The Blame Game. Post-Editing vs. Human Translation in the Eyes of Translation Trainees

Technological advances have deeply impacted the language industry, substantially increasing post-editing (MTPE) services, possibly surpassing human translation (HT). In response to this evolving industry, translation training institutes commit to developing training programs aligned with market needs. However, a certain misalignment seems to exist in Italy between the professional landscape and actual translation training programs, and field studies on trainees’ competencies are scarce. Considering previous research, this study analyses learners’ translation vs. MTPE performance to assess competence gaps (Latorraca, 2023). Errors in MTPE and translated outputs were tagged (Mossop, 2014) to compare the quality of the final products. Error analysis reveals a contrast between translation and MTPE, highlighting the need for more targeted and specialized curricula to address specific challenges in the evolving landscape of translation services.