Professional translator use of CAT tools in Saudi Arabia: Usability perceptions, realities and difficulties

Muhammad M. M. Abdel Latif^1*Sami Alsalmi^2*

• ¹Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
• ²King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Though computer-assisted translation (CAT) has gained increasing popularity, profiling the realities of its uses is still under-explored in some contexts. This study investigated professional translators' perceptions and actual uses of CAT tools in Saudi Arabia, the translation text types they commonly use these applications with, their purposes for using them, and the challenges they encounter. The study also looked at the role of gender and work status (i.e., being an employee versus a freelancer translator) in translators' CAT use. We collected quantitative and qualitative questionnaire data from 44 professional translators working in Saudi Arabia. The results showed the translators' high degree of dependence on CAT and frequent uses of multi-purpose or integrated CAT applications, simple machine translation programmes, and online dictionaries and specialized terminology databases. They reported that such uses vary depending on text types. Translators' work status rather than gender was found to influence some dimensions of their dependence on CAT; employee translators reported higher uses of CAT than freelancers. A number of purposes for using CAT were reported, including: translating specialized texts, verifying human translation accuracy, finding term meanings, ensuring terminological consistency, managing collaborative translation projects, and building glossaries. The translators also referred to some text-related challenges and gaps encountered when using CAT applications, and to their cautious use of AI programmes. The paper discusses these results and their implications to translator training.