At the request of the USG National Virtual Translation Center, the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language conducted a study that assessed the role of several factors mediating transcript usefulness during translation tasks. These factors included source language (Mandarin or Modern Standard Arabic), native speaker status of the translators, transcript quality (low or moderate word error rate), and transcript functionality (static or dynamic). Using 54 Mandarin and 54 Arabic translators (half native speakers in each language) and broadcast news clips for input, the study demonstrated that translation environments that provide dynamic transcripts with low or moderate word error rates are likely to improve performance (measured as integrated speed and accuracy scores) among non-native speakers without decreasing performance among native speakers.