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Introduction
The contemporary world of written translations is impossible to imagine without specialized software - automated translation systems called CAT tools (Computer-Assisted Translation, or Computer-Aided Translation), or CAT systems. Thus, the European Commission's platform for language services LIND-Web has published a report in which it was noted that only 1% of translation companies in European countries do not use CAT tools (Karpińska, 2017; Usmanova et al., 2021). Therefore, Pym (2013), rightly points out that the possession of CAT tools has already become necessary for effective work in the field of translation. The main reasons for this are the following: 1) using CAT tools allows fulfilling translation orders much faster; 2) CAT tools ensure the consistency of the target language texts since they can contain integrated necessary terminological bases; 3) CAT technologies make it possible to save the translation results for further use due to the so-called Translation Memories (TM).
Thus, today, it is virtually impossible to work as a translator of written texts without mastering CAT tools (except for translators of fiction). Therefore the issue of the need for students to master translation software during their studies is quite acute in terms of improving the quality of students' education.
The concept and essence of CAT systems (CAT tools) are described in numerous studies (Table 1).
Table 1 - The concept and essence of CAT systems.
| No | Definitions | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The computer-aided translation is a type of translation from one language to another, in which a human translator uses computer equipment to optimize the process and implement translation | Bowker & Fisher (2010). |
| 2 | The main function of CAT tools is to memorize translated text fragments and their use in subsequent translations. This technology is called Translation Memory (TM), which represents a database that stores previous works for their possible reuse, as well as a quick search through the available content | Folaron (2010). |
| 3 | CAT tools can learn through forming a large array of source texts and their ready-made translations, which must be loaded into a super-powerful multiprocessor. During the translation of new texts, analogs of fragments of these texts are selected from the mentioned array, which can be used to form the target text | Olohan. (2011). |
| 4 | Unlike machine translation systems, using a CAT program requires that a translator must take part in the translation process, who performs his functions to the full | Han (2020). |
The issues of implementing CAT technologies in the training of future translators have been repeatedly raised both in the scientific and educational environments. Thus, Cem & Kokturk (2015), consider changes in the academic training of translators associated with the implementation of CAT tools. Alotaibi (2014), analyzes the feasibility of using commercial and free translation software. The researchers describe in detail the Translation Memories operating mechanism and the types of TM software (Jiménez-Crespo, 2009), the advantages of such a technology for the translation and the difficulties associated with their use (Bowker, 2015), as well as the prerequisites for the introduction of an automated translation training course (Çetiner, 2018).
Researchers Bundgaard et al. (2016), illustrates the current state of the implementation of information technologies (Kovalevskaia et al., 2021), including, CAT systems, in the training of translators. Translation software has been widely included in the system of training translators: if not in the official programs of the relevant university departments, then in the form of special workshops and additional courses (Abdulkadyrov et al., 2021. This contributes to forming translation skills in students (Pym, 2013). The experience of implementing CAT-system courses in translation training programs is presented in Chunzhi (2014).
However, the issue of the impact of the capabilities of CAT systems in the implementation of written translation on the quality of students' education remains little studied to date. According to the authors, the potential capabilities and positive changes in the training of translators associated with the transition to CAT-based translation are not sufficiently described, and at least it should be supplemented with several important aspects.
The hypothesis of the study: using the functionality of CAT systems in teaching translation leads to an increase in the quality of students' education in general.
Research objectives:
to carry out a comparative analysis of CAT programs and consider their main and additional functionality based on an expert survey;
to determine the factors of improving the quality of students’ education in the course of integrating CAT systems into the teaching process of written translation;
The article consists of an introduction, a literature review, research methods, research results, their discussion, and conclusion.
Materials and methods
To prove the hypothesis, a mixed type of research design was used, based on a combination of requirements for data collection and analysis, necessary for the implementation of the research goal. Therefore, the authors have chosen the following methods for collecting information:
analyzing scientific literature using theoretical methods (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization) to study the research problem state and determine the most common CAT tools and their functionality;
the expert survey method was used to carry out a comparative analysis of CAT tools and determine the factors for improving the quality of students’ education in the course of integrating CAT systems into the field of translation training.
ranking method, based on the number of experts mentions, was employed to determine the rank of CAT tools according to the proposed comparison criteria, as well as factors for improving the quality of student learning in the course of integrating CAT systems into the translation training.
At the first stage of the research, the information sources, necessary for the implementation of the research goal were selected. They included articles published in journals indexed by Scopus and Web of Science and presentations made at conferences by researchers from different countries containing provisions on the essence of CAT systems and their implementation in the training of future translators (21 sources in total).
At the second stage of the study, the most common CAT programs were selected based on the analysis of scientific literature, and their comparative analysis was carried out based on an expert survey (conducted by e-mail). At the same stage, the experts identified factors for improving the quality of students' training in the course of integrating CAT systems into the translation training.
The criteria for selecting experts (25 people) were the presence of at least three articles on the concerned topic published in journals included in the Scopus or Web of Science citation databases or teaching experience of at least 12 years.
At the third stage, the collected information was analyzed followed by the interpretation of the results obtained.
The authors employed numerical calculation methods using Microsoft Excel to calculate the percentage of expert mentions of factors improving the quality of student learning in the course of integrating CAT systems into the translation training.
Results and discussion
Based on the analysis of scientific literature (Doherty, et al., 2012; Zhang & Zhang, 2013; Juan & Yahaya, 2019;), the most common CAT tools, used in translation training were identified, and their comparative analysis was carried out based on an expert survey (Table 2).
Table 2 - Comparative analysis of CAT tools.
| No | CAT system | Comparison criteria | Rank | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Payment | Translation efficiency | Functionality (level) | Interface | |||
| 1 | SDL Trados Studio | Installing on PC | Paid | High | High | Complicated | 1 |
| 2 | Smartcat | Online | Free | High | Medium | Simple | 2 |
| 3 | Crowdin | Online | Paid | High | Medium | Simple | 3 |
| 4 | MemoQ | Installing on PC | Paid | High | High | Medium | 4 |
| 5 | OmegaT | Installing on PC | Free | Medium | Low | Medium | 5-6 |
| 6 | Memsource | Installing on PC, online | Paid | Medium | Medium | Complicated | 5-6 |
| 7 | MateCat | Online | Free | Medium | Low | Simple | 7-8 |
| 8 | Wordfast | Installing on PC | Paid | Medium | Medium | Complicated | 7-8 |
| 9 | Memsource | Installing on PC | Paid | Medium | Medium | Medium | 9 |
| 10 | Wordfast | Online | Free | Low | Low | Simple | 10 |
| 11 | Wordbee | Online | Paid | Low | Medium | Complicated | 11-12 |
| 12 | Deja Vu | Installing on PC | Paid | Low | Medium | Medium | 11-12 |
| 13 | CafeTran | Installing on PC | Free | Low | Low | Medium | 13 |
| 14 | XTM Cloud | Online | Paid | Low | Medium | Simple | 14 |
| 15 | Anywhere | Online | Free | Low | Low | Simple | 15-16 |
| 16 | Espresso | Installing on PC | Free | Low | Low | Simple | 15-16 |
As shown by the analysis of scientific literature (Folaron, 2010; Olohan, 2011), the main functional features of CAT tools include translation memory (TM), terminology management, machine translation, and translation quality control. Additional functionality of the CAT programs, most preferred by experts is presented in Table 3 (the first three lines).
Table 3 - Additional functionality of CAT tools.
| No | CAT tool | Functional features |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SDL Trados Studio | -
Supports more than 70 different file formats, has a built-in PDF document recognition function, which allows saving money on additional tools in certain cases; Contains machine translation and post-editing tools integrated into the workflow; if no match is found for the translation unit, the program will substitute its machine translation into the target segment, which can then be edited; Allows translating software products and electronic sources, such as websites, XML documents, whose translation causes difficulties using the traditional approach due to the need to monitor the integrity of tags |
| 2 | SmartCAT | -
Supports SDL Trados packages, which allows using SmartCAT to work on projects originally intended for execution in the Trados environment, as well as to create outgoing packages that can later be uploaded to Trados; Provides a translation collaboration feature that allows multiple translators to work on a single project together in real-time; It is provided in the SaaS format (program as a service) and is available via the Internet |
| 3 | Crowdin | -
A paid web platform aimed at developers of mobile applications, websites, documentation, games, etc.; Crowdin's unique feature is crowdsourcing, i.e. the ability to invite users to help with the translation and localization of the product in other languages; In addition to the usual translation formats (XLIFF, XML), it supports the translation of software, source code files, and applications for mobile platforms, such as Android, iOS, Windows 10 Mobile, etc. |
According to experts, the study and use of CAT systems in the course of receiving a professional translator's education at a university, the integration of CAT systems in the field of teaching written translation allows improving the quality of students’ education due to the implementation of the following factors (Table 4).
Table 4 - Factors of improving the quality of students' education in the course of integrating CAT systems into the field of translation training.
| No | Factors, improving the quality of students' training | %* | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Expanding the range of text formats that students can work with | 84 | 1 |
| 2 | Acquiring skills for editing the translation text in electronic format | 80 | 2 |
| 3 | Career guidance role of CAT programs | 76 | 3 |
| 4 | Familiarizing students with the direct duties of translator and obtaining practical work experience | 68 | 4 |
| 5 | Improving the general computer literacy of students, mastering a computer vocabulary in a foreign language | 60 | 5 |
Note: compiled based on an expert survey; * - percentage of expert mentions.
Below, the factors of improving the quality of students' education in the course of integrating CAT systems into the field of teaching written translation are considered more in detail (see Table 4).
According to experts, the expansion of the range of texts that the translation team directly works with concerns, firstly, the text formats. In the translation services, paper documents no longer are used. Today, electronic text formats are translated, more properly, the formats of the translation tools themselves, that is, the translator almost never sees the text in its original form, always deals with certain electronic translation files. Therefore, according to one of the experts (Sergey N., 11 years of teaching experience), the transition to CAT-translation systems even during training, "on the one hand, makes the learning process more modern and closer to the real world of translation, and secondly, makes it possible to work with text types that are simply not available in the text editor format, for example, with websites or the user interface".
Moreover, even working with more common document formats in general use, such as .docx, pptx, xlsx, pdf, and html, students, employing the CAT tools get acquainted with tags-metadata for text fragments (which denote, for example, graphic formatting of text or hyperlinks) that are in almost any translation file. It is the tags that make up significant difficulties for students, because the absolute majority of students get acquainted with tags for the first time and do not understand the principles of working with them, while a professional translator constantly deals with tags in his practice.
Secondly, experts note that the use of CAT systems also contributes to expanding the range of topics of texts for translation and bringing students closer to the real world of translation. Researcher (Jiménez-Crespo, 2009) points out that translating content in CAT tools is especially convenient for text which is actually inaccessible for printing, for example, websites, interfaces of computer codes and applications, and video subtitles. Thus, the implementation of CAT programs into teaching translation courses makes it possible to work with modern content, which, certainly, has a positive effect on the quality of students' training.
Experts consider also career guidance role to be an equally significant positive factor in applying to CAT tools, which consists in familiarizing students with the realities of their profession, the need to refer to the list of requirements of translation companies and identifying exactly those tools and technologies that are most in-demand in the translation services market.
Thus, according to one of the experts (Stanislav R., 9 years of teaching experience), getting acquainted with the translation software, students "begin to ask questions about the purpose of particular functions of the CAT system (for example, why it is necessary to mark 100% matches with the memory of translations that were specifically edited by the translator). They have the interest to learn about how the translation process is organized in translation companies in general, they begin to see themselves in the translator's place, think about what kind of lifestyle the translator leads, whether the chosen profession corresponds to their inclinations and interests."
According to experts, working with CAT tools also opens up opportunities for students to familiarize themselves with the direct duties of a translator and get practical experience in this industry already during training. In particular, experts cite the example of the SmartCAT system, which is also a translation exchange, and therefore students can continue their independent work on this resource after mastering the basics of its use. Working on translations in the SmartCAT system, students get the opportunity to translate not only text documents, but also work on translating websites, as well as subtitles to video materials (for example, movies or TV series). According to one of the experts (Nikolay P., 10 years of teaching experience), "getting translation experience not only within the framework of training, when the translation is only checked by the teacher but for real people, companies, and projects, the student sees a real goal, overcomes real difficulties that are associated with the today's working conditions of a translator in the contemporary world". This also plays a motivational role, because, as one of the experts (Leonid B., 8 years of teaching experience) clarified, "students can join on a volunteer basis or even as co-contractors in the development of platforms, such as TED, Coursera, Wikipedia, etc., which adds social significance to their training and practical activities". Also, participation in real projects can be used by students when creating their personal translation portfolio and play a positive role in the further employment process (Pym, 2013).
In addition, according to experts, that working in the CAT environment raises the general computer literacy of students, as well as contributes to the assimilation of computer vocabulary in a foreign language by students, which is of great importance. Thus, the study of Bundgaard, et al. (2016), show that the translation industry needs the better skills of graduates not only in terms of their possession of CAT tools but also knowledge of general computer skills, such as, for example, converting files from one format to another.
There are two ways to implement CAT tools in the teaching of translation: to join one of the academic programs, for example, TRADOS (https://www.tra-service.ru/academic), which allows obtaining licenses of commercial translation programs for computer classes of universities on preferential terms (Muratova et al., 2021; Alshynbaeva et al., 2021), or to use available free translation software. Each of the ways has certain advantages. In the first case, it is the acquaintance of students with programs, which are relevant on the market and with which they will actually work in companies. In the second case, the advantages are independence from licenses, tests, and certification, the availability of software that students can start using for their own translations, including outside the educational process, at any time (Alotaibi, 2014).
According to the authors of the present study, it is advisable, even when training students working with commercial translation tools, to first familiarize them with free-access CAT tools, which have a simpler interface, and therefore are easier to learn. While mastering them, it is not difficult to understand the basic principles and key components of more complicated translation tools, which will greatly facilitate the mastery of multifunctional commercial programs.
Conclusions
As the results of the study showed, the use of CAT systems in translation training brings the learning process closer to the conditions of the real translation industry, professionally orients students, opens up opportunities to work with contemporary content and text formats, expands students' vision of the modern market of linguistic services and the relationship of linguistics with computer technologies, as well as improves the level of general computer literacy of students and their participation in real translation projects.
Therefore, the hypothesis that using the functionality of CAT systems in teaching translation leads to an increase in the quality of students' education, in general, is confirmed.
In this regard, CAT systems seem to be more than just optional tools in teaching translation, and the authors consider it appropriate to introduce them into the training curricula of future translators.
Further research can be focused on detailed planning, methodological and didactic support of CAT-technology courses for each specific university that graduates future translators.
