Sanjun Sun | Beijing Foreign Studies University (original) (raw)

Papers by Sanjun Sun

Mainly structured around issues revealed in a questionnaire survey among 25 eminent translation p... more Mainly structured around issues revealed in a questionnaire survey among 25 eminent translation process researchers worldwide, this paper deals with methodological issues in think-aloud-based translation process research from two perspectives: theoretical and practical. It argues that there is no strong evidence suggesting that TAP significantly changes or influences the translation process, though TAP’s validity and completeness in a specific study might depend more or less on several variables. TAP and such recording methods as keystroke logging and eye tracking serve different specific research purposes, so they can be combined in a multimethod study to answer more complex research questions. Several research designs are available for a multimethod study, and researchers are encouraged to try designs other than one-shot case studies or convergence design. As for the research procedure, this paper touches upon how to transcribe and analyze the protocols. Many stereotypes in this f...

Chinese Translation Studies in the 21st Century, 2018

Difficulty (or called mental load, cognitive effort) has been an importance topic in translation ... more Difficulty (or called mental load, cognitive effort) has been an importance topic in translation and interpreting process research. This article first clarifies conceptual issues and reviews difficulty, mental workload, cognitive load and other related terms, their histories and theories. Under the umbrella of cognitive science, it then reviews two lines of research, i.e., difficulty in human translation and in postediting of machine translation. Studies concerning methods for measuring difficulty in human translation and post-editing are presented and critically examined. Two assumptions in translation difficulty research are described towards the end of this article.

Advances in Cognitive Translation Studies

We are witnessing exciting advances in cognitive translation studies (CTS), which has become an e... more We are witnessing exciting advances in cognitive translation studies (CTS), which has become an established area within translation studies. CTS boasts today an increasing number of researchers, diversified approaches to cognition and an expanded list of research topics. CTS-themed international conference series are contributing to the constant advances in this area in the new decade. Hence the title of this volume. In the first part of this introduction, we present a short history of the development of this area that, in a way, frames the introductions to each chapter in its second part by offering a wider perspective. Based on the “invisible college” thesis on the growth of scientific knowledge, our historical sketch is structured around CTS's emergence, early development, reckoning, rapid rise, and gradual diversification. As this book gets out of press, we emerge from a Covid-ridden year, and our CTS scientific community has paradoxically become more and better interconnected worldwide. Table of Contents 1. Introduction: One More Step Forward—Cognitive Translation Studies at the Start of a New Decade - Sanjun Sun, Ricardo Muñoz Martín, Defeng Li 2. Spillover Effects in Task-Segment Switching: A Study of Translation Subtasks as Behavioral Categories Within the Task Segment Framework - Ricardo Muñoz Martín, Matthias Apfelthaler 3. Situated Translators: Cognitive Load and the Role of Emotions - Andrea Hunziker Heeb, Caroline Lehr, Maureen Ehrensberger-Dow 4. Measuring the User Experience of Computer-Aided Translation Systems: A Comparative Study - Sanjun Sun 5. Bridging Paradigms to Approach Expertise in Cognitive Translation Studies - Fabio Alves, Igor A. Lourenço da Silva 6. Translation Competence Revisited: Toward a Pedagogical Model of Translation Competence - Zhihong Yang, Defeng Li 7. The Effort Models of Interpreting as a Didactic Construct - Daniel Gile 8. Temporal Eye-Voice Span as a Dynamic Indicator for Cognitive Effort During Speech Processing: A Comparative Study of Reading Aloud and Sight Translation - Hao Zhou, Yu Weng, Binghan Zheng 9. Eye Tracking Uncertainty Management in Sight Translation: Differences Between Professional and Novice Interpreters - Yan He, Jiayi Wang 10. The Impact of Directionality on Cognitive Patterns in the Translation of Metaphors - Yifang Wang

The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Translation

Translation, Cognition & Behavior

In the last two decades, cognitive translation studies in China has been gaining momentum, which ... more In the last two decades, cognitive translation studies in China has been gaining momentum, which is spurred by three lines or perspectives of inquiry: psychology (especially cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics), cognitive linguistics, and translation process research (TPR). Despite the limited numbers of researchers in the first two lines, their increasing number of monographs reflects their influence. Also, while the first two lines have distinctive Chinese characteristics, TPR has been quite parallel to its Western counterpart. This paper offers a survey of Chinese researchers in the three lines, mainly including those in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. It briefly presents dissertations, publications and current lines of work. As many of the researchers publish in Chinese only, this paper provides a window for looking at the Chinese research scene in cognitive translation studies.

Across Languages and Cultures, 2015

The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, 2012

LANS-TTS, 2020

This study investigates the effects of thinking aloud on cognitive effort in translation as a fun... more This study investigates the effects of thinking aloud on cognitive effort in translation as a function of source-text difficulty level. It does so by considering time on task, duration of different translation phases (i.e., orientation, draft, revision), cognitive effort of processing the source and target texts, and translation quality. Twenty participants took part in an English-Chinese translation experiment, which comprised two matched sessions-translating while thinking aloud and translating silently. Their translation processes were recorded by means of an eye tracker and a key logger. An adapted NASA Task Load Index was employed to elicit their subjective assessments of translation difficulty levels. The quality of their translations was evaluated. The results of the study reveal a number of important effects of thinking aloud on cognitive effort during translation: on translation duration, cognitive effort, the perceived level of difficulty of a translation as measured by NASA-TLX, and on translating easier texts.

The purpose of this study was to find a method to measure difficulty in a translation task. Reada... more The purpose of this study was to find a method to measure difficulty in a translation task. Readability formulas have been suggested to be a useful tool and yet this needs to be empirically tested. In this study, NASA Task Load Index, a multidimensional scale for measuring mental workload, was used to assess the level of translation difficulty for the translator. It was found that a text’s readability only partially accounts for its translation difficulty level. Translation quality score was found to be an unreliable indicator of translation difficulty level, while time-on-task was significantly, but weakly, related to translation difficulty level. A formula was developed to predict a text’s translation difficulty level for a translator by using the translator’s pre-translation rating.