An Empirical Study Of The Impact Of Using Electronic Translation Tools On Translation Learners

Three factors that emerged from the translation practice of the researcher as well as her peers have motivated the present study. They are respectively the wide use of electronic translation tools (ETTs) by translation learners, the overwhelming approval from translation teachers and scholars for using ETTs by translation learners, and translation learners' doubts and complaints about the negative effects brought by the frequent use of ETTs.Some related studies on ETTs in general have been made in recent years, such as Austermuhl (2001), Rico(2001), Gil & Pym (2002), Sanchez (2006), Li (2004,2009), Wang, D.W (2007), Li & Liao (2007) and Wan (2008). However, not much attention has been paid to the use of ETTs by translation learners. The present study attempts to collect first-hand information about the status quo of the use of ETTs by translation learners, their attitude toward ETTs and the impact of using ETTs on translation learners. The researcher believes that both translation teachers and learners can benefit from the empirical study and improve either their teaching methods or their translation strategies accordingly.The researcher carried out a questionnaire survey, a case study and an interview to collect the research data.40 graduate students and 40 undergraduate students from the English Department of Nanjing University were the subjects of the present study.Based on the data collected from the questionnaire survey, the information about the status quo of translation learners' using ETTs was gathered as follows: 1) ETTs are rather popular among translation learners, but most of them are not able to handle properly the massive amount of information provided by ETTs.2) Translation learners tend to trust in the information they have found through ETTs.3) Translation learners prefer bilingual resources in which they may find ready answers for the difficulties they faced.4) More than a few translation learners have developed heavy reliance on ETTs. When ETTs are unavailable, they could be very anxious and even stop their translation practice till ETTs are available again.5) Most translation learners get distracted easily from their translation task by irrelevant information on the Internet.6) ETTs may foster plagiarism. In addition, the data collected show translation learners' thoughts on using ETTs. All the subjects think that using ETTs have positive effects on translation practice while not many of them are aware of the negative effects of using ETTs. Nevertheless, many confess that using ETTs successfully does not actually bring them much confidence in their own translation competence. They have high expectations of their teachers in terms of receiving instructions on how to use ETTs appropriately. To be more specific, they want to1) learn how to search for and select relevant information effectively and accurately;2) develop skills of using corpora and software like translation memory system;3) know more reliable resources and skills of using them.Moreover, the statistical findings provide a revealing insight into the impact of using ETTs upon translation learners. Positive impacts are obvious—with the help of ETTs translation learners can access a large amount of information conveniently and finish their translation task with high efficiency and accuracy. Nevertheless, negative impacts are also found:Negative impacts 1) on their independent thinking; 2) on their language proficiency; 3) on their self-confidence as translation learners.The present study has theoretical as well as practical implications. Theoretically speaking, the present research provides some new thoughts on translation pedagogy in the Information Age, namely the training for translation learners in using ETTs. In practical terms, the report of the present study provides suggestions to translation learners on how to use ETTs properly and suggestions to teachers on improving their teaching methods.