#8 - A translation invariably reflects the writing style of

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Evaluate X. The correct answer choice is (C)

The author of this stimulus discusses large translations, which are sometimes assigned to groups of human translators with various styles. The author asserts that computers, which would be of more consistent style with 80% accuracy, should be used instead.

The question stem is an Evaluate the Argument Except, which means that the four incorrect answer choices will provide questions whose answers would be valuable in assessing the author’s conclusion. The incorrect answer choice will be the one question whose answer would be irrelevant to the assessment of the author’s argument.

Answer choice (A): If stylistic guidelines could solve the inconsistency problem, then this provides an easy solution. Knowing this would certainly be valuable in assessing the value of computer translation versus human translation.

Answer choice (B): If numerical comparisons of accuracy can be made, then that provides another basis for assessing whether computer translations would be preferable.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice, because the answer to this question would not help us to assess the author’s conclusion that computer translations are preferable. Since this is the only choice whose answer would not help us to evaluate the author’s argument, it is the correct answer to this Evaluate Except question.

Answer choice (D): The answer to this question is rather vital to the question of the value of computer translation, so this is an incorrect answer to this Evaluate Except question.

Answer choice (E): This is another important question to ask in comparing the relative strengths of computer- versus human-created translation.

[PositiveThinker]

Having a little trouble with this problem.



Stimulus is saying a problem that humans have is they have different styles and it causes confusion in the translations. Thats essentially the issue with the translation.

Answer choice C says "whether computer translations programs, like the human translators, have their own distinct writing style"... Wouldn't knowing the answer to this help us better evaluate? If the computer programs have different writing styles, then don't they have the same short comings and potentially confusing translations that the humans have?


While i was typing this it came to me that different programs having different writing styles wouldn't matter, because you are simply using ONE program to translate. And programs differing in writing styles wouldn't matter.

Just to clarify, is that reasoning why answer C doesn't help and why its the correct answer? Thanks!

[EL16]

Hello,

I have the same question as the post above me (by PositiveThinker) and was hoping someone could answer his/her reasoning as to if that is why answer choice C is incorrect? I had the same line of thinking, but just want to confirm this is correct.

Thanks,
Elana

[Francis O'Rourke]

The issue with using human translators for long documents is that the different styles are usually incompatible with one another.

For example, imagine you assign Anton, Beth, and Cecilia to translate the first 20 pages, the middle 20 pages, and the final 20 pages of a document, respectively. These three translators might all do wonderful work translating their portions of the text. However, you are likely to end up with sudden shifts in style every 20 pages. You may read for 20 pages about the role of agreements in the workplace. Then suddenly the text could focus on 'understanding.' Finally in the last twenty pages, you could shift to reading only about 'contracts.' The reason for this shift could be simple decisions made about how to translate the same word: Anton could choose to translate les accord as 'agreement', then Beth might choose to translate it as 'understanding,' and finally Cecilia could choose 'contracts.' The result would be a text that confuses the reader about what the topic of the document really is.

That is a simplistic example - different styles goes beyond word choice - but I hope it illustrates the problem presented in the stimulus. Now when we use a single computer program for the entire document, we would not have to worry about shifts in style in the middle of a document. Whether or not a computer program has a specific style, we would only read one style throughout the text.

We have no reason to avoid a "distinct style" in a translation We only want to avoid shifts in two distinct styles that create incompatibility. For this reason, answer choice (C) would not help us evaluate computer translation programs.

[EL16]

Thanks for clearing that up, Francis!