2020, Vol.21, No.4

The Journal of Translation Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.49

pISSN : 1229-795X
https://journal.kci.go.kr/kats

This paper aims to examine the impact of language interference on machine translation. For this purpose, three speeches delivered by former president Park Geun-hye were analyzed, as well as their human translations and Google Translate output in Spanish. The analysis revealed that language interference affects the quality of machine translation in two aspects: it causes mistranslation, mainly due to a wrong interpretation of syntactical structure of the source text, lack of contextual understanding, grammatical errors and conventional factors. On the other hand, the interference leads to an unnatural translation in terms of sentence organization, which reflects an excessive copy of the original structure and machine’s unawareness of the mode how the TT is delivered and how the ST is perceived as discourse and genre.

In the 1st half of 2020, most of the students across the globe had to go through on-line distance learning due to the serious outbreak of the global pandemic Covid-19 and education experts predict that the on-line learning will grow significantly. Therefore, the quality enhancement of online teaching and learning has emerged as a critical issue. This study analyzes the perception on distance learning of 105 undergraduate students in interpreting and translation courses after they had experienced the on-line distance learning for a semester. The survey questions comprise three parts, i.e. personal information, opinions on distance learning, and experiences and perceptions on learning under the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey result shows that effective management of time and space is the greatest advantage of on-line learning, whereas the lack of communication and feedback is the biggest disadvantage. Under the Covid-19 pandemic, the respondents have gone through psychological/emotional distress more than physical constraints. For the quality enhancement of on-line education, feedbacks on students’ learning process need to be provided frequently, and psychological/emotional as well as system and economic supports are needed to better support students who are struggling to adapt to the new learning environment.

The COVID19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to T&I training with all regular T&I classes moving online. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this study is to shed light on the experiences and perceptions of the T&I trainers regarding the nation’s first-ever synchronous online T&I teaching and learning. Based on a questionnaire-based survey, the study examines how the trainers felt about their online classes offered real time via video-conferencing platforms such as Zoom and WebEx. The survey focuses on their preferred types of ICT resources, their perceptions about and satisfaction with the quality of the online classes they provide, and their preferences for modes of teaching (online, offline, or hybrid). The study found that the majority of the respondents prefer synchronous online teaching via video-conferencing platforms over traditional media such as PPT files and voice recordings and that their choice of teaching mode is a hybrid mode which allows real-life, face-to-face communication and interaction. The study concludes by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of online teaching identified by the trainers, as well as the implications for future research.