A Study of Strategies of English to Arabic Collaborative Translation on the Zoom Platform

Abstract

The latest technological advances associated with virtual reality can support and accelerate daily life tasks especially in the field of online interpretation. Heavy processes associated with interpretation make interpreters resort to tools and methods in order to ease the translating process. The study investigates the effectiveness of the two variables; collaborative translation use in English-Arabic interpretation of final debate conference held for the current Australian presidency, and the usability of Zoom as an interpretation tool. The study aims at:

1. Investigating the concept of collaborative translation, its usability in maintaining a good quality of translations concerning meaning consistency and accuracy, saving time and effort of the translators.
2. Inspecting the consequences of the technological development and the employment of internet on the use of the collaborative translation around the world, which is the usability of Zoom in interpretation.
3. Examining the effect of collaborators' (translators) interdisciplinary competence in translating a text or a speech by using the collaborative translation. The data analysis of this study shows that the performance of interpreters and the quality of the translated text was successful based on House’s model for assessing translation and according to the opinions of a group of professional interpreters. The study finds that using the aforementioned two variables facilitate the translating process. However, Zoom as an interpretation tool lacks an important feature, which is handover, and that resulted in overlapping translators' voices on some occasions. VII This can be a motive for this app developers to upgrade it in order to construct the perfect virtual environment for interpretation. The study provides those who are interested in the field of translation with some guidelines for the use of the concept of "collaboration" in translation. It shows translators the benefits of working as a team in translating a discourse, and the team working skills they need to acquire to meet the market expectations.