Contextualising Computer-Assisted Translation Tools and Modelling Their Usability

In this paper, I attempt to contextualise computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools from a theoretical and a professional perspective and to model the usability of these tools. The theoretical contextualisation of CAT tools is based on Risku’s (2004) cognitive translational theory of Situated Translation, which claims that cognition is not isolated in the translator’s head but emerges in dynamic processes of interaction between the translator and his or her working environment. The potential influence exercised by CAT tools on the translator’s cognitive performance is illustrated by means of the Cologne Model of the Situated LSP Translator, which is based on the theory of Situated Translation and which conceptualises CAT tools as important environmental artefacts in the translational ecosystem. The professional contextualisation takes the form of a survey of the role of CAT tools in the different phases of the computer-assisted translation process. In this context, I discuss how the various sub-tasks of these process phases can be supported by different CAT tools. Following this theoretical and professional contextualisation, I propose a general model of CAT tool usability as well as a more specific model of translation memory system (TMS) usability. These models are derived from ISO standard 9241 “Ergonomics of Human-System Interaction” and attempt to capture all relevant dimensions of CAT tool usability from a user-oriented perspective.