Cognitive effort in human translation and machine translation post-editing processes

Abstract

Due to the inaccuracies of Machine Translation (MT), Post-Editing (PE) is inevitable. This poses questions over whether human effort to polish an MT is worthwhile or whether it would be more efficient to translate manually. However, to date, fewer attempts have been made to compare the cognitive effort in the PE process and the sub-phases (orientation, drafting, and revision) of PE with that of Human Translation (HT). To fill this gap, the current study aims to investigate and compare cognitive effort in HT and PE processes in translation from Chinese to English. Data were collected via eye-tracking and keyboard-logging approaches from 25 participants recruited to fulfil three HT and three PE tasks respectively. The comparison of cognitive effort was made from the processes of HT and PE, and their different sub-phases. The study reveals a significant difference in cognitive effort, orientation duration, and drafting duration between HT and PE.