Language
Translation Recognition Task
Also called: translation verification, bilingual translation recognition
Measure how related words affect translation judgments. Participants decide whether an English word translates a preceding word, with separate scores for spelling and meaning interference.
3-5 minTimed: desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad
Free to start: 10 free participants per account, then $0.99 per participant for academic research, or any yearly plan. Try it here first, with no account.
- Papers, 2021 to 2025
- 35
- Evidence grade
- D
- Registered clinical studies
- 0
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What it measures
Measures translation recognition and interference from related words. Participants judge whether an English word translates a preceding word in one of seven other languages.
Constructs
- Translation recognition
- Cross-language lexical activation
- Semantic interference
Research uses
- Bilingual vocabulary research
- Word recognition and language proficiency studies
How the paradigm works
Participants select two languages, rate reading proficiency in each and report which is easier. One selected language must be English. The first word is in German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese or Chinese; the second is always English. Participants decide whether the English word is a translation, using two keys or answer buttons. Four practice pairs give feedback, followed by 48 test pairs without feedback.
More about the paradigm
The test has 24 true translations and 24 wrong pairs: 8 resemble the correct English translation in spelling, 8 are related in meaning and 8 are unrelated. Three seeded lists rotate these foil types over 24 source concepts; each participant sees one foil per concept. True pairs use 24 separate concepts. Source duration is 500 ms by default, with a 100 ms gap and a 4,000 ms target response window.
Scores
- Meaning Interferencems
- Median correct RT for meaning-related wrong pairs minus unrelated wrong pairs. Positive means slower rejection.
- Research measure
- Form Interferencems
- Median correct RT for spelling-related wrong pairs minus unrelated wrong pairs. Positive means slower rejection.
- Research measure
- Accuracy%
- Correct timely answers divided by all test trials, including missed and early responses.
- Research measure
- True Translation Accuracy%
- Correct timely answers divided by all true translation trials.
- Research measure
- Form Foil Accuracy%
- Correct timely answers divided by all form foil trials.
- Research measure
- Meaning Foil Accuracy%
- Correct timely answers divided by all meaning foil trials.
- Research measure
- Unrelated Foil Accuracy%
- Correct timely answers divided by all unrelated foil trials.
- Research measure
- Median Response Timems
- Median correct response time from English target onset, excluding early responses.
- Research measure
- True Translation Response Timems
- Median correct response time for true translation trials, with at least four usable times.
- Research measure
- Form Foil Response Timems
- Median correct response time for form foil trials, with at least four usable times.
- Research measure
- Meaning Foil Response Timems
- Median correct response time for meaning foil trials, with at least four usable times.
- Research measure
- Unrelated Foil Response Timems
- Median correct response time for unrelated foil trials, with at least four usable times.
- Research measure
- First-Language Readingscore
- Self-rated reading proficiency, from 1 (a few words) to 5 (fluent).
- Research measure
- Second-Language Readingscore
- Self-rated reading proficiency in the other language, from 1 to 5.
- Research measure
- Missed Responsescount
- Trials without a response within 4 seconds.
- Research measure
- Early Responsescount
- Responses under 100 ms or keys or clicks before the English target.
- Research measure
- Test Trialscount
- Unique test pairs in the selected run, out of 48.
- Research measure
Use and evidence
35 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 25% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 412 of 582 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 14 |
| 2024 | 5 |
| 2023 | 8 |
| 2022 | 5 |
| 2021 | 3 |
| 2020 | 4 |
| 2019 | 4 |
| 2018 | 9 |
| 2017 | 4 |
| 2016 | 7 |
| 2015 | 3 |
| 2014 | 6 |
| 2013 | 5 |
| 2012 | 9 |
| 2011 | 11 |
| 2010 | 4 |
| 2009 | 5 |
| 2008 | 5 |
| 2007 | 7 |
| 2006 | 3 |
| 2005 | 1 |
| 2004 | 1 |
| 2003 | 1 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2001 | 2 |
| 2000 | 2 |
Use grade D
30 to 99 papers from 2021 to 2025.
Evidence grade D
Little published measurement evidence found.
- Papers on test-retest reliability
- 0
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 4
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 0
Measured on ConductCognition
Pooled across the studies that feed our platform norms, by device group. A figure needs 50 or more people.
No pooled figure yet.
Note on the counts: Original translation judgments into English from seven languages; true, form, semantic and unrelated pairs. Norms off..
How the grades work
Use: A is 1,000 or more papers from 2021 to 2025, B 300 to 999, C 100 to 299, D 30 to 99 and E fewer than 30. Evidence: A means at least 25 papers report its test-retest reliability and at least 25 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome; B, at least 8 test-retest papers, and either 5 registered clinical studies or 150 reliability or validity papers; C, at least 2 test-retest papers, 30 reliability or validity papers or 3 registered clinical studies; D, little published measurement evidence found. The counts measure use. They include every paper that names the task in its title or abstract. Grades describe the published research on this task, not ConductCognition's version of it.
Source: ConductCognition test census 0.39.0, counted 8 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Languages
- English with German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese or Chinese. The non-English word comes first; the English word is always the target.
- Language background
- Two selected languages, reading proficiency from 1 to 5 in each, and self-reported stronger language or equal dominance.
- Practice
- 4 practice pairs with feedback, using separate concepts.
- Test trials
- 48 pairs: 24 true translations, 8 form foils, 8 meaning foils and 8 unrelated foils. No test feedback.
- Lists
- Three seeded lists rotate foil types over 24 concepts. One foil per concept per person, with 24 separate true pairs. Pair order and Yes/No keys are seeded.
- Timing
- 300 ms fixation, 500 ms first word (standard), 100 ms gap, then English target for up to 4,000 ms. First-word duration can be 300 to 800 ms. Response time starts with the English target.
- Scores
- Accuracy and median correct time by pair type; form and meaning interference subtract unrelated-foil time. Each contrast needs four usable correct times in each condition.
Original word pairs for a translation judgment task. Lists include cognates and are not frequency-matched. Compare the same language pair, direction, item list, first-word duration and proficiency. No percentile output.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: unique translation_recognition_test pairs from the most complete run, checked against the original word lists. Two choices, chance 50%. Each contrast needs four correct times per condition. Missing or low reading proficiency and incomplete runs are flagged; fewer than half the trials invalidate. Keys or clicks before the English target count as early responses. Missed responses and responses under 100 ms follow the timed-test rule.
Why these rules
Each pair has a correct translation judgment. Compare the same language pair, direction, item list, first-word duration and input device. These limits are ConductScience choices for these original pairs.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| First word duration (ms) | 500 | 300 to 800 |
Yearly plans can change settings within these limits. Free and pay-as-you-go studies use the standard settings.
Need a setting this test does not have?
Devices and languages
- Timed test: participants need a desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad. Participant devices
- Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese.
- Available on: Every plan, including the free plan.
- No percentile. Scores and quality flags only. How norms work
- Recruiting online? See the setup guides for Prolific, Sona Systems, CloudResearch Connect and Qualtrics.
Cite and describe
Participants completed the Translation Recognition Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Talamas A, Kroll JF, Dufour R, 1999), with the standard settings (first word duration (ms): 500). The main score was meaning interference (median correct RT for meaning-related wrong pairs minus unrelated wrong pairs).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Talamas, A., Kroll, J. F., & Dufour, R. (1999). From form to meaning: Stages in the acquisition of second-language vocabulary. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2(1), 45-58. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728999000140
- Sunderman, G., & Kroll, J. F. (2006). First language activation during second language lexical processing: An investigation of lexical form, meaning, and grammatical class. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28(3), 387-422. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263106060177
Source papers
Questions
How long does the Translation Recognition Task take?
About 3 to 5 minutes, as listed in the test library.
What device does a participant need?
Timed test: participants need a desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad. The browser must be Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
What scores does it produce?
Meaning Interference, Form Interference, Accuracy, True Translation Accuracy, Form Foil Accuracy, Meaning Foil Accuracy, Unrelated Foil Accuracy, Median Response Time, True Translation Response Time, Form Foil Response Time, Meaning Foil Response Time, Unrelated Foil Response Time, First-Language Reading, Second-Language Reading, Missed Responses, Early Responses and Test Trials. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Translation Recognition Task used in research?
35 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 25% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 412 of 582 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade D). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.39.0, counted 8 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Translation Recognition Task have?
In the published research, 0 papers report its test-retest reliability and 0 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome (evidence grade D in the ConductCognition test census).
Does it report a percentile?
No. Scores and quality flags only.
Which settings can a researcher change?
First word duration (ms) (300 to 800). Settings can be changed on yearly plans; free and pay-as-you-go studies use the standard settings.
Which languages can participants use?
Participants can take this test in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese, with its words in the same language. English is on every plan, and the other languages come with yearly plans. Have a native speaker read the machine-translated text before launch.
Is this a clinical test?
No. ConductCognition is for research use only. It runs, scores and exports the test; clinical interpretation is outside the platform.
Every test: the full test list.
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