Extended translation: Socio-cognitive translation processes in the workplace

Understanding of the complexity of cognitive processes and recognition of their situated embeddedness in the cognitive science approaches of distributed and situative cognition are fundamental aspects in this research process. The objective of the project is to study the cognitive processes in the translation process while taking account of the technological and social embeddedness of translators in their real working environments. To achieve this, the research will focus both on the situative cognitive processes found in the translation process and on the interaction between translators and those actors and artefacts relevant to a translation project. The primary objective of the research is to expand the established tradition of experimental translation process research with an ethnographic approach in order to boost the validity of findings and extend the process research object. An extension of this kind presents translation as a socio-cognitive, embodied interaction between people and artefacts. The detailed descriptions of the processes and actors involved that are required for a cognitive ethnography should paint a comprehensive and nuanced picture of the individual cases, which will then be related and contrasted with each other. Data will be gathered by means of participative observation and semi-structured expert interviews. A total of 4 cases will each be observed for a period of 10 working days by two researchers. Each case will involve a different, real work setting (e.g. translation agency, translation department, freelance translator) in order to cover the interactions between the various actors and artefacts across the entire translation process. The qualitative data analysis will be expanded by the development and use of appropriate process and network visualisations.

The aim of the project was to study socio-cognitive translation processes, i.e. the thought processes and interactions of translators and translation project managers in the workplace. Particular focus was placed on the influences of technology and the social environment on their work and decision processes. Various translation-related aspects such as text production, terminology management and computer-assisted collaboration with other players relevant to a translation project (e.g. colleagues, clients, line managers) were studied from the perspective of current approaches in translation studies and cognitive science. The project differed from traditional, experiment-based translation process research, which is frequently conducted in a laboratory setting or uses students as study participants. Instead, the project took an ethnographic approach based on several workplace studies: the daily work routines of translators, translation project managers and people in their professional environment were observed directly in the workplace. These observations in the field were augmented by interviews with the participants to obtain insights into their perspectives, expectations and attitudes with regard to their work and their networks. The research questions were developed in part in conjunction with the participants, particularly in relation to specific aspects of current translation praxis. To contrast different work realities, the project used a multiple case study design with (1) two freelance translators, (2) a translation agency, (3) the technical documentation department at a technology company and a partner translation agency, and (4) the translation department in a public institution. In total, data was obtained from 58 half-day observation sessions and 26 hours of interview material. The results of the study revealed the complexity and contextuality of translation processes in their dependence on a range of interacting factors, such as the type and quality of the human interactions, the emergence or use of existing networks, the technologies and physical environment encountered at different workplaces, whether the work was done by an individual or in a collective, and numerous other factors of influence of an organisational, business or social nature. As a subsequent comparison revealed, the impacts of these factors on the observed socio-cognitive processes depended largely on the actual work contexts. Through its methodological approach, the study has also opened up new fields of cooperation at the intersection between research and praxis.