Types of information seekers (translators)

What is it about?

This research shows that translation students do research during translation in different ways. The observation revealed six typical infomration-seeking behaviours: 1. Traditionalists mostly use dictionaries, especially modern ones on their computer or the internet, but they're okay with using printed ones if needed. They're good at using dictionaries but don't often look for information in other places. They're not quick to adopt new technology. 2. Digital Natives really like electronic sources like online dictionaries, internet forums, and online text collections. They don't like printed sources and aren't comfortable using them, probably because they're not used to them. 3. Minimalists don't check sources much, maybe just once or twice. They rely on what they already know and only check sources when they can't find the answer themselves. They're not afraid to come up with their own translations if they can't find a match. They don't spend a lot of time looking at sources, and they pick ones that are easy to get to and give information quickly. 4. True Detectives check lots of sources and read them carefully. If they don't find what they need in one source, they look in others, often other bilingual dictionaries, until they find an answer. They depend a lot on the sources. 5. Habitual Doubters check sources a lot because they want to be sure the information is correct. They're suspicious of most sources, even ones that most people think are good, and they even doubt their own knowledge. 6. Most students translate in a step-by-step way. They work on the text until they run into a problem, then they solve it and keep going. Procrastinators do things differently. When they can't solve a problem, they don't fix it right away. They leave it for later and try to solve it when they get more information or see the same word in a different context.

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Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash