MACHINE TRANSLATION: PERCEPTION OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING STUDENTS IN TURKEY

Abstract

This paper focuses on how machine translation is perceived by students in the Department of Translation and Interpreting at Marmara University in Turkey. For this purpose, a total of 140 (95 females and 45 males) third- and fourth-year students were recruited through a random sampling. They responded to a paper-and-pen questionnaire with 16 statements about their perception of machine translation. Descriptive statistics was performed to analyse the data. The findings show that most students are knowledgeable about machine translation. In addition, students perceive that using machine translation has benefits, such as saving time, making the translator's job easier, and improving translation competence. However, more than one-third of the student's knowledge level on this subject is partially sufficient. This study can contribute to creating course content for the more effective presentation of machine translation (MT) courses taught in translation and interpreting departments. Keywords: machine translation, translation, translator, translation technologies, translation training