English Language Students’ Frequency, Perception and Purpose of Use of MT and CAT Tools

Machine and computer-assisted translation tools have become widely accessible anduser-friendly in the modern digital age. English language learners, in particular,stand to gain significantly from utilizing machine translation (MT) or computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools such as Google Translate or Trados. This paper seeksto investigate the frequency of use of these tools by the English language students atthe University of Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina outside the classroom, the specifictools utilized, the purposes of their application, and the students’ perceptions of thesetools, with a focus on features such as translation quality and usability. To gatherdata, a survey was used consisting of both open-ended and closed-ended questions.The findings indicate a lower frequency of MT and CAT tools usage, and revealnotable differences in the students’ perception of the features of MT and CAT toolsanalyzed. The insights derived from this research may contribute to understandinghow these tools can be better incorporated in English language instruction andtranslation studies.