Abstract:

Generally visualization is considered as “the formation of mental visual images, the act or process of interpreting in visual terms or of putting into visible form” [1]. Representing abstract data as images can contribute to understanding the above data meaning.

The development of electronic technologies in 21st century has led to digital multimedia nature of the communication, knowledge representation and processing. The above has influenced science and research, education and professional activities specifics.

Cognitive sciences have accepted and develop the concept of visual thinking that focus on thinking in mental images process [2]. Special emphasis is laid on spatial-temporal reasoning through which objects, ideas, patterns might be represented as multidimensional phenomena [3]. Visual learning is considered as one of learning styles[4].

Scholars underline that visualization does not imply decoration. Its primary task is to provide information in the most effective way, to perceive the information. Besides, specialists stress that the more familiar the visual images are to the audience the easier and quicker they are decoded by the audience. Moreover, colored visual images are kept in memory stronger [5].

Visualisation is widely used in research and writing in domain specific areas, including engineering, physics, chemistry, medicine, business, etc. to simplify the understanding of the issues under study and provide the most detailed descriptions.
Everything mentioned above has led to the research hypothesis: Visualization could improve the quality of specialized translation.

An experiment was conducted to identify possible aspects through which the visualization could help improve translation quality. Two groups of novice translators were organized. Group members were of the same age and gender distribution. Participants did an entry test and showed no difference regarding their level of foreign language mastery. They had the same average level of translation competence.

The first group was encouraged to visualize information they had to translate. The second group performed translation in the traditional way, only through writing. Both groups used dictionaries, web-sources, etc. to extract factual information. The experiment lasted four months. At the end of the experiment the participants were offered a translation assignment that revealed that those who were engaged in visualization-supported translation produced the translation product of better quality (less editing was required, fewer logical and syntactical mistakes, etc).

The report will specify the techniques to arrange visualization supported translation that proved their efficiency through the experiment. The research results allow us to make the conclusion that proposed techniques could contribute to the quality of knowledge representation and interpretation in bilingual context.

References:
[1] Merriam-Webster dictionary. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/visualization
[2] Arnheim, R. (1969) Visual Thinking. University of California Press.
[3] West, T. G. (1997) The Minds Eye. OUP.
[4] Pashler, H.; McDaniel, M.; Rohrer, D.; Bjork, R. (2008). "Learning styles: Concepts and evidence". Psychological Science in the Public Interest 9: 105–119
[5] Ware, C. (2008). Visual thinking for design ([Repr.]. ed.). Burlington, Mass.: Morgan Kaufmann.

Keywords:

Visualisation, knowledge representation and interpretation, legal translation.