Translation revision : a case study analysing professional translators revising a technical text

Abstract

Translation revision is an emerging topic in the translation industry and Translation Studies. The present study encompasses a process-oriented research focusing on other-revision and aims to analyse the translation revision process of five professional translators revising a technical text from English to Maltese. This research is inspired by Künzli’s (2006b) study. The five participants audio-recorded themselves thinking aloud and answered a short questionnaire after finishing their revision task. The research applies a multi-method approach as data collection includes the revised target text, the audio recordings of the think-alouds and the questionnaire. Three data sets, which include (1) the revised text with track changes and comments, (2) the think-aloud protocols, and (3) the questionnaire responses, were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively to investigate what revisions were made and why, and to gather information on the professionals training, work experience and revision process. The five participating Maltese professional translators are the protagonists in this study, as their revision process is investigated while simultaneously exploring the changes made in the language pair: English to Maltese. This study, although the first of its type dealing with other-revision of a technical text and Maltese translators, may pave the way for other similar studies.