| Páginas no assunto: [1 2] > | Poll: As a translator, how often do you consult recent academic research in the field? Autor da sequência: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "As a translator, how often do you consult recent academic research in the field?".
This poll was originally submitted by Marzieh Izadi. View the poll results »
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Never did, don't, and most likely never will.
| | | | IrinaN (X)
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 21:01
Inglês para Russo
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| Fat and persistent bug | Aug 10, 2025 |
I honestly wanted to vote for this one but when I looked at the results first, I saw "you voted for this poll". I think I've noticed it for the second time - selecting View the results triggers false vote.
I saw others complaining about it too, quite a while ago. I did not vote!
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jyuan_us
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 22:01
Membro (2005)
Inglês para Chinês
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| I don't know | Aug 11, 2025 |
Maybe never，maybe often.
I do Google search almost every day, and the Google hits relevant to my translation may or may not contain "recent academic research.” I don't literally subscribe to any academic research journal in order to "consult recent academic research" in my fields. You simply don't need to do so to be an expert translator in a particular field.
| | | | Marzieh Izadi 
Local time: 04:01
Membro (2019)
Inglês para Persa (Farsi)
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LOCALIZADOR DO WEBSITE
Jennifer Levey wrote:
Never did, don't, and most likely never will.
Why? Do you find them unhelpful?
| | | | Zea_Mays
Itália
Local time: 04:01
Inglês para Alemão
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| In what field? | Aug 11, 2025 |
🤔
| | | | Mario Chávez
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 22:01
Inglês para Espanhol
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| Good poll question, finally! | Aug 11, 2025 |
About 12 ago, a fellow Proz member blithely stated that translation theory is not needed, that you just translate and that's it.
I'd be very surprised if more than half of our colleagues out there subscribe to that opinion, as uninformed as it was and is.
The word theory has gotten an undeserved bad rap for decades. Take evolution theory for instance. The average person, especially in countries like the United States, is quickly to dismiss it out of hand d... See more About 12 ago, a fellow Proz member blithely stated that translation theory is not needed, that you just translate and that's it.
I'd be very surprised if more than half of our colleagues out there subscribe to that opinion, as uninformed as it was and is.
The word theory has gotten an undeserved bad rap for decades. Take evolution theory for instance. The average person, especially in countries like the United States, is quickly to dismiss it out of hand due to their lack of understanding of how science and scientific knowledge work.
Now, translation theories (because there are many) deserve our attention, if only to stay informed in our field as professional translators. By “academic research in the field” I believe the author meant “the field of translation.” Since most poll questions of late have been childish or biased from the start, we should be thankful someone came up with an intelligent one.
Newmark, Toury, Pym, Hurtado Albir, Nord and many others have contributed books, articles and other writings to the field of translation theory. Some theories were born in the Western world, others in the East world, and many more in between. Some theories have direct application on certain languages or language families, such as Arabic or Korean. Some theories started from the activity of Bible translations, others, such as involving paratranslation, emerged in response to the needs of translating digital and onscreen content.
You don't have to agree to any individual translation theory, but you have an ontological (professional) obligation to be aware of them and know how they might be influencing the translation strategies you're using on a regular basis. ▲ Collapse
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Daryo
Local time: 03:01
Sérvio para Inglês
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| Whoever dreamed up this question | Aug 11, 2025 |
is surely aware that 'recent academic research in the field' is more often than not quite difficult to access, firstly because the 'recent academic research' might yet to be published, or if it has already been published, there are strong chances the publications are kept behind paywalls.
And even if you happened to be so 'dedicated to the cause' of delivering the best translation you can that you wanted to pay, many paywalls will let through ONLY other people from ac... See more is surely aware that 'recent academic research in the field' is more often than not quite difficult to access, firstly because the 'recent academic research' might yet to be published, or if it has already been published, there are strong chances the publications are kept behind paywalls.
And even if you happened to be so 'dedicated to the cause' of delivering the best translation you can that you wanted to pay, many paywalls will let through ONLY other people from academia, mere translators need not apply …
You’re more likely to get that kind of help from a direct client.
Yet another question where you wonder if the one asking the question has any practical experience of what they ask.
Yes, you should use any source of information you can find, or ask for any help you can get from real-life experts. But 'often consulting recent academic research in the field'
- however it does sound like something desirable in abstract - is in practice more often than not simply not feasible.
With AI companies exhibiting COD symptoms of siphoning any training data they can get their hands on, I think that 'recent academic research in the field' is going to be even more difficult to access than it already is. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mario Chávez
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 22:01
Inglês para Espanhol
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| More accessible than you think | Aug 11, 2025 |
Research by non-academics is possible if you are willing to try. I have and continue to try it by using a variety of academic resources (Researchgate is one of many). Others allow you to request a downloadable PDF file of the paper by writing a note to the author and showing your interest in the topic. Needless to say, it pays to be courteous and sincere.
To make the assumption that the asker of the question has or has no any practical experience of what they ask is, putting it mild... See more Research by non-academics is possible if you are willing to try. I have and continue to try it by using a variety of academic resources (Researchgate is one of many). Others allow you to request a downloadable PDF file of the paper by writing a note to the author and showing your interest in the topic. Needless to say, it pays to be courteous and sincere.
To make the assumption that the asker of the question has or has no any practical experience of what they ask is, putting it mildly, uncharitable.
In my experience, direct clients don't care much for translation theory.
We need to bear in mind one simple fact: academicians who have bothered to study translation are themselves translators.
Daryo wrote:
is surely aware that 'recent academic research in the field' is more often than not quite difficult to access, firstly because the 'recent academic research' might yet to be published, or if it has already been published, there are strong chances the publications are kept behind paywalls.
And even if you happened to be so 'dedicated to the cause' of delivering the best translation you can that you wanted to pay, many paywalls will let through ONLY other people from academia, mere translators need not apply …
You’re more likely to get that kind of help from a direct client.
Yet another question where you wonder if the one asking the question has any practical experience of what they ask.
Yes, you should use any source of information you can find, or ask for any help you can get from real-life experts. But 'often consulting recent academic research in the field'
- however it does sound like something desirable in abstract - is in practice more often than not simply not feasible.
With AI companies exhibiting COD symptoms of siphoning any training data they can get their hands on, I think that 'recent academic research in the field' is going to be even more difficult to access than it already is. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Liena V.
Letónia
Local time: 05:01
Membro (2014)
Francês para Letão
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| I don't know | Aug 11, 2025 |
I do not particularly follow any research unless I have to, but I am currently reading an academic book from from 2022 about history of translation into my language.
It is very interesting to learn that already over a 100 years ago the most renowned writers and translators of the time were outraged by the abundance of poor translations and demanded to "respect the language and readers". Turns out that already then editors were too busy to check anything and just sent it straight to printin... See more I do not particularly follow any research unless I have to, but I am currently reading an academic book from from 2022 about history of translation into my language.
It is very interesting to learn that already over a 100 years ago the most renowned writers and translators of the time were outraged by the abundance of poor translations and demanded to "respect the language and readers". Turns out that already then editors were too busy to check anything and just sent it straight to printing. As by coincidence, the works of those same masters are still enjoyable today whereas the rest is mostly unreadable.
I couldn't be bothered with any recent "research" concerning AI translations pushed by the same ones who promote it.
[Edited at 2025-08-11 16:04 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I consult any research I need for my work | Aug 11, 2025 |
I mean, subject-matter research, not research about translation. Once I found an academic paper on translating in the field of civil engineering (my cup of tea). Halfway through the read, I realized that the author had messed things up as she was trying to cover a huge amount of material in a couple hundred pages. She didn't even manage to keep her terminology consistent. So, I just went on translating civil engineering as best as I knew how. On the other hand, when my ex-employer gave me a medi... See more I mean, subject-matter research, not research about translation. Once I found an academic paper on translating in the field of civil engineering (my cup of tea). Halfway through the read, I realized that the author had messed things up as she was trying to cover a huge amount of material in a couple hundred pages. She didn't even manage to keep her terminology consistent. So, I just went on translating civil engineering as best as I knew how. On the other hand, when my ex-employer gave me a medical text to translate, I got stuck at the very first sentence because I couldn't understand what it was about and Google wasn't of any help. The deeper you dive into a specialized subject area, the more you wonder at how huge it is ▲ Collapse
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Daryo
Local time: 03:01
Sérvio para Inglês
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| What I had in mind is | Aug 11, 2025 |
research related to the texts you're translating, as that kind of research would always be of more immediate concern.
OTOH if 'the field' in 'in the field' is the theory of translating, then it's not on top of my reading list. I did stumble on a number of books / papers dealing with the theory of language in general and with translating, found all that very interesting reading but nothing was there that would bring some revolutionary changes to my methods.
The last one... See more research related to the texts you're translating, as that kind of research would always be of more immediate concern.
OTOH if 'the field' in 'in the field' is the theory of translating, then it's not on top of my reading list. I did stumble on a number of books / papers dealing with the theory of language in general and with translating, found all that very interesting reading but nothing was there that would bring some revolutionary changes to my methods.
The last one was written by someone who participated in developing MT / AI and showed a surprisingly good understanding of the translation process. Unfortunately, when it comes to translating all this theoretical understanding of the process into what is MT/AI as practiced for real, a lot got 'lost in translation'. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mario Chávez
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 22:01
Inglês para Espanhol
+ ...
| History of translation and translators | Aug 11, 2025 |
I recommend reading Translators Through History, by Judith Woodsworth and Jean Delisle (2012). I used it for a paper I wrote during my doctoral studies in 2017.
I commend you for reading a history of translation into Latvian. I happen to love history.
Liena Vijupe wrote:
I do not particularly follow any research unless I have to, but I am currently reading an academic book from from 2022 about history of translation into my language.
It is very interesting to learn that already over a 100 years ago the most renowned writers and translators of the time were outraged by the abundance of poor translations and demanded to "respect the language and readers". Turns out that already then editors were too busy to check anything and just sent it straight to printing. As by coincidence, the works of those same masters are still enjoyable today whereas the rest is mostly unreadable.
I couldn't be bothered with any recent "research" concerning AI translations pushed by the same ones who promote it.
[Edited at 2025-08-11 16:04 GMT]
| | | | Mario Chávez
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 22:01
Inglês para Espanhol
+ ...
| In that case... | Aug 11, 2025 |
...translating real-world texts does require, in my view, a mix of translation theories, because there is not a single theory that covers all cases and situations.
For example, most American clients are used to the idea of translation as being a faithful rendition of the original for their own cultural reasons. They may assure you and I that all they want is a culturally sensitive and nonliteral translation but in fact they do want a literal translation.
Thanks for the ... See more ...translating real-world texts does require, in my view, a mix of translation theories, because there is not a single theory that covers all cases and situations.
For example, most American clients are used to the idea of translation as being a faithful rendition of the original for their own cultural reasons. They may assure you and I that all they want is a culturally sensitive and nonliteral translation but in fact they do want a literal translation.
Thanks for the additional details.
Daryo wrote:
research related to the texts you're translating, as that kind of research would always be of more immediate concern.
OTOH if 'the field' in 'in the field' is the theory of translating, then it's not on top of my reading list. I did stumble on a number of books / papers dealing with the theory of language in general and with translating, found all that very interesting reading but nothing was there that would bring some revolutionary changes to my methods.
The last one was written by someone who participated in developing MT / AI and showed a surprisingly good understanding of the translation process. Unfortunately, when it comes to translating all this theoretical understanding of the process into what is MT/AI as practiced for real, a lot got 'lost in translation'. ▲ Collapse
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