Skip to main content

Translation Error Analysis Chinese/English - Cuie Xu

Translation Error Analysis and Its Implications for Chinese to English Translation Pedagogy

Dr Cuie Xu

Lecturer in Korean

Introduction to the study

In 2024-25, I am conducting the study “Translation Error Analysis and Its Implications for Chinese to English Translation Pedagogy” started in September 2024. This research utilises my expertise in translation practices, linguistics, and pedagogic research. It aims to provide a research-informed understanding of the significant and frequent translation errors students make on Chinese-to-English translations and inform the teaching design for both the Chinese-to-English specialised translation module at Leeds and the China-facing CPD course which will showcase the teaching excellence of the University of Leeds.

As the PI of this study

As the principal investigator, I am collaborating with Dr Martin Ward, Dr Callum Walker, and Professor Anwen Yang (international researcher from China) on this study. As the PI, besides conducting research, I also oversee the management of the project, coordinate the whole research project, manage the expenses of research funds, and bid for research grants. I have successfully won £1500 from the LCS Strategic Research Development Fund (2024) for this study.

Completed work

We have:

  • completed the ethics application and received the ethics approval in August 2024,
  • implemented the study at Southwest Jiaotong University in China in September 2025,
  • completed data collection in October 2024 and received a total of 72 submissions of completed translations from Chinese to English,
  • completed the digitisation of the 36 handwritten transition works,
  • completed the test of the TAUS error analysis model through labelling on one sample at the beginning of Jan 2025, and
  • completed the recruitment of one research assistant for the data analysis.

Work to be completed by the end of this academic year

  • Professor Anwen Yang will give final input in the labelling of translation errors and severity by mid-February,
  • The research team will train RA to use software to analyse the translation errors and severity,
  • The RA should complete all the analysis by May,
  • The research team plan to complete the final checking of the error and severity labelling work conducted by the RA by August.

Expected outputs

Expected outputs of this study include intervention plans for Chinese-to-English translation modules and one REF-able journal article in H-index (40) journal ‘Meta (Canada): Translators’ Journal’ by 2027.