Can online translators and their speech capabilities help English learners improve their pronunciation?

This study investigated whether a translation tool (Microsoft Translator – MT) and its built-in speech features (Text-To-Speech synthesis – TTS – and speech recognition) can promote learners’ acquisition in pronunciation of English regular past tense -ed in a self-directed manner. Following a pretest/posttest design, we compared 29 participants’ performances of past -ed allomorphy (/t/, /d/, and /id/) by assessing their pronunciation in terms of phonological awareness, phonemic discrimination, and oral production. The findings highlight the affordances of MT regarding its pedagogical use for helping English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners improve their pronunciation.

Online translators for L2 writing: a comparison of student and teacher perspectives

This short paper reports on the preliminary findings of a study into the use of Online Translators (OTs) by university language students. Students of Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish and their teachers responded to comparative surveys on their respective use and evaluation of OTs for L2 writing in formal language learning contexts. Findings indicate that teachers have little awareness of the range of strategies students apply when using OTs as writing tools. Concerns of OT misuse for cheating or as a replacement for language learning seem largely unfounded. Students, however, perceive a lack of guidance for the appropriate use of OTs. Preliminary findings suggest that teachers need to review their assumptions about students’ OT practices and that both students and teachers would benefit from technical and pedagogical OT training.

The role of automated evaluation techniques in online professional translator training

The rapid technologisation of translation has influenced the translation industry’s direction towards machine translation, post-editing, subtitling services and video content translation. Besides, the pandemic situation associated with COVID-19 has rapidly increased the transfer of business and education to the virtual world. This situation has motivated us not only to look for new approaches to online translator training, which requires a different method than learning foreign languages but in particular to look for new approaches to assess translator performance within online educational environments. Translation quality assessment is a key task, as the concept of quality is closely linked to the concept of optimization. Automatic metrics are very good indicators of quality, but they do not provide sufficient and detailed linguistic information about translations or post-edited machine translations. However, using their residuals, we can identify the segments with the largest distances between the post-edited machine translations and machine translations, which allow us to focus on a more detailed textual analysis of suspicious segments. We introduce a unique online teaching and learning system, which is specifically “tailored” for online translators’ training and subsequently we focus on a new approach to assess translators’ competences using evaluation techniques—the metrics of automatic evaluation and their residuals. We show that the residuals of the metrics of accuracy (BLEU_n) and error rate (PER, WER, TER, CDER, and HTER) for machine translation post-editing are valid for translator assessment. Using the residuals of the metrics of accuracy and error rate, we can identify errors in post-editing (critical, major, and minor) and subsequently utilize them in more detailed linguistic analysis.

On the Relevance of the Application of Online Translating Recourses in Technical Universities

Today, there is a large number of electronic resources that translate quickly words and sentences into an unlimited number of languages. They are united by the speed of online translation. However, the criterion of translation accuracy remains important, especially in the field of technical documentation. Therefore, this paper attempts to create an online translating resource for students, teachers and employees of technical specialties. The development of a web-dictionary or application-dictionary of standardized terms and definitions in the relevant field of technology is relevant in connection, as mentioned above, with the need for accurate translation and semantic load, and with the need for unambiguity in defining technical terms according to standards. The suggested online translating resource «TechTranslate» will have a simple interface with easy navigation, available to users for 24 hours. The main task of this application is to help organize work on professional texts, read and translate scientific literature, original texts. The paper describes the relevance of the online dictionary-translator creation, provides a detailed analysis of existing online translators of technical literature, describes their advantages and disadvantages, identifies the main criteria for creating a popular dictionary-translator, considers the possibilities of optimizing and promoting the website and advertising campaigns, and describes the further improvements of the site.

Google/Yandex Translation Detection in the Patterns Identifying System of Multilingual Texts

The object of this work is to develop a script for evaluating the ability of online translators to translate text from one language to another. For this purpose, we used Google Translate and Yandex.Translate. Examples from English, Kazakh and Russian languages were used for the analysis of 147 news items and about 1800 sentences. The texts are taken from an Internet resource astana.gov.kz. A corpus of parallel texts for three languages has been created. We used development for the “sentence” pattern with the prospect of further development for the “text” pattern. We analyzed errors in the following categories: untranslated/omitted words, extra words, incorrect word endings, incorrect word order, punctuation errors, mutilate translation and incorrect translation. Based on the analysis of the obtained data we have concluded that it is better to do the translation of the Russian text into Kazakh or English in the YandexTranslate than in Google Translate. The developed comparison script and error analysis script are available on the Internet in open access.

The Use and Abuse of Machine Translation in Vocabulary Acquisition among L2 Arabic-Speaking Learners

Using Machine Translation (MT) for vocabulary acquisition is an inevitable phenomenon among Arabic-speaking L2 learners. But has MT fully succeeded in replacing traditional dictionaries and providing an ideal tool for vocabulary acquisition among L2 learners? This study aimed to research the value and implications of using machine translation in vocabulary acquisition. The study is significant as it investigates a neglected area in teaching a second language focusing on the role of MT in vocabulary acquisition. The empirical study adopted a combined quantitative and qualitative methodology that tested students’ skills in answering vocabulary questions in context by using online translators. Forty-seven participants took part in the assessment voluntarily, and they were all fourth-year students about to graduate from an Omani private university. The findings confirmed the results of earlier research about the challenges ESL learners face in vocabulary acquisition, including difficulties in processing sequential lexical patterns and using vocabulary communicatively. The results further revealed that online translators do not provide an optimal solution to overcome obstacles in using vocabulary unless accompanied by higher metacognitive skills such as critical thinking and using words in context. The study concluded with some implications and recommendations for further relevant research.

The Use and Abuse of Machine Translation in Vocabulary Acquisition among L2 Arabic-Speaking Learners

Using Machine Translation (MT) for vocabulary acquisition is an inevitable phenomenon among Arabic-speaking L2 learners. But has MT fully succeeded in replacing traditional dictionaries and providing an ideal tool for vocabulary acquisition among L2 learners? This study aimed to research the value and implications of using machine translation in vocabulary acquisition. The study is significant as it investigates a neglected area in teaching a second language focusing on the role of MT in vocabulary acquisition. The empirical study adopted a combined quantitative and qualitative methodology that tested students’ skills in answering vocabulary questions in context by using online translators. Forty-seven participants took part in the assessment voluntarily, and they were all fourth-year students about to graduate from an Omani private university. The findings confirmed the results of earlier research about the challenges ESL learners face in vocabulary acquisition, including difficulties in processing sequential lexical patterns and using vocabulary communicatively. The results further revealed that online translators do not provide an optimal solution to overcome obstacles in using vocabulary unless accompanied by higher metacognitive skills such as critical thinking and using words in context. The study concluded with some implications and recommendations for further relevant research.

Cross-cultural communication - lost in translation: A corpus study (based on the material from the Russian-Polish corpus)

The article is devoted to cross-cultural communication and its implementation in Polish translations of Russian fiction. Nowadays, both the study of national specifics relating to the worldviews of speakers of different languages, and the analysis of the way those worldviews are reflected in translation, are becoming more relevant. This article aims to study the properties of cross-cultural dialogue, which is mirrored in parallel fictional texts. The research material came from the Russian-Polish corpus. The analysis indicates that nationally specific features can manifest themselves on different levels of the language system - in vocabulary, phraseology, word formation, morphology, and syntax. The translation of sentences which include units representative of the Russian linguistic worldview demonstrates both cross-cultural successes and failures (omission of elements symbolic of Russian culture, their inaccurate interpretation or replacement with items typical of the Polish worldview). The existing printed and electronic dictionaries, as well as online translators, do not fully meet current requirements, including those related to conveying Russian cultural and linguistic senses by means of the Polish language. The practice of translating literary works from Russian into Polish demonstrates the need for further investigation of the worldviews of both nations.

FEATURES OF COMPUTER TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LITERATURE INTO UKRAINIAN (on the example of texts on physics and engineering mechanics)

The article is devoted to the problem of the quality of computer translation of scientific texts that today is very relevant because of intensive progress and mass using of the Systems of Computer Aid Translation. The research aim was the analysis and comparison of computer translations of English texts on physics and engineering sciences into Ukrainian with using Pereklad.online.ua, Google Translate, PROMT, Pragma. The quality comparison of the texts' computer translations took place according to the parameters taking into account syntactic features, technical adaptation of the text, and correct use of terminological vocabulary. As a result of the research it was found that Google Translate translations which are based on the statistical (phrase-based) method turned out to be better. Google Translate translations took into account the syntactic features of the text and made a little of errors in grammatical forms; the technical adaptation of the text was carried out (the use of correct mathematical records of decimal fractions, signs of mathematical actions, transliteration of units of measurement; equivalent terminological vocabulary was used etc.) unlike another online translators' translations. The following Google Translate translations were improved due to the built-in translation memory system. At the same time the analysis of the Google Translate translation of the text on physics that used terms without unambiguous equivalents in Ukrainian has showed the inability of the online translator to perform the contextual translation. So computer translators can only play a supporting role and be used as the primary translator of standard scientific and technical texts.