Usability as a focus of multiprofessional collaboration: a teaching case study on user-centered translation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26512/belasinfieis.v14.n2.2025.55922Keywords:
Multiprofessional collaboration. Technical communication. Translator training. Usability. User-Centered Translation.Abstract
While many translation theories focus on the reader and the target context, usability methods have not traditionally been a part of translator training. An innovation called User-Centered Translation (UCT), which is a model based on usability and user-centered design, offers concrete usability tools which have been missing from translation theories. It also intends to help translators speak the same language as other professional communicators, like technical communicators. Since both professions share the ideology of being the user’s advocate, usability is a common denominator that can function as a focal point of collaboration. In this teaching case study, we discuss the teaching of four UCT methods: personas, the implied reader, heuristic evaluation, and usability testing. We describe our teaching experiences, analyze student feedback on all four, and report on the implementation of a student assignment on heuristics. This case study suggests ways in which UCT can form an important nexus of professional skills and multiprofessional collaboration.
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