NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in Taiwan

Phillips Alison M, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Alison Marie Tseng of the University of Pittsburgh to conduct a research project in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences area during the summer of 2013 at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei. The project title is "The Effect of Being Immersed in a First or Second Language Environment on Bilingual Translation." The host scientist is Dr. Jun Ren Lee. Previous research has demonstrated that translation ambiguity, the availability of multiple translations, is relatively common and affects adult second language learning and adult bilingual processing. Previous research on translation ambiguity has primarily focused on European languages. However, the United States Census 2010 showed that, between 2000 and 2010, the Asian population increased more than other populations. Further, within the Asian population, the largest population was the Chinese population. Given this, it is imperative to include non-European languages in general, and Mandarin in particular, in the research on translation ambiguity. This project collects English-Mandarin translation norms in Taiwan, allowing a direct comparison between translation norms collected in the United States and in Taiwan. This research answers the questions of: (1) whether translation ambiguity is relatively common between English and Mandarin; (2) whether the correlations between translation ambiguity and word-level characteristics such as concreteness and frequency hold when the two languages do not share an orthography; and (3) how language environment affects the translations that are provided. Further, this research examines the types of errors that are made across a range of proficiencies, allowing for a characterization of the types of errors that bilinguals make in the progression from novice to expert. Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. Furthermore, the results of the proposed research could be used to understand how bilinguals resolve translation ambiguity in their day-to-day communication, and how to reduce errors caused by translation ambiguity. Bilinguals must resolve this ambiguity regularly in their day-to-day communication to avoid errors in communication.