on and contrasted with those proposed by the two native speakers of English who assessed the translations, seeking to identify the most frequent challenges specific to inverse translation from Czech into English.
The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google Search Engine in L2 translation an... more The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google Search Engine in L2 translation and L2 learning. A group of undergraduate students in Tourism Management was introduced to three tips for effective Google search as part of their optional course in the basics of translation. A week later, half of the students attended a session devoted to further practice of the tips. Later, both groups were asked to translate a short text from Czech, their native language, into English with the assistance of the Google Search Engine. Drawing on the participants’ translations, written protocols and search histories, the study analyses their online behavior during L2 text production, providing examples of successful applications of search strategies and explaining cases where online search techniques failed to connect effectively with the user’s language skills and reflection.
V roce 1983 se v kanadském Torontu při operním představení poprvé nad jevištěm objevily titulky s... more V roce 1983 se v kanadském Torontu při operním představení poprvé nad jevištěm objevily titulky s překladem zpívaného textu. Titulkování se ujalo a postupně rozšířilo do operních domů celého světa. Dnes si už bez nich divák návštěvu opery ani nedokáže představit. Spolu s novou technologií vznikl i nový typ překladatelské činnosti, velice vyhraněné a náročné. Snad vzhledem k relativní novosti tohoto jevu anebo proto, že k umění neodmyslitelně patří pluralita názorů a přístupů, je překlad operních titulků doposud disciplínou poměrně neustálenou, s řadou argumentů pro i proti, ale i odlišných přístupů k samotným překladatelským operacím. Tato diplomová práce si klade za cíl zmapovat historický vývoj a současný stav operního titulkování v České republice i v zahraničí z hlediska uměleckého, společenského i technologického a nahlédnout překlad operních titulků jak prizmatem vědeckých oborů lingvistických a translatologických, tak z hlediska hudební vědy i konkrétní divadelní praxe. Titul...
Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy nám. Jana Palacha , 6 8 Praha IČ: 6 8 DIČ: CZ 6 8 Jed á se... more Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy nám. Jana Palacha , 6 8 Praha IČ: 6 8 DIČ: CZ 6 8 Jed á se o rigoróz í práci, která je uz a ou diplo ovou či disertač í prací. Děkuje e za pochope í
V roce 1983 se v kanadském Torontu při operním představení poprvé nad jevištěm objevily titulky s... more V roce 1983 se v kanadském Torontu při operním představení poprvé nad jevištěm objevily titulky s překladem zpívaného textu. Titulkování se ujalo a postupně rozšířilo do operních domů celého světa. Dnes si už bez nich divák návštěvu opery ani nedokáže představit. Spolu s novou technologií vznikl i nový typ překladatelské činnosti, velice vyhraněné a náročné. Snad vzhledem k relativní novosti tohoto jevu anebo proto, že k umění neodmyslitelně patří pluralita názorů a přístupů, je překlad operních titulků doposud disciplínou poměrně neustálenou, s řadou argumentů pro i proti, ale i odlišných přístupů k samotným překladatelským operacím. Tato diplomová práce si klade za cíl zmapovat historický vývoj a současný stav operního titulkování v České republice i v zahraničí z hlediska uměleckého, společenského i technologického a nahlédnout překlad operních titulků jak prizmatem vědeckých oborů lingvistických a translatologických, tak z hlediska hudební vědy i konkrétní divadelní praxe. Titul...
Despite being common practice in most of the world, translating from the translator's mother ... more Despite being common practice in most of the world, translating from the translator's mother tongue (inverse translation) remains a relatively uncharted territory. In an attempt to contribute to an increased awareness of inverse translation, the present paper aims to discuss the difficulties involved in this activity. Drawing on questionnaires administered to translator trainees and professional translators, the paper first explores the respondents' views on the difficulty of this direction. Since inverse translation was considered the more difficult of the two directions by most of the respondents, an analysis was conducted of their English translations of a promotional text written in Czech. The analysis covers five segments reported as difficult to translate by most of the respondents; their solutions are commented on and contrasted with those proposed by the two native speakers of English who assessed the translations, seeking to identify the most frequent challenges spe...
2019 International Symposium on Educational Technology (ISET)
The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google search engine in L2 translation an... more The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google search engine in L2 translation and L2 learning in a blended-learning setting where the development of L2 translation skills and the learning of the foreign language itself merge into one complex process. During a face-to-face tutorial, a group of undergraduate students was asked to translate a short text from Czech, their native language, into English. Following an in-class demonstration of three tips for effective Google search, they were expected to produce, during their self-study and with the assistance of the search engine, a revised version of the translation, the aim being to improve the quality of language where appropriate. More details about the searches conducted by the study participants are provided through the analysis of selected draft translations and their revised versions as well as examples found in the questionnaires that were filled in during the experiment. The remaining answers in the questionnaire help better understand learners' viewpoints on the effectiveness of this online tool and their satisfaction with the revised versions.
The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google Search Engine in L2 translation an... more The paper presents a study investigating the use of the Google Search Engine in L2 translation and L2 learning. A group of undergraduate students in Tourism Management was introduced to three tips for effective Google search as part of their optional course in the basics of translation. A week later, half of the students attended a session devoted to further practice of the tips. Later, both groups were asked to translate a short text from Czech, their native language, into English with the assistance of the Google Search Engine. Drawing on the participants’ translations, written protocols and search histories, the study analyses their online behavior during L2 text production, providing examples of successful applications of search strategies and explaining cases where online search techniques failed to connect effectively with the user’s language skills and reflection.
Translating into a non-mother tongue (L2 translation) has received increasing attention from tran... more Translating into a non-mother tongue (L2 translation) has received increasing attention from translation scholars over the past two decades in response to the growing proportion of this direction in translation markets in most parts of the world. One of the aspects of L2 translation that remains a relatively uncharted territory is the role of native speakers. Although they are normally involved in relatively few translations from a language of limited diffusion into a major language directly as translators, native speakers need not be entirely absent from L2 translation as it has been suggested that they can assume diverse roles in the process and that cooperation with native speakers brings obvious benefits to L2 translators. The present study aims at providing a more complex picture of the native speaker's role(s) in L2 translation, drawing on the results of a recent project on the qualitative and sociological aspects of L2 translation. By focusing on the questionnaires that t...
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