Understanding Cross-lingual Pragmatic Misunderstandings in Email Communication
Understanding Cross-lingual Pragmatic Misunderstandings in Email Communication
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DOI：
10.1145/3512976
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发表时间：
2022-03
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Hajin Lim;D. Cosley;Susan R. Fussell
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hajin Lim;D. Cosley;Susan R. Fussell
电子邮件等通信工具促进了不同语言使用者之间的沟通和协作，他们使用两种主要策略-英语作为通用语言和机器翻译工具-来帮助他们克服语言障碍。然而，每一种交际策略都给跨语言交际带来了挑战。在本文中，我们比较了在电子邮件交际中使用共同语言和MT时，人们对电子邮件发送者的社会意图的解释以及对电子邮件和发送者的评价的差异。我们进行了一项在线实验，让母语为英语的人阅读并评价母语为英语的人写的请求电子邮件，双语者用英语写的电子邮件，以及用中文写的然后机器翻译成英语的电子邮件。我们发现，与非英语母语者写的电子邮件相比，参与者对机器翻译电子邮件发件人的社交意图的解释更不准确。与非英语母语者写的电子邮件相比，参与者对机器翻译电子邮件的发件人和电子邮件的总体评价也不那么积极。基于这些发现，我们提出了可以更好地帮助多语言交流的设计可能性。
Communication tools such as email facilitate communication and collaboration between speakers of different languages, who use two primary strategies-English as a common language and machine translation (MT) tools-to help them overcome language barriers. However, each of these communication strategies creates its own challenges for cross-lingual communication. In this paper, we compare how people's interpretations of an email sender's social intention, and their evaluation of the email and the senders, differ when using a common language versus MT in email communication. We conducted an online experiment in which monolingual native English speakers read and rated request emails written by native English speakers, emails written by bilingual Chinese speakers in English, and emails written in Chinese then machine-translated into English. We found that participants interpreted the social intentions of the email sender less accurately for machine-translated emails than for emails written by non-native speakers in English. Participants also rated the senders and emails less positively overall for machine-translated emails compared to emails written by non-native speakers in English. Based on these findings, we suggest design possibilities that could better aid multilingual communication.