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Open research questions in Translation Studies and Practices

384 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 3,897 Translation Studies and Practices papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • Although the short story is widely recognised as a productive genre for language teaching, comparatively little classroom-based evidence addresses how bilingual presentation—that is, the source text presented alongside its translation—shapes learners’ linguistic, stylistic, and affective engagement in under-researched educational contexts such as Kyrgyzstan.

    A Pedagogical Approach to Bilingual Reading of Translated Short Stories in the EFL Classroom: Linguistic and Cultural Insights from Cynthia Rylant’s “Papa’s Parrot” in Kyrgyz Higher Education · 2026 · DOI

  • Although free online machine translation (FOMT) is widely used by L2 students, the use of these tools in the context of L2 learning seems to remain controversial among teachers.

    Online Translation and English Learning: From Teachers’ Beliefs to High School Students’ Practices · 2025 · DOI

  • Translation expertise significantly influences how translators manage cognitive resources, yet the specific ways in which professional and novice translators differ in their metacognitive strategy use remain incompletely understood.

    Metacognitive strategies in translation: a comparative study of student and professional translators · 2025 · DOI

  • Despite extensive research on the selection of lexical bundles for learning purposes in a wide range of academic disciplines, written legal discourse remains relatively underexplored.

    Discourse-organising lexical bundles in academic law textbooks: a corpus-based analysis · 2025 · DOI

  • The existing gap in evaluating the translation quality of large language models in literary translation. The lack of studies on the application of Multidimensional Quality Metrics in literary translation.

    Evaluating literary translation by large language models: a multidimensional quality assessment of Shen Congwen’s Border Town · 2026 · DOI

  • The ways in which the image of the artificial intelligence translator represents translational predicaments and technological limitations remain underexplored. The study of the translator image is a relatively new area of research.

    The Translator Image in Film: A Case Study of C-3PO · 2026 · DOI

  • C-3PO's limited agency remains constrained by programming and narrative necessity, and the paper does not fully explore how real-world AI translation systems could develop comparable cultural mediation capabilities.

    The Translator Image in Film: A Case Study of C-3PO · 2026 · DOI

  • The complexity of distributed agency in MT ecosystems, - The tension between traditional translation ethics and AI ethics, - The lack of visibility into model parameters and training data composition

    Transparency and Accountability in Machine Translation: Are New Ethical Norms Emerging in the Age of AI? · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of enforcement mechanisms for low-risk systems such as MT, - The absence of institutional implementation of theoretical and empirical frameworks

    Transparency and Accountability in Machine Translation: Are New Ethical Norms Emerging in the Age of AI? · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in the understanding of how perceived source identity shapes translators' evaluation and revision behavior. The research highlights the need for further investigation into the role of cognitive bias in post-editing.

    Human or machine? Do source beliefs shape cognitive bias in post-editing? · 2026 · DOI

  • Linguistic and cultural barriers in the translation of sci-tech texts. The need for error-free delivery of professional and technical information and natural expression in the target language. The challenge of achieving semantic equivalence over formal correspondence in translation.

    Research on E-C Translation of Sci-Tech Texts from the Perspective of Translation Shifts Theory: A Case Study of Agentic Artificial Intelligence: Harnessing AI Agents to Reinvent Business, Work, and Life · 2026 · DOI

  • The systematic introduction of key English works in the field of Agentic AI faces linguistic and cultural barriers. There is a need for a systematic and workable framework for English-Chinese sci-tech translation.

    Research on E-C Translation of Sci-Tech Texts from the Perspective of Translation Shifts Theory: A Case Study of Agentic Artificial Intelligence: Harnessing AI Agents to Reinvent Business, Work, and Life · 2026 · DOI

  • Abstract In spite of the multi- and plurilingualism, the antiquity of the practice on the continent, the role of literary translation in particular moments of social change and the increasing institutionalization of translation studies on the continent, the immense potential of African contexts, especially sub-Saharan and Afrodiasporic contexts, for translation studies remains to be more fully explored and better represented in international debates on translation studies.

    Why do literary translation studies in African contexts matter? · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper suggests future research directions in the application of translation theories in digital media. The study highlights the importance of using traditional translation theories to guide machine translation systems and adapting products to target cultures.

    Translation Theory Knowledge and Its Specific Applications in Modern Technology · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap between the rapid development of modern technology and the need for guidance from traditional translation theories. The study highlights the importance of traditional translation theories in improving machine translation quality and adapting products to target cultures.

    Translation Theory Knowledge and Its Specific Applications in Modern Technology · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in the existing literature on cognitive translation and category transformations. The research aims to address the challenge of balancing fidelity and adaptability in translation.

    Construal Recreation in Song Lyrics Translation: Cognitive Operations and Motivations — A Case Study of Liu Yong’s Wanghaichao · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of examination of the results of ecological translation from the perspective of ecological criticism. The lack of research on the subtitle ecological translation of typical Chinese cultural programs.

    Study on Subtitle Translation of China in Classics from the Perspective of Three-Dimensional Transformation of Eco-translatology · 2026 · DOI

  • The translation of legal doublets from English into Arabic is a challenging task. Prior work has not fully addressed the complexities of translating legal doublets.

    TRANSLATING THE LEGAL ENGLISH BINOMINALS INTO ARABIC · 2026 · DOI

  • Challenges faced by Eastern and agglutinative languages, including Uzbek, in terms of morphological complexity and limited digital linguistic resources.

    PHILOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION SYSTEMS BASED ON PARALLEL CORPORA · 2026 · DOI

  • The insufficient handling of lexical ambiguity, idiomatic expressions, discourse-level dependencies, and culturally conditioned semantic structures by traditional translation approaches. The limited digital linguistic resources for Eastern and agglutinative languages.

    PHILOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION SYSTEMS BASED ON PARALLEL CORPORA · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in the understanding of the retranslation history of Robinson Crusoe in Romania. The research aims to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive analysis of the retranslation history of the text.

    Robinson Crusoe retold and retranslated into Romanian (1835–2023): From mimesis to telesis · 2026 · DOI

  • The concept of time is not only a universal category but also a culturally marked phenomenon. There is a need for cultural interpretation in translation rather than simple word-for-word equivalence.

    THE COMPARATIVE LINGUOCULTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPT "TIME" AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN TRANSLATION STUDIES · 2026 · DOI

  • Limited attention to evaluating machine translation performance on culturally embedded classical texts. Lack of studies on the effect of prompting strategies on translation performance.

    Evaluating Machine Translation of the Shan Hai Jing: An MQM-Based Analysis of Google Translate vs. ChatGPT with Prompting Effects · 2026 · DOI

  • To apply the three-tier analytical framework to other dialects and languages. To further study the impact of translation on the evolution of dialects.

    The translation of Hakka dialect into Hakka Language Is a Key Task in the Study of Hakka Language, which Should Be Analyzed from the Methodological Level in This Study, and the Translation of the New Testament in the 19th century Is Taken as an Example · 2026 · DOI

  • The study of dialect grammar lacks a methodological framework to distinguish between the real dialect data and the interference data. The existing texts compiled by Western missionaries may be affected by translation language interference.

    The translation of Hakka dialect into Hakka Language Is a Key Task in the Study of Hakka Language, which Should Be Analyzed from the Methodological Level in This Study, and the Translation of the New Testament in the 19th century Is Taken as an Example · 2026 · DOI

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384 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 3,897 Translation Studies and Practices papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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