1. Read the text Please please - perfecting prospects for pleasure by Michael Haywood on the impact of Swiftenomics
2. Pick up an idiom or a phrasal verb and translate it into your mother tongue using:
-An online corpus-based dictionary (e.g. Cambridge Dictionary or WordReference).
-An online corpus-driven dictionary (e.g. Linguee).
-2 or 3 machine translation systems (e.g. Google Translate, DeepL and/or Microsoft Translator).
-A generative AI chatbot (e.g. ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot)
3. Compare different results, reflect on their suitability and discuss.
4. Translate isolated words and isolated sentences into your mother tongue using different systems.
5. Translate the whole source text into your mother tongue without punctuation marks using different systems.
6. Translate the whole source text into your mother tongue with the correct punctuation using different systems.
7. Try to pre-edit the source text in English and post-edit the source text in your mother tongue using the guidelines provided (see Editing guidelines below).
8. Compare:
-The initial source text in English and the pre-edited source text in English.
-The initial target text in your mother tongue and the post-edited target text in your mother tongue.
9. Reflect on the whole process and implications (including practical and ethical considerations) and discuss orally or write a report.
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Editing guidelines
1. Pre-editing guidelines:
-Lexical
choice: Avoid lexical shifts in register; Avoid uncommon abbreviations; -Avoid
unnecessary words; Be consistent (in the use of consistent terminology).
-Structure
and style: Use short and simple sentences; Use complete sentences (without
eliding or splitting information). Use parallel structures in related sentences
(e.g., section headings, direct instructions); Use the active voice; Maintain a
homogeneous style; Use simple verb tense forms (preferably the present or past
simple); Avoid concatenated verbs.
-Referential elements: In the case of languages that reflect relationships between referent and pronominal forms through mechanisms such as gender and number agreement, the agreement may be lost. This particular kind of problem can usually be minimized by the use of simple sentences (for intratextual references). As regards extratextual references, in addition to all the references inherent to the nature of the documentation being translated – for example, specific legislation in documents of a legal nature – there are two types of references that need to be taken into account during the pre-editing phase: 1) those that address the reader, and 2) any cultural references the reader identifies with. From a stylistic point of view it is best to compose simple, short sentences and use a direct style with the active voice or passive sentences that include the agent and patient. This style is especially appropriate for instructive texts. Extratextual references to cultural aspects with which the reader of the source text particularly identifies are difficult to deal with generically. In many cases, pre-editing the text consists of making all the implicit information related to these cultural references as explicit as possible, keeping the global audience in mind.
2. Post-editing guidelines:
-Aim for grammatically, syntactically and
semantically correct translation;
-Ensure that key terminology is correctly
translated;
-Ensure that no information has been
accidentally added or omitted;
-Edit any offensive, inappropriate or
culturally unacceptable content;
-Use as much of the raw MT output as
possible;
-Apply basic rules regarding spelling,
punctuation and hyphenation;
-Ensure that formatting is correct.
Source: Adapted from Kenny, D. (2022). Machine translation for everyone: Empowering users in the age of artificial intelligence. Language Science Press.
