Metaverse App for Tra Tech Edu

This mobile application (Metaverse Application for Translation Technology Education “MATTE”) is created for a research project (Acquisition of translation technology skills through blended learning) which is funded by the Research Matching Grant Scheme (University Grants Committee, Hong Kong government).

This research project aims to examine learners’ perceptions and the effectiveness of translation technology training. In addition to the mobile app (Tra Tech) developed in the first stage of the research project, the second phase of the study aims to develop a gamified metaverse mobile app (MATTE) for translation technology learning and examine learners’ perceptions and its effects on attitudes and behavior as well learning experience and learning outcomes.

The mobile app is created based on the framework of the metaverse in education. In the Metaverse, a stimulated, vivid and colorful learning scene is created by modelling and rendering technologies. With a digital identity, a learner can immerse himself/herself in the 3D virtual world and interact with non-player characters (NPCs). Via an avatar, a learner can have multi-sensory and embodied participation in the 3D learning scene. It aims to equip students with basic knowledge and skills in translation technology for English–Chinese and Chinese–English translation.

Learning resources cover a wide range of key issues of translation technology and the application of machine translation (MT) and computer-aided translation (CAT) tools. In addition to MT and CAT tools, other tools for translation (e.g. ChatGPT, Grammarly, Quillbot, Passolo, and Wordtune) are also introduced. The learning materials are mainly presented in audiovisual format. In addition to the learning videos, the mobile app also contains exercises and an online forum for peer interaction.

The ten topics introduce a range of translation technology tools (including Phrase, Google Translate, Baidu Translate, and ChatGPT) for different types of translation, such as text translation, document translation, speech translation, and image translation.

In addition to the learning materials, MATTE also has an automatic machine translation function. Users can use the machine translator to translate text from English to Chinese and from Chinese to English.

Acknowledgement:
This research project is supported by Phrase (formerly Memsource), which has donated a Team Edition license with 80 Project Manager accounts (i.e., 800 linguist accounts) to the School of Arts and Social Sciences of Hong Kong Metropolitan University. The total valuation of the donated licenses is USD 576,000 for three years (January 2020 – December 2022).