A study on the level of adoption and perception of effectiveness of cat tools by translation students and translation professionals at ULIS – VNU

Accordingly, this study was conducted to investigate the levels of adoption, factors influencing the utilisation and perceptions of effectiveness of CAT tools by ULIS - FELTE translation

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION THESIS

A STUDY ON THE LEVEL OF ADOPTION AND PERCEPTION OF EFFECTIVENESS OF CAT TOOLS BY TRANSLATION STUDENTS AND TRANSLATION

PROFESSIONALS AT ULIS - VNU

Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Dieu Thuy, M.A

Student: Nguyen Tran Thu Trang

Course: QH2017.F1.E22PDCLC

HA NOI – 2021

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ MỨC ĐỘ SỬ DỤNG VÀ QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA BIÊN DỊCH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGHIỆP VÀ SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGÀNH BIÊN DỊCH TẠI ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ – ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI VỀ HIỆU QUẢ SỬ DỤNG CỦA CÁC CÔNG CỤ HỖ TRỢ DỊCH THUẬT CAT

TOOLS

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Th.s Nguyễn Thị Diệu Thúy

Sinh viên: Nguyễn Trần Thu Trang

Khóa: QH2017.F1.E22PDCLC

HÀ NỘI– 2021

ACCEPTANCE

I hereby state that I, Nguyễn Trần Thu Trang, class: QH2017.F1.E22, being a candidate

for the degree of Bachelor of Arts accept the requirement of the University relating to the retention and utilisation of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be available for the purpose of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature

Nguyen Tran Thu Trang

Hanoi, May 2nd, 2021

In addition, I would like to give thanks to the translation lecturers and students from the University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) for their cooperation and support Specifically, I would like to acknowledge the contribution of 10 teachers and 40 students from the Division of Translators and Interpreters Training, Faculty of English Language Teacher Education Their active participation in the questionnaires and interviews has greatly contributed to the thesis paper

Last but not least, I would like to send my deep appreciation to the constructive feedback and unwavering emotional support from my best friends, Nguyen Nhat Ha and Luong Anh Van I would not have completed this thesis without them

ABSTRACT

As technology has considerably influenced every aspect of life, CAT tools have played an essential role in translation Almost all international translation agencies require their translators to employ and master CAT tools In the context of Vietnam, introductory lessons on the use of some CAT tools namely Wordfast and Trados have been integrated into the curriculum for translation students in some foreign languages major universities However, in Vietnam, the amount of research

on the use of CAT tools among translation students and teachers still remains modest Accordingly, this study was conducted to investigate the levels of adoption, factors influencing the utilisation and perceptions of effectiveness of CAT tools by ULIS - FELTE translation students and translation teachers who are also freelance translators Data was collected via two instruments, namely questionnaires and semi-structured interviews The results showed that when it came to the utilisation

of CAT tools, both teachers and students primarily employed Trados and Wordfast, however, they did not use them frequently Regarding factors influencing the utilisation of CAT tools, it was discovered that the requirement of academic courses

at school exerted the strongest impact on the students while the effects of clients and willingness to use CAT tools among teachers and students remained modest In terms of perceptions of effectiveness, the majority of participants acknowledged some relative benefits offered by CAT tools, including speed, termbase control, productivity, and teamwork Although they found it not too hard to use CAT tools, they reported some difficulties in troubleshooting the technical errors while using Additionally, despite their satisfaction with CAT tools’ functions, the unaffordable

cost of Trados prevented them from employing this tool often

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of research problem & rationale for the study

1.2 Research objectives and reseach questions

1.3 Significance of the study

1.4 Scope of the study

1.5 Design of the study

2.3.2 Some research on the attitudes of users to technology applications 9

3.2.1 Data collection instruments

3.2.2 Data collection procedures

3.3 Data analysis

3.3.1 Data analysis instruments

3.3.2 Data analysis procedure

4.1.3.1 Relative advantages 4.1.3.2 Ease of use

4.1.3.3 Compatibility 4.2 Discussions

4.2.2 The utilisation of CAT tools

4.2.2.1 Types of CAT tools 4.2.2.2 The adoption of CAT tools 4.2.2.3 Factors influencing the utilisation of CAT tools 4.2.3 Perceptions of effectiveness of CAT tools

4.2.3.2 Ease of use 4.2.3.3 Compatibility

4.2.3.4 Solutions to some difficulties facing students

APPENDIXES

Appendix 1: Questionnaires for teachers

Appendix 2: Questionnaires for students with work experience

Appendix 3: Questionnaires for students without work experience

Appendix 4: Interview questions for teachers

Appendix 5: Interview questions for students with work experience

Appendix 6: Interview questions for students without work experience

Appendix 7: Interview transcripts from interviews with teachers

Appendix 8: Interview transcripts from interviews with students

LIST OF TABLES AND GRAPHS

Table 2 Descriptive analysis of data on the adoption of CAT

tools among students without work experience

18

Table 3 Descriptive analysis of data on the adoption of CAT

tools among students with work experience

19

Table 4.1 Voluntariness in using CAT tools among students

without work experience (descriptive analysis)

20

Table 4.2 Voluntariness in using CAT tools among students

without work experience (frequency)

21

Table 5.1 Voluntariness in using CAT tools among students

with work experience (descriptive analysis)

22

Table 5.2 Voluntariness in using CAT tools among students

with work experience (frequency)

22

Table 6.1 Voluntariness in using CAT tools among translation

teacher (descriptive analysis)

22

Table 6.2 Voluntariness in using CAT tools among translation

teacher (frequency)

23

Table 7.1 Influence of teachers on students without work

experience (descriptive analysis)

24

Table 7.2 Influence of teachers on students without work

experience (frequency)

24

Table 8.1 Influence of teachers on students with work

experience (descriptive analysis)

Table 10.2 Influence of clients on translation teachers (frequency) 27 Table 11.1 Relative advantages perceived by students with work

experience (descriptive analysis)

29

Table 11.2 Relative advantages perceived by students with work

experience (frequency)

30

Table 12.1 Relative advantages perceived by students without

work experience (descriptive analysis)

32

Table 12.2 Relative advantages perceived by students without

work experience (frequency)

Table 15.1 Ease of use perceived by students without work

experience (descriptive analysis)

Table 18.1 Compatibilty perceived by students without work

experience (descriptive analysis)

Table 19.2 Compatibility perceived by teachers (frequency) 42

Graph 1 Level of adoption of CAT tools among students

without work experience

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 1 Statement of research problem & rationale for the study

In the era of global integration and rapid growth of trade worldwide, a huge increase in the demand for translation service has been observed for the last decades In spite of having more job opportunities, professional translators have to deal with greater workload and deadlines (Mahfouz, 2018) Therefore, there has been a high demand for tools assisting the translation process to help improve productivity and save time Using the power of computers to increase translation speed while still maintaining translation quality has become a huge topic for many researchers since the 1990s (Nguyen, 2014) In 1997’s report of PACTE (“Process

of the Acquisition of Translation Competence and Evaluation” research group) on the competence model for translators, it included 6 components, one of which was professional-instrumental competence meaning the use of dictionaries of all kinds, electronic corpora, and IT applied to translation (Todorova, 2020) Then, in 2009, EMT Expert Group worked out another competence model containing technological

as one of the six categories for assessment (Sanca, 2018) It can be seen that technological requirements are always important, which means that the ability to apply technology advances in translation is essential for all translators Together with the development of MT (Machine Translation) and CAT tools, the utilization

of these technological advances in translation has become a must

As an active developing country, Vietnam has been fully aware of the need

to encourage the utilization of IT (Information Technology) to strengthen the National Competitiveness by establishing the National Committee for IT application In fact, regarding the translation market, according to Common Sense Advisory, in 2017, the revenue of translation in Vietnam reached 100 million dollars at the growth rate of 30% with 800 translation companies registered However, this enormous number of domestic companies had to compete with ones from other countries since they had better, standardized and consistent translation

system with 85% translators being able to use CAT tools (Phan, 2018) The situation indicates the importance and the need to popularize CAT tools in Vietnam, especially among translation students Digging deeply into the current situation of CAT utilization in Vietnam may help adopt measures to encourage CAT tools among translators in Vietnam to improve their competitiveness Nevertheless, CAT tools and their utilization in Vietnam have not received proper attention Although lessons on how to use some CAT tools have been designed for translation students

in some foreign languages - major universities in Vietnam, the number of research

over translation students’ adoption and perceptions of CAT tools remains modest

With her deep concerns about this situation and the desire to fill the gap in the field, the researcher attempts to cast a closer look at translation students and translation professionals to discover their utilization and their attitudes towards

CAT tools These goals are hoped to be achieved through this research named “A study on the level of adoption and perception of effectiveness of CAT tools by translation students and translation professionals at ULIS - VNU”

1.2 Research objectives and research problems

The researcher is interested in investigating the level of adoption of CAT tools, factors influencing the utilization and the perception of the effectiveness of CAT tools among ULIS’s translation students and translation professionals

In order to fulfill all of these above objectives, the study aims at answering following research questions:

1 What is the level of adoption of CAT tools by translation students and translation professionals in ULIS-VNU? What are the factors motivating their utilization of CAT tools?

2 What perceptions of effectiveness do ULIS translation students and translation professionals have of CAT tools?

1.3 Significance of the study

This study may be useful for translation students, translation trainers, translation training institutions and those who are keen on this topic

Firstly, this study is expected to serve as a source of reference when some translation training institutions aim at integrating CAT tools into training curriculum This research may be of assistance for institutions which have already given lessons on CAT tools and translation to enhance the effectiveness of CAT tools training Additionally, this study can provide some suggestions for translation students with the habit of utilizing CAT tools

Secondly, the findings of this research can also be a primary resource for further research and investigation into this topic in the future to discover more about methods of CAT tools training, the impacts of CAT tools on students’ skills and ways to improve the effectiveness of CAT tools

1.4 Scope of the study

Regarding this study, the researcher focused on the adoption and the perception of effectiveness of CAT tools among FELTE’s translation students and translation professionals Participants of the study are 10 translation teachers and 40 QH2017 senior students majoring in translation and interpreting from the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education (FELTE)

1.5 Design of the study

The study was conducted in both quantitative and qualitative methods The research process was divided into two main phases:

Phase 1 was carried out to find out the answer for the first research questions about the translation students and professionals’ adoption of CAT tools in their translation projects and factors influencing their utilization of CAT tools In this phase, a group of translation students and professionals in ULIS-VNU were given questionnaires on the adoption of CAT tools Responses were then collected and analysed The quantitative method was employed in this phase

Phase 2 was conducted to deal with the second research question about the participants’ perceptions on effectiveness levels of CAT tools In this phase, both quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized as both survey and interview were used

1.6 Organization

The following chapters are included in this research paper correspondingly:

Chapter 2: Literature - provide the key terms’ definition and the review of related studies

Chapter 3: Methodology - describes the application of a specific process to collect and analyse data

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion - presents and discusses the findings

Chapter 5: Conclusion - summarizes the findings, implications, and limitations of the study and recommendations for further studies,

Following these chapters are References and Appendixes

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition of Translation

According to Newmark (1988), translation “is rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text.” It can be implied that what matters in translation is the delivery of the message of the source

language

2.2 CAT tools

2.2.1 Definition

Bowker and Fisher (2010) defined CAT tools (Computer-aided/assisted

Translation) as “the use of computer software to assist a human translator in the translation process The term applies to translation that remains primarily the responsibility of a person, but involves software that can facilitate certain aspects of it.”

This definition emphasizes the principal role of human translators and the supporting role of computer softwares

According to Nguyen (2014), currently, the most popular CAT tools with translators in Vietnam are Wordfast and Trados Moreover, these two computer applications have also been integrated in the academic curriculum for translation students of English - Vietnamese language pair at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University (ULIS - VNU) Therefore, this research will focus on the adoption of these two tools among ULIS’s translation students and translation professionals

2.2.2 Principles of CAT tools

b Segmentation

One of the basic steps in a translation process for a CAT tool software is segmentation, in which the original text is divided into small segments for translation and comparison Segments are usually a sentence or a phrase Segmentation helps avoid text missing and text reforming

as a sentence or a paragraph (through translation memory functions) Those functions, along with other ones usually included in CAT tools (e g document alignment, word count, file format filtering, project management) have been designed to help translators during the core activities in their work, i e translation production, and storing and retrieving terminological information.”

In terms of general working principle of CAT tools, the texts are segmented into smaller units such as sentences so that translators can give the translated versions next to the source ones The pair of source text and target text will be recorded in the translation memory After that, the translation memory will look for new similar terms, if a match is detected, the corresponding translation will be

recommended for reuse As a result, translators can save a lot of time and the translation products can be more consistent

Therefore, regarding functions of CAT tools, Bruns (2008) concluded 4 basic functions: text segmentation, formation of translation units, utilization of translation memory and the usage of termbases

2.2.3 Some CAT tools

Nguyen (2014) brought some general introduction about the two most popular CAT tools in Vietnam: Wordfast Professional and Trados

2.2.3.1 Wordfast Professional

Wordfast Professional (WF for short) is a popular CAT tool with more than

20000 professional translators as users The website of this software’s company iswww.wordfast.com

Wordfast can bring some remarkable benefits which are the large number of functions, the ability to work with a variety of formats, reasonable price, light CPU usage, quick installation and user-friendliness

Wordfast Professional has two versions which are Wordfast Classic and Wordfast Pro (WFP) While Wordfast Classic works with Word files more speedily and more conveniently due to its small size, Wordfast Pro (WFP) can work with more types of formats, operate indepently and include a professional interface As a result, Wordfast Pro is chosen to be included in the curriculum for translation students in ULIS - VNU

2.2.3.2 Trados

Trados is the CAT tool with the most users in the world The most outstanding feature of Trados is that this software can support all formats of documents including pdf, html, and xls Other functions of Trados are computer-assisted translation, terminology bank storage and management, TM creation from translated texts and personal terminology bank creation However, one big shortcoming of Trados is its expensiveness, high CPU usage which slows down the computer and complicated interfaces which are not user-friendly

Besides Wordfast Professional, Trados is also integrated into the curriculum for training translation students of ULIS - VNU

2.2.4 CAT tools training in universities

2.2.4.1 The situation around the world

According to Granell’s research in 2006, only about 58 per 391 participants report being equipped with information technology skills on campus and even 152 people are not used to the CAT tools In 2005, in America, only half of the number

of universities used CAT tools in their activities

Among all the translators in the UK, only 9.8 percent of them use technology

to create translation, according to the survey conducted by Zafra (2006)

In Arab, despite learning in the foreign language environment, translation students are reported as having never been introduced to CAT tools except for some popular translation websites (Alotaibi, 2014)

In 2015, Sarah Henter conducted a survey in the Europe and found out that only 39% of the number of participants stated that they were taught how to use CAT tools while they studied in the university

From the West to the East, it can be seen that CAT tools have not received the attention they deserve Many professionals are not used to utilizing CAT tools when translating and many students are not trained on using CAT tools

2.2.4.2 The situation in Vietnam

Currently, in Vietnam, CAT tools training has been carried out in some foreign languages - major universities In the Universities of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National Studies (ULIS_VNU), senior students are taught how to use some CAT tools such as SDL Trados and Wordfast (Nguyen, 2014) Other universities, namely Hanoi University and College of Foreign Languages, Hue University (Phan, 2016) also integrate CAT tools to their curriculm

However, further information on the adoption of translation professionals and translation students around the country still remain insufficient As a result, there exists the need for further research on this issue

2.3 Attitude

2.3.1 Definition

According to Eagly and Chaiken (1993) in their book “The Psychology of Attitude”, attitudes can be defined as “psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor”

In this study, the attitudes of translation students and professionals will be determined by studying the perceptions of effectiveness that the translation students and professionals have of CAT tools Their perceptions of effectiveness can be based on three categories from the study “Development of an Instrument to Measure the Perceptions of Adopting an Information Technology Innovation” conducted by Moore and Benbasat in 1991 The three categories are:

a.Benefits: the degree to which the use of the PWS (Personal workstation) is

a benefit in one's job

b.Compatibility: the degree to which use of the PWS is compatible with, or requires change, in one's job

c Ease of Use: the degree to which the PWS is easy to learn and use

2.3.2 Some research on the attitudes of users to technology applications

2.3.2.1 Translators

In his thesis in 2006, Zafra discovered the attitudes of freelance translators towards ICT (Information and Communication Technology It is reported that using ICT in work brings both advantages and disadvantages to them Many of them use ICT to negotiate with clients and search for information They also state that they found ICT time-saving and of high quality

Le Blanc (2013) also conducted research on the advantages and shortcomings of CAT tools perceived by Canadian professional translators The researcher found out that the majority of participants agree on the benefits of CAT tools which are translation consistency enhancement and repetitive work reduction However, they expressed their dissatisfaction of the designs and concepts of CAT tools

Another research was carried out in Arab by Alanazi (2019) In the research, three factors were mentioned as the three challenges hindering the use of CAT tools: segmentation, punctuation, and spelling However they still strongly support CAT tools

It can be indicated from the three researches that translation professionals are satisfied with the functions and benefits of CAT tools

2.3.2.1 Students

Vargas–Sierra (2019) found out that translation students rank the usability of Trados, a CAT tool, within average scale while learnability is below the average scale and the attribute effect is the only category that was above the average scale Nevertheless, CAT tools may have some shortcomings as Thawabteh (2013) suggests that when first introduced to CAT tools, students may find CAT tools too complicated and even frustrating

It seems that there is not much research on translation students' attitudes towards CAT tools The reason may lie in the fact that the integration of CAT tools training in universities is not popular now in the world Vietnam is not an exception

As a result, it is necessary to study the adoption and the attitudes of translation students and professionals toward CAT tools in Vietnam

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the researcher provides descriptions and justifications about the setting, research design, participants, data collection instruments, data analysis method, data collection and analysis procedures

3.1 Participants and Sampling

“Professionalism for Translators and Interpreters” In this course, students were instructed and tested on their utilization of some basic features of Wordfast and Trados Studio such as translation memory or alignment to assist their translation projects in both English - Vietnamese and Vietnam - English language pairs

In addition, at ULIS, translation teachers generally and translation teachers from FELTE particularly also work as freelance translators That they both have hands-on experience with CAT tools as translators and work directly with translation students means that they can give an enormous contribution to the topic

as translation professionals as well as share with their students the most helpful advice on the employment of CAT tools

3.1.2 Sampling

In order to select participants for the quantitative approach, the researcher utilized convenience sampling Convenience sampling, a non-probability sampling method, involves the participants who are the most accessible to the researcher

“This is an easy and inexpensive way to gather initial data” (Mccombes, 2020) The researcher aimed at choosing 50 participants, 10 of whom are translation

professionals who are also translation teachers at FELTE, ULIS - VNU The other

40 participants are FELTE’s QH2017 translation students from ULIS

In terms of qualitative method, the researcher employed purposive sampling, in which participants were chosen based on the researcher’s judgement of whether they met some criteria and were willing to spend time and share their opinions on CAT tools in the interview In this phase, 8 students and 2 professionals were selected and invited to participate in the interview

in a non-evaluative manner (Dornyei, 2007) In addition, questionnaires are also considered the only practical approach to cope with a large number of participants

As a result, questionnaires were employed to help the researcher gain the general knowledge about the participants

The questionnaires utilized in this study were mostly based on the instrument developed by Moore and Benbasat (1991) to explore the attitudes of users to new technology However, to serve the purpose of the study, the researcher decided to utilize some criteria in the modified version created by Zafra (2006) and Mahfouz (2018) since the researcher shared the same concern with these authors Specifically, the first part, “General information and the adoption of CAT tools'' was collected from both versions of Mahfouz (2018) and Zafra (2006), and the second part, “Factors motivating the utilization of CAT tools” was based on the criteria of Image and Voluntariness of Zafra’s The final part investigating the perceptions of CAT tools was rooted from the criteria Ease of use, Compatibility and Relative Advantages of Mafouz’s version Besides, some important modifications were also made by the researcher Three versions of questionnaires

were developed from the original one to suit different types of participants: teachers, students with work experience and students without work experience Nevertheless, the three versions still shared the same structures and main sections The differences lied on the items related to participants’ status (working or studying)

Teachers Students with

work experience

Students without workexperience General

✔ Computer skills

✔ Name of CAT tools utilized

✔ Level of adoption

✔ Years of experience

✔ Computer skills

✔ Name of CAT tools utilized

✔ Level of adoption

✔ Computer skills

✔ Name of CAT tools utilized

✔ Level of adoption

✔ Voluntarines

s

✔ Requirement (Clients)

✔ Voluntariness

✔ Requirement (Teachers)

Levels of

Effectiveness

(15 items)

✔ Relative advantages

✔ Ease of Use

✔ Compatibilit

y

✔ Relative advantages

✔ Ease of Use

✔ Compatibilit

y

✔ Relative advantages

✔ Ease of Use

✔ Compatibility

Structures of the Questionnaires

For each item relating to the factors motivating the adoption of CAT tools and the perceptions of CAT tools, there are 5 possible responses for selection based

on the most commonly used scale for attitudinal research (Mahfouz, 2018), the point Likert scale, in which 1 is labeled Strongly Disagree and 5 is labeled Strongly Agree

5-3.2.1.2 Interviews

The second part of the data collection process was the interview with the two teachers and eight students selected after the questionnaires In this interview, the students had the opportunity to reflect on their utilization and perceptions of CAT tools, namely Trados Studio and Wordfast They were asked to voice their opinions

on the advantages and disadvantages of CAT tools Besides, the teachers were asked to reflect on their utilization of CAT tools and shared some advice to help students solve their problems while using these kinds of softwares The in-depth interviews were undertaken in order to make sure that the third question is thoroughly answered

3.2.2 Data collection procedure

After obtaining the participants’ agreement to take part in the study, the data collection procedure followed these steps First, the questionnaires created by Google Form were delivered to participants through emails due to the situation of social distancing, in which the researcher was not able to meet the participants in person Before asking the participants to fill in the form, instructions were given to avoid any possible misunderstanding After receiving all the responses from the participants, the data was divided into three groups: professionals (teachers), students with work experience and students without work experience The final step

was filtering the data and importing them into the Excel for analysis

After initial analysis of data from questionnaires, the researcher contacted the specific participants via email to ask them for an interview Before the interview, the interviewees had chances to reflect on their questionnaire responses and then they were given some instructions to avoid misunderstandings After that, they

started to answer the semi-structured sets of questions from the researcher

3.3 Data analysis

3.3.1 Data analysis instrument

3.3.1.1 Data from questionnaires

Firstly, the data from questionnaires was analysed with the assistance of SPSS 20.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) to measure means and standard deviations According to Nicholas (1999), means shows the central tendency (the tendency of the observations to bunch around a particular value or category), while standard deviations helps to work out the average deviations from the means Means and standard deviations help the researcher to create a general description of the factors influencing the CAT tools and perceptions of effectiveness

of CAT tools by the FELTE translation teachers and students In addition, the data selected from questionnaires was organized and analysed by Google Form, the platform in which the questionnaires had been designed The analysis function of Google Form helped the researcher calculate the frequency of the responses to each statement, from which the researcher could obtain the general tendency of choice and the overview of the adoption and perceptions of CAT tools by translation students and translation professionals

3.3.1.2 Data from interviews

The data from interviews was processed using the content method Kerlinger (1986) defined content analysis as a systematic, objective and quantitative method

of studying and analyzing communication to measure variables Prasad (2008) also stated that content analysis helps the researcher go beyond impressionistic to produce specific, reasonable and objective conclusions from messages of interviews

3.3.2 Data analysis procedures

3.3.2.1 Data from questionnaires

Step 1: Prepare the data

Step 2: Use SPSS 20.0 to calculate the means and standard deviations of responses Step 3: Use Google Form to calculate the frequency of responses

Step 4: Interpret the statistics

3.3.2.2 Data from interviews

Step 1: Transcribe the recordings into texts

Step 2: Rereading the data to get familiar with them

Step 3: Coding the data

Step 4: Searching for themes with broader patterns of meanings Step 5: Looking for the connection between the data and the themes Step 6: Interpreting the data and writing reports

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Findings

4.1.1 General information

There were 10 translation teachers and 40 students from 5 translation classes

of FELTE (27 students with work experience in translation, 13 without work experience) participating in the questionnaires After doing the questionnaires, 2 teachers and 8 students were contacted for further interviews In the interviews, the two teachers were labeled T1 and T2 while 8 students were addressed as S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 (with work experience) and S6, S7, S8 (without work experience) This section will provide a thorough view on their utilisation and perceptions of effectiveness of CAT tools

4.1.2 Research question 1: Utilisation and factors influencing the utilisation of CAT tools

4.1.2.1 Types of CAT tools

Table 1: Types of CAT tools used by participants

Only SDL Trados Studio

Only Wordfast

Both Wordfast and SDL Trados Studio

It can be seen from the table that the majority of the students with work

experience chose to use both SDL Trados Studio and

translation process Some students had

or Wordfast while working with translation tasks Only one student reported to use

two other CAT tools to facilitate their subtitle making Besides,

that currently he/she did

Generally, SDL Trados Studio and Wordfast are the two softwares utilised the most

by translation students

As for teachers,it can be illustrated from the

chose to utilise SDL Trados Studio and only five of them also chose to use one

two more CAT tools which w

students, SDL Trados Studio was

translation teachers

4.1.2.2 Levels of adoption of CAT tools

It can be seen from the table of descriptive analysis that the mean value for

the level of adoption among students without work experience is 2.23, a little below

the average score of the scale (2.5) wi

without work experience were familiar with CAT tools but did

The level could also be illustrated from the table of frequency, in which over half of

8%

61%

31%

0%

Graph 1: Level of adoption of CAT tools among

students without work experience

It can be seen from the table that the majority of the students with work

experience chose to use both SDL Trados Studio and Wordfast to assist their

tion process Some students had the tendency to use only SDL Trados Studio

or Wordfast while working with translation tasks Only one student reported to use

two other CAT tools to facilitate their subtitle making Besides,

that currently he/she did not use any CAT tools while working as a translation

Generally, SDL Trados Studio and Wordfast are the two softwares utilised the most

by translation students

As for teachers,it can be illustrated from the table that all the ten teachers

chose to utilise SDL Trados Studio and only five of them also chose to use one

two more CAT tools which were Wordfast and Memos It can be implied that unlik

students, SDL Trados Studio was the most popular CAT tools amo

Levels of adoption of CAT tools

It can be seen from the table of descriptive analysis that the mean value for

the level of adoption among students without work experience is 2.23, a little below

average score of the scale (2.5) with little dispersion This meant that

without work experience were familiar with CAT tools but did

also be illustrated from the table of frequency, in which over half of

Familiar but with no use Familiar with little use Familiar with some use Familiar with extensive use

How familiar you are with CAT tools

Table 2: Descriptive analysis of data

on the adoption of CAT tools among students without work experience

Graph 1: Level of adoption of CAT tools among

students without work experience

It can be seen from the table that the majority of the students with work

Wordfast to assist their the tendency to use only SDL Trados Studio

or Wordfast while working with translation tasks Only one student reported to use

two other CAT tools to facilitate their subtitle making Besides, one student stated

not use any CAT tools while working as a translation

Generally, SDL Trados Studio and Wordfast are the two softwares utilised the most

table that all the ten teachers chose to utilise SDL Trados Studio and only five of them also chose to use one or

be implied that unlike the most popular CAT tools among ULIS’s

It can be seen from the table of descriptive analysis that the mean value for

the level of adoption among students without work experience is 2.23, a little below

th little dispersion This meant that students without work experience were familiar with CAT tools but did not use them often

also be illustrated from the table of frequency, in which over half of

Mean Std

Deviation How familiar you are

Table 2: Descriptive analysis of data

on the adoption of CAT tools among

hout work experience

students (61%) chose “Familiar with little use”

extensive use of CAT tools

The same trend can be observed from the data of the students with woexperience The mean value was

level of adoption was

experience but still remai

reported to be familiar with CAT tools but d

jobs as translators Besides, a considerable number of

some work experience with CAT tools and a small portion of students stated that they extensively utilize

30%

4%

Table 3: Descriptive analysis of

data on the adoption of CAT

tools among students wit

experience

Graph 2: Level of adoption of CAT tools among students with work

hose “Familiar with little use” while nobody reported their extensive use of CAT tools

The same trend can be observed from the data of the students with woexperience The mean value was smaller than the average score of the

level of adoption was a little more dispersed than that of students without work experience but still remained low About half of the number of the students were

e familiar with CAT tools but did not use them often in their partjobs as translators Besides, a considerable number of students claimed that they hadsome work experience with CAT tools and a small portion of students stated that they extensively utilized these softwares in their translation projects

How familiar you are with CAT tools Valid N (listwise)

tools among students with work

Graph 2: Level of adoption of CAT tools among students with work

experience

while nobody reported their

The same trend can be observed from the data of the students with work

smaller than the average score of the scale The

a little more dispersed than that of students without work

f the number of the students were not use them often in their part-time students claimed that they had some work experience with CAT tools and a small portion of students stated that

these softwares in their translation projects

Mean Std

Deviation 2.26 712

Familiar but without working

Familiar with little working

Familiar with some working

Familiar with extensive working experience

Graph 2: Level of adoption of CAT tools among students with work

Graph 3: Level of adoption of CAT tools among students with work experience

Unlike the trend observed among translation students, the majority of translation teachers (70%) reported that they had some work

tools Besides, other participants replied that they did not have considerable work experience with CAT tools The explanation for this trend may be given through the next section concerning the factors influencing the utilisation of CA

Table 4.1: Voluntariness in using

CAT tools among students without

work experience (descriptive

analysis)

Graph 3: Level of adoption of CAT tools among students with work experience

Unlike the trend observed among translation students, the majority of translation teachers (70%) reported that they had some work experience with CAT tools Besides, other participants replied that they did not have considerable work experience with CAT tools The explanation for this trend may be given through the next section concerning the factors influencing the utilisation of CA

Factors influencing the utilisation of CAT tools

4: Agree 5: Strongly Agree

2 I pratice using CAT tools

as a skill a translator needs

3 I use CAT tools because

my classmates use them

Valid N (listwise)

Voluntariness in using

CAT tools among students without

work experience (descriptive

Graph 3: Level of adoption of CAT tools among students with work experience

Unlike the trend observed among translation students, the majority of

experience with CAT tools Besides, other participants replied that they did not have considerable work experience with CAT tools The explanation for this trend may be given through the next section concerning the factors influencing the utilisation of CAT tools among

Familiar but without work experience

Familiar with little work experience

Familiar with some work experience

Familiar with extensive work expensive

Mean Std Deviation

In terms of Voluntariness of CAT tools utilisation, a majority of students without work experience reported that they voluntarily used CAT tools and they practised these softwares as a skill to prepare themselves for the future career as translators Specifically, the mean values of the responses to item 1 and item 2 were 3.62 and 4.00 respectively, which were both well higher than the average score of the scale illustrating a large number choosing voluntariness From the table of frequency, nearly 70% of students announced that they voluntarily utilised CAT tools The same trend could be observed in the responses item 2 Besides, some students stayed neutral when replying to the statement “I practice using CAT tools

as a skill a translator needs” However, the opposite trend could be observed regarding the response to item 3 claiming “I use CAT tools because my classmates use them” Their viewpoints on this statement were well dispersed It can be seen more clearly in the table of frequency, in which “Disagree” and “Neutral” responses shared the same portion and so were the “Strongly Disagree” and “Agree” responses It could beindicated that the majority of students opposed this statement Many of them were not influenced by their classmates when deciding to employ CAT tools

-1- -2- -3- -4- -5-

1 I voluntarily use CAT tools

0% 7.7% 23.1

%

69.2

% 0%

2 I practice using CAT tools as a skill a translator needs

my classmates use them

Table 4.2: Voluntariness in using

CAT tools among students without

work experience (frequency)

As for students with work experience, quite similar trend could be observed among responses to item 1 More than half of the students agreed that they used CAT tools voluntarily while only 11% disagreed with this statement However, the responses

to item 2 show mixed results Students showed different opinions on the statement that they used CAT tools to improve their professional images 37% of the students stayed neutral while the portions of Agree and Disagree were equal It could be seen that replies to statements in this section by students with work experience were more dispersed than those of students without work experience

2 I use CAT tools because

I want to look more professional

3.00 1.109

Valid N (listwise)

I voluntarily use CAT tools.

0% 11.1% 37% 33.3% 18.5%

I use CAT tools because

I want to look more

professional.

7.4% 25.9% 37% 18.5% 11.1%

Table 5.1: Voluntariness in using

CAT tools among students with work

experience (descriptive analysis)

Table 5.2: Voluntariness in using

CAT tools among students with work

experience (frequency)

Table 6.1: Voluntariness in using CAT tools among translation teachers (descriptive

analysis)

2 I use CAT tools

because I want to look

“professional image” as a factor leading to the use of CAT tools, the mean value of responses recorded lower than the average score of the scale (2.7<3.0) with quite large dispersion It can be implied that the viewpoints on the professional image were largely distributed among translation teachers

The table of frequency demonstrates a more obvious picture of the translation teachers’ attitudes toward voluntariness in CAT tools utilisation It can

be seen from the table that in both statements, neutral responses accounted for 40%, the largest share The percentage of translation teachers agreeing and strongly agreeing with “I voluntarily use CAT tools” equaled that of teachers opposing the idea Regarding the responses to “I use CAT tools because I want to look more professional”, the number of participants opposing the idea was twice greater than that of supporters

b Influences of teachers

-1- Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

I use CAT tools because I want to

look more professional.

Table 6.2: Voluntariness in using CAT tools among translation teachers (frequency)

Regarding the influence of the academic environment, these two above tables implied the strong effect that the academic curriculum and teachers had on students when choosing to use CAT tools More than 90% of the students agreed that the utilisation of CAT tool was compulsory in some courses at school; nearly 70% were

in favor of the statement that the utilisation was due to the expectation from teachers Besides, some students stated that they were not sure whether their teacher expected their utilisation of CAT or not When it comes to the preference of teachers to the students using CAT tools, the majority of students (53.8%) adopted the neutral viewpoint In addition, about one third of the students agreed and strongly agreed that teachers preferred students who utilised CAT tools

Similar to the responses given by students without work experience, those of students with work experience were mostly positive items 6 and 7, which stated that the academic courses and the expectation of teachers affected their utilisation of

6 Teachers prefer students

-1- -2- -3- -4- -5-

4 Some courses at school require the use of CAT tools

in translation assignments

Table 7.1: Influence of teachers

on students without work

experience (descriptive analysis)

Table 7.2: Influence of teachers on

students without work experience

(frequency)

CAT tools When it comes to the preference of teachers, students showed quite different opinions; a large portion of them adopted a neutral point of view The number of students agreeing and disagreeing with the statement 7 was evenly distributed

Mean Std

Deviation

6 Some courses at school require the use of CAT tools in translation

assignments

4.63 688

7 Teachers expect

me to use CAT tools

3.70 1.103

8 Teachers prefer students who can use CAT tools

2.96 1.055

Valid N (listwise)

-1- -2- -3- -4- -5-

Some courses at school require the use of CAT tools in

translation assignments.

Table 8.2: Influence of teachers on students with

work experience (frequency)

3.3 Influence of clients (only students with work experience and translation

teachers)

In terms of influence by clients, it can be obviously seen that responses to all the three items were much spread, especially among the responses to item 4 and item 5 Around one third of the students did not seem to know whether their clients number

of students agreeing and disagreeing with the statement 7 was evenly distributed expected or prefered their use of CAT tools or not, while around 40% of the

Mean Std

Deviation

3 Clients require

me to use CAT tools

2.63 1.149

4 Clients expect

me to use CAT tools

2.93 1.238

5 Clients prefer to work with

translators who use them

Table 9.2: Influence of clients on

students with work experience

(frequency)

Table 9.1: Influence of clients on

students with work experience

(descriptive analysis)

students did not agree with these ideas Moreover, nearly 50% of the students opposed to the statement that clients required them to utilize CAT tools while there were still about 30% of the students in favor of this item

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std

work with translators

who use them

Valid N (listwise) 10

The mean values of responses to statements involving influences of clients

on translation teachers’ utilisation of CAT tools were all above the average score

of the scale Replies to item concerning clients’ preference received the highest mean value while replies to item concerning clients’ requirement were the most dispersed

The table of frequency reveals that translation teachers held mixed viewpoints on the clients’ requirement of CAT tools utilisation When it comes to clients’ expectation, the largest share was “Agree” and “Strongly Agree” responses However, 30% of participants opposed or strongly opposed this reason Lastly,

-1- Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Clients prefer to work with

translators who use them

Table 10.1: Influence of clients on translation teachers (descriptive analysis)

Table 10.2: Influence of clients on translation teachers (frequency)

regarding clients’ preference, half of the teachers supported the statement while only 10% disgreeing with the statement Besides, a considerable number of translation teachers had the tendency to adopt a neutral point of view on this factor

d Other factors

Beside factors encouraging the utilisation of CAT tools, there are some factors that may prevent translators from employing CAT tools Through interviews, a number of problems were listed According to interviewees, they used

to have problems using CAT tools Some shared that they were still dealing with various challenges while utilising these translation softwares

The most common obstacle is reported to be the sophisticated usage with too many commands S2 stated that “Trados Studio and Wordfast have different steps for the same commands, which leads to the fact that many users may feft confused Users may also forget the steps if they do not use CAT tools often” Holding the same opinion, S4 shared that due to the sophisticated and unwanted steps, she usually encountered problems with data saving Besides, complicated interfaces were also mentioned S2 and S4 said that Trados had so many interfaces that the utilisation became complicated Interviewees without work experience emphasized the sophisticated and unwanted commands while utilising CAT tools, especially Trados S8 stated that “I have spent the whole semester trying to remember all the steps” S7 added that she often forgot the steps while performing tasks on Trados

In addition, some functions of CAT tools pose some unwanted problems Specifically, S3 said that CAT tools sometimes commit errors while processing some file formats, as a result, the translation products when exported could not maintain the original design She added that “I have to spend a lot of time editing the format due to the errors” In terms of Translation Memory, S1 stated that

“Translation Memory manages the terminology and stores the meanings to be reused for following projects, however, a word or phrase may have different meanings in different contexts Moreover, it is unavoidable that sometimes translators mistranslate some words As a result, there will be translation errors if translators keep using the same Translation Memory” Finally, source texts are often

split into smaller units, mainly sentences However, S3 said that the separation into sentences led her to adopt word for word translation method while translators sometimes have to change the order of some sentences to maintain the naturalness

of the target text

Another common challenge mentioned by interviewees is the cost Almost all the students complained that the cost of using CAT tools, especially Trados, is too high for students to afford

Students without work experience also addressed the huge cost as the difficulty since they had to use the trial version that would expire after one month Sharing the same problem with students, both teachers shared that the biggest problem they encountered was the high cost of CAT tools As a result, they ended

up utilising unlicensed versions of Trados Studio, which led to a variety of issues related to the cracked softwares T1 said that she had to deal with the large sizes of Trados application files which were blamed to cause the terrible slowness during the utilising process She claimed that this issue could be solved if she used the legal version of Trados Supporting T1’s opinion, S2 said that when he used the unlicensed version of CAT tools, he failed to be offered the full and valuable support from the developers with the functions; as a result, the functions provided

by cracked versions could not completely fulfill his expectations

It seems that these difficulties may become obstables discouraging the utilisation of CAT tools among translation teachers and students

4.1.3 Research question 2: Perceptions of effectiveness

4.1.3.1 Relative Advantages

1 I think CAT tools enable me to

2 I think CAT tools give me greater control

over my translation process (terms,