Dr Özlem Temizöz
Academic and research departments
Centre for Translation Studies, School of Literature and Languages, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.About
Biography
I am a Research Fellow at the Centre for Translation Studies (CTS) at the University of Surrey.
My research focuses on exploring language technologies (the technologies themselves, i.e. their inherent characteristics) and the impact of their use on the translation process, product, and the translator/user.
Currently, I am working on the CONTRA project exploring concurrent translation workflows and the impact of cloud-based collaborative translation platforms with concurrent access on the translation process, translated product, and the translator.
My research interests also include machine translation (MT), postediting, and technology-enhanced multilingual communication. Before I joined CTS, I worked on projects covering machine translation postediting, cooperation between professional translators and subject-matter experts in contemporary translation/postediting workflows, and cognitive aspects of the translation process and translation into the second language. I worked as a translator and taught English as a second language. I hold a BA in Translation and Interpreting, an MA and a PhD in Translation and Intercultural Studies.
University roles and responsibilities
- Postdoctoral Researcher in Interpreting and Technologies
My qualifications
Grade: "Excellent”, "International Doctorate Distinction". Dissertation: “Postediting Machine Translation Output and Its Revison: Subject-Matter Experts vs. Professional Translators”. Supervisor: Prof. Anthony Pym
Dissertation: “Eye-tracking Directionality in the Translation Process: A Pilot Study" Supervisor: Prof. Anthony Pym
ResearchResearch interests
I began my research career in 2007 with my MA studies as part of the PhD programme led by Prof. Anthony Pym at Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Since then, I have been interested in the interplay between translation and technology. More specifically, I have been interested in how technology affects the translation process, the translated product and the user(s). Being also inspired by the context where I perform translation, (with the language-pair English-Turkish, Turkish being a "language of limited diffusion"), initially, I was involved in empirical research that explores the directionality in the translation process (whether the translation is performed from L2 into L1 or from L1 into L2). I used eye-tracking to measure the cognitive effort spent by the translators while translating in different directions.
Later in my PhD studies, I became interested in machine translation postediting and a relatively unexplored aspect of the real market workflow where professional posteditors cooperate with subject-matter experts in the production and revision of postedited texts. I explored the impact of various combinations in these workflows on the productivity and the quality of the postediting. While analyzing data of this study, I realized that penalizing (counting) or not penalizing (not counting) the recurring errors in the postedited products changed the quality assessment results in a statistically significant way, and I delved into this topic and conducted further research on this phenomenon.
Currently, I am involved in research exploring both translation/interpreting technologies (the technologies themselves; i.e. their inherent characteristics) and the impact of their use on the process/product and the user(s) of these services.
CONFERENCES
I have participated in the following conferences as a Speaker or a Participant:
2011. Conference on External Translation for Candidate Countries and Potential Candidate Countries (participant), organized by the European Commission Directorate General for Translation (Brussels, March 25).
2009. Temizöz, Özlem. “Eye-tracking the Effects of Directionality on Cognitive Effort Distribution and Revision in the Translation Process: A Pilot Study of Novice Translators”, Minor Dissertation presented at New Research in Translation and Interpreting Studies, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain, June 25-27.
2009. Temizöz, Özlem. “Eye-tracking the Effects of Directionality on Cognitive Effort Distribution and Revision in the Translation Process” paper presented at International Eye-to-IT Conference on translation processes, sentence processing and the bilingual mental lexicon, CRITT/Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, April 28-29.
2008. The Third Asian Translation Traditions Conference: (Ex)Change and Continuity in Translation Traditions (participant), Bogaziçi University, Istanbul, October 22–24.
2008. Temizöz, Özlem. “Directionality in the Translation Process” research project presented at the doctoral summer school CETRA (Center for Translation Studies) Research Seminar in Translation Studies, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, August 18-29.
Research interests
I began my research career in 2007 with my MA studies as part of the PhD programme led by Prof. Anthony Pym at Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Since then, I have been interested in the interplay between translation and technology. More specifically, I have been interested in how technology affects the translation process, the translated product and the user(s). Being also inspired by the context where I perform translation, (with the language-pair English-Turkish, Turkish being a "language of limited diffusion"), initially, I was involved in empirical research that explores the directionality in the translation process (whether the translation is performed from L2 into L1 or from L1 into L2). I used eye-tracking to measure the cognitive effort spent by the translators while translating in different directions.
Later in my PhD studies, I became interested in machine translation postediting and a relatively unexplored aspect of the real market workflow where professional posteditors cooperate with subject-matter experts in the production and revision of postedited texts. I explored the impact of various combinations in these workflows on the productivity and the quality of the postediting. While analyzing data of this study, I realized that penalizing (counting) or not penalizing (not counting) the recurring errors in the postedited products changed the quality assessment results in a statistically significant way, and I delved into this topic and conducted further research on this phenomenon.
Currently, I am involved in research exploring both translation/interpreting technologies (the technologies themselves; i.e. their inherent characteristics) and the impact of their use on the process/product and the user(s) of these services.
CONFERENCES
I have participated in the following conferences as a Speaker or a Participant:
2011. Conference on External Translation for Candidate Countries and Potential Candidate Countries (participant), organized by the European Commission Directorate General for Translation (Brussels, March 25).
2009. Temizöz, Özlem. “Eye-tracking the Effects of Directionality on Cognitive Effort Distribution and Revision in the Translation Process: A Pilot Study of Novice Translators”, Minor Dissertation presented at New Research in Translation and Interpreting Studies, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain, June 25-27.
2009. Temizöz, Özlem. “Eye-tracking the Effects of Directionality on Cognitive Effort Distribution and Revision in the Translation Process” paper presented at International Eye-to-IT Conference on translation processes, sentence processing and the bilingual mental lexicon, CRITT/Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, April 28-29.
2008. The Third Asian Translation Traditions Conference: (Ex)Change and Continuity in Translation Traditions (participant), Bogaziçi University, Istanbul, October 22–24.
2008. Temizöz, Özlem. “Directionality in the Translation Process” research project presented at the doctoral summer school CETRA (Center for Translation Studies) Research Seminar in Translation Studies, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, August 18-29.
Publications
The advent of AI-supported, cloud-based collaborative translation platforms have enabled a new form of online collaborative translation — ‘concurrent translation’ (CT). CT refers to commercial translation performed on such platforms by multiple agents (translators, editors, subject-matter experts etc) simultaneously, via concurrent access. Although the practice has recently gained more ground, research on CT is scarce. The present article reports on selected key findings of a study that investigates translators experiences with CT via a survey of 804 professional translators working in CT mode across different commercial platforms. Despite the affordances such as peer learning, positive competition, speed, flexibility of the volume of work and working time, and reduced responsibility and reduced stress, CT workflow comes with its substantial challenges such as time pressure, negative competition, reduced selfrevision and research, all of which result in quality compromised for speed.
Additional publications
Temizöz, Özlem (2017) "Translator Postediting and Subject-Matter Expert Revision versus Subject-Matter Expert Postediting and Translator Revision", Journal of Translator Education and Translation Studies,Vol. 2, No.4: 3-21.
Temizöz, Özlem (2016) “Postediting machine translation output: Subject-matter experts versus professional translators", Perspectives, Vol. 24, No. 4: 646-665.DOI: 10.1080/0907676X.2015.1119862. Available at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0907676X.2015.1119862
Temizöz, Özlem (2016) "Counting or not counting recurring errors in translation quality evaluation", SKASE Journal of Translation and Interpretation, Vol. 9, No. 1: 51-63. Available at http://www.skase.sk/Volumes/JTI10/pdf_doc/04.pdf
Temizöz, Özlem (2014) "Eye-tracking Directionality in the Translation Process: A Pilot Study", Istanbul University Journal of Translation Studies, Vol. 8: 97-122. Available at dergipark.gov.tr/uploads/issuefiles/ed88/594e/9d7d/57c17d295ac20.pdf.
Temizöz, Özlem (2012) "Machine Translation and Postediting" EST (European Society for Translation Studies) State-of-the-Art Research. Available at http://www.est-translationstudies.org/intranet/research.