Comparing novices and semi-professionals: False friends as a case in point

This publication presents interim results of a larger empirical study which aims at determining and measuring the differences between novice and semi-professional levels of competence. The study attempts to model translation competence, in particular to predict the level of competence based on empirical process data about the distribution of visual attention, revisions and the use of reference materials. In the study, collocations, idioms, realia and the like are used as stimuli. This contribution focuses on the reading and comprehension of false friends in the language combination Italian-German. False friends serve as the basis for contrasting translation performance of novices and semi-professionals. The participants were native speakers of German (L1), acquiring both language and translation competence in their L2 almost simultaneously. A combination of research methods was applied to collect process data within a series of experiments conducted at the Faculty of Translation Studies, Linguistics and Cultural Studies of the University of Mainz: eye tracking, keystroke logging, retrospective interviews and screen recording. The collected data were evaluated quantitively as well as qualitatively and then triangulated.