Poll: Does it make sense to use multiple choice in a translation test? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Does it make sense to use multiple choice in a translation test?".
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| | | | | It depends on what is being tested | Sep 4 |
In over 40 years, the only time I can remember taking a multiple choice test was many years ago when I took the exam to join the European Commission and it wasn't exactly a translation test, it was a general culture test. So it depends on what is being tested…
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 18:04
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
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I suppose you could use it to test if a translator understands special difficulties in a certain language ("What is the correct translation of the next sentence? "A. B. or C.").
But why would you want to work like that? Just ask to translate a short (obviously well-written) text with those difficulties in it. A decent translator is supposed to deliver at least a semantically perfect translation. Besides, when you use multiple choice translators are "warned" that they are probably de... See more I suppose you could use it to test if a translator understands special difficulties in a certain language ("What is the correct translation of the next sentence? "A. B. or C.").
But why would you want to work like that? Just ask to translate a short (obviously well-written) text with those difficulties in it. A decent translator is supposed to deliver at least a semantically perfect translation. Besides, when you use multiple choice translators are "warned" that they are probably dealing with something special.
I see no advantage whatsoever compared to a short text translation, but perhaps I'm overlooking something or not grasping completely what is meant by this rather strange question. ▲ Collapse
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 17:04
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No, it doesn't make any sense for a translator who has been working for years to be compared to others with little experience and given translation tests, whether it's multiple choice or some other form!
It also doesn't make sense to tell the translator after a test that from that moment on they'll be working with a crappy CAT tool, or that they'll have to resort to AI or some other rubbish!
We aren't kids anymore. We should be treated as adults and professionals. At least agencies s... See more No, it doesn't make any sense for a translator who has been working for years to be compared to others with little experience and given translation tests, whether it's multiple choice or some other form!
It also doesn't make sense to tell the translator after a test that from that moment on they'll be working with a crappy CAT tool, or that they'll have to resort to AI or some other rubbish!
We aren't kids anymore. We should be treated as adults and professionals. At least agencies should take into account that all translators are different!
Samples of translations in some areas of specialisation, our professional background, our education, our profile on sites like Proz and even our own website, as well as testimonials from professional colleagues, direct clients and agencies should be enough!
And yes, I woke up in a bad mood after being harassed for almost two weeks by an agency in India with a job offer that has nothing to do with my services!
[Edited at 2024-09-05 08:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Kay Denney 
France
Local time: 18:04
French to English
How can you chose "it depends on what's being tested?". It's a translation test, you're being tested on your ability to translate. Part of the ability to translate is to come up with a good word. You might pluck it out of thin air if you're gifted, and you might spend fifteen minutes trawling the thesaurus if you're not, or you might sneak a look at some previous translations where you've had to translate the same idea. If you simply have to choose from A, B or C, you're limiting the translator... See more How can you chose "it depends on what's being tested?". It's a translation test, you're being tested on your ability to translate. Part of the ability to translate is to come up with a good word. You might pluck it out of thin air if you're gifted, and you might spend fifteen minutes trawling the thesaurus if you're not, or you might sneak a look at some previous translations where you've had to translate the same idea. If you simply have to choose from A, B or C, you're limiting the translator to three words out of all the millions that exist.
A gifted translator might rearrange the sentence to use a verb instead of a noun (always a good idea in my language pair) or use a completely different but perfectly acceptable turn of phrase (I will systematically put "Remember to do X" rather than "Don't forget to do X" even if the source text is "Ne pas oublier de faire X" because "don't forget" kind of implies your reader is forgetful and flighty, or doddery. "Remember to" is more positive.
A bad translator might choose the best term from the list, even though they'd have spontaneously gone with the one that looks the most like the source language ("elle est intelligente" translated as "she is intelligent" even though naturally in such a context a native English speaker would prefer "she is smart" or "she is clever").
Without the list to help, the bad translator might still choose an appropriate term, but then they might spell it wrong or put it in the wrong tense...
So for me the answer is a hard NO.
[Edited at 2024-09-05 12:05 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mario Chávez
United States
Local time: 12:04
Member (Jun 2024)
English to Spanish
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| Only with very specific cases | Sep 5 |
Let's say that you want to hire a Parisian French translator for a highly regarded technical publication. You want to make sure your candidates use flawless French punctuation. So, a multiple choice question would go like this:
Translate this: Is this an orthogonal projection?
Choices:
1. S'agit-il d'une projection orthogonale ?
2. Est-ce une projection orthogonale?
Option #1 is the correct one, but not because of the text but because of ... See more Let's say that you want to hire a Parisian French translator for a highly regarded technical publication. You want to make sure your candidates use flawless French punctuation. So, a multiple choice question would go like this:
Translate this: Is this an orthogonal projection?
Choices:
1. S'agit-il d'une projection orthogonale ?
2. Est-ce une projection orthogonale?
Option #1 is the correct one, but not because of the text but because of the correct punctuation.
It all depends on what criteria you are using. If it is a general-purpose translation test, stick to a small sample (no more than 150-200 words). Multiple choice tests are a can of worms. I remember taking a 200-question technical Windows networking test. I couldn't pass it because some of the questions had more than one correct answer.
Caveat: I am no French translator; DeepL was used to generate the above translations. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | "It depends" - a responder writes | Sep 5 |
Kay Denney wrote:
How can you chose "it depends on what's being tested?". It's a translation test, you're being tested on your ability to translate.
You're merely demonstrating your ability to deliver a translation, when push comes to shove. How you procure it..... well, the options are boundless
The rest of what you said seems, I think, to assume the multi-choice will be a choice of target translations of a given source. I could envisage a situation where one might test understanding. I'm sure we've all seen translations that start quite well, and then later it becomes clear the translator doesn't really understand what's going on at all. So you could in theory test that. Probably make an interesting change.
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A multiple-choice question assumes that a 100% correct translation does exist (and one person I knew really believed it's just so; according to him, there's always only one correct translation and no alternatives are possible, at least in tech). I get to check many test translations performed from scratch, and sometimes out of two translations that contain almost identical sets of boilerplate mistakes (you won't believe how many translators follow exactly the same lame algorithms in everything t... See more A multiple-choice question assumes that a 100% correct translation does exist (and one person I knew really believed it's just so; according to him, there's always only one correct translation and no alternatives are possible, at least in tech). I get to check many test translations performed from scratch, and sometimes out of two translations that contain almost identical sets of boilerplate mistakes (you won't believe how many translators follow exactly the same lame algorithms in everything they do, it's maddening) one gets a passing grade and the other doesn't. The difference is subtle, only someone with my level of experience can see it. Multiple-choice tests kill knowledge. When I wanted to pass two exams to get a national-level certificate authorizing me to engage in certain financial activities, I really read everything that needed to be read (tons of documents), but then I heard other examinees talking about how they took preparatory courses where they were just given the correct answers and memorized them. The courses weren't free, of course, but in fact pretty expensive. Today's students here also do a lot of multiple-choice tests which came about galore when they introduced the Bologna system, and now people in the government and in the civil society are talking about abandoning this practice
[Редактировалось 2024-09-06 09:55 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:04
Serbian to English
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| Another "depends" ... | Sep 10 |
If the aim of the agency is to boast about the number of "our translators" that "all have been tested", then sure - a multiple choice test will be more than good enough. No need to make the effort of reading and evaluating all the answers - just apply the grid of right answers, and you can tick the box and impress your clients with your ever growing list of "our tested translators".
OTOH, if the aim is to really test to which extent you can rely on someone to deliver acceptable resu... See more If the aim of the agency is to boast about the number of "our translators" that "all have been tested", then sure - a multiple choice test will be more than good enough. No need to make the effort of reading and evaluating all the answers - just apply the grid of right answers, and you can tick the box and impress your clients with your ever growing list of "our tested translators".
OTOH, if the aim is to really test to which extent you can rely on someone to deliver acceptable results, then it's another story altogether. I very much doubt that any export-import company in need of an in-house translator would rely on a multiple choice test.
The ONLY use I could see for a multiple choice translation test would be, when there are lots of candidates, in a first round of testing to eliminate first the hopeless chancers on which there is no point wasting time in a second round of a much more thorough testing. I'm giving this only as an example - would be curious to know if any agency is doing a two-stage testing. BTW, it's not some idea of mine plucked out of thin air - for one job (not in translating) I've been through a two stage testing. First round reduced the numbers from 200 to 8, the second from 8 to 3.
The big defect of multiple choice tests is that they are too easy. To spot the right answer is far easier than to write it yourself. And some tests make it even easier by giving 3 obviously wrong choices out of 4, so you can "guess" the right choice - even when it's one you never heard of - simply by elimination. ▲ Collapse
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Daryo wrote:
No need to make the effort of reading and evaluating all the answers - just apply the grid of right answers, and you can tick the box and impress your clients with your ever growing list of "our tested translators"
I do make such effort whenever I check translation test, and every candidate gets a detailed and tailor-made review of their translation, which takes a pretty long time to write (but I have templates dealing with most mistakes a translator can make—and over 90% of them contain the whole bunch of those mistakes). Of course, I don't just roast them, I also tell them how to fix things, give extracts from my own translation to show the difference, and highlight the strengths of a translator if they exist at all. If ever I get feedback on my reviews, it's always positive. Maybe the managers just don't send me the negative stuff. In fact, I recently received a little rave review of my review from a guy who flunked badly. He had 20 years of translation experience behind his belt (mine clocks at about 15 but it's complicated)
| | | | | The short answer is 'no' | Sep 14 |
It's a long time ago since I had a multiple choice test, but what I do remember is that you could choose answer A, B, C or D. Two of them were always utterly nonsense, and the for the two remaining answers (if I really didn't know), I closed my eyes and took my pick. In short, 50% chance.
It's a gamble, and a professional doesn't gamble, he/she knows.
Hence 'no'.
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