Eye tracking sight translation performed by trainee interpreters
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Agnieszka Chmiel
Abstract
This paper presents results of an eye tracking study involving sight translation. It was assumed that interpreting trainees at a more advanced stage of training would display more efficient reading patterns than their less experienced colleagues. Eighteen participants with either one year or two years of interpreting training were asked to sight translate a text from A language (Polish) into B language (English). The text included such independent variables as target sentence type (simple SVO sentences and complex non-SVO sentences) and low frequency lexical items. The dependent variables included measures assumed to indicate lexical access and syntactic processing, such as fixation count, fixation length and observation length. The study found no group effect in total task time and processing of lexical items, which indicates that one year of training might not be sufficient to show differences in the sight translation skill development. The study also revealed that sentence readability could be a better predictor of processing load than syntax and, as expected, that more readable sentences generated less cognitive load than less readable ones.
Abstract
This paper presents results of an eye tracking study involving sight translation. It was assumed that interpreting trainees at a more advanced stage of training would display more efficient reading patterns than their less experienced colleagues. Eighteen participants with either one year or two years of interpreting training were asked to sight translate a text from A language (Polish) into B language (English). The text included such independent variables as target sentence type (simple SVO sentences and complex non-SVO sentences) and low frequency lexical items. The dependent variables included measures assumed to indicate lexical access and syntactic processing, such as fixation count, fixation length and observation length. The study found no group effect in total task time and processing of lexical items, which indicates that one year of training might not be sufficient to show differences in the sight translation skill development. The study also revealed that sentence readability could be a better predictor of processing load than syntax and, as expected, that more readable sentences generated less cognitive load than less readable ones.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Who’s who and what’s what in Translation Studies 7
- Translation in the network economy 29
- Many tracks lead to the goal 49
- Triangulating translational creativity scores 63
- Translation revision 87
- Understanding variability in interpreting quality assessment 103
- A project-based methodology in translator training 127
- Incorporating translation technology in the classroom 143
- Tracing marked collocation in translated and non-translated literary language 167
- Eye tracking sight translation performed by trainee interpreters 189
- “Who are they ?” 207
- The power of voice in translated fiction 223
- The author strikes back 247
- Les sources de la traduction et leur valeur heuristique en Histoire : hégémonie vs dissidence du discours médical (Espagne, début du XXe siècle) 267
- Zur Münchhausen-Rezeption in Portugal 283
- Index 295
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Who’s who and what’s what in Translation Studies 7
- Translation in the network economy 29
- Many tracks lead to the goal 49
- Triangulating translational creativity scores 63
- Translation revision 87
- Understanding variability in interpreting quality assessment 103
- A project-based methodology in translator training 127
- Incorporating translation technology in the classroom 143
- Tracing marked collocation in translated and non-translated literary language 167
- Eye tracking sight translation performed by trainee interpreters 189
- “Who are they ?” 207
- The power of voice in translated fiction 223
- The author strikes back 247
- Les sources de la traduction et leur valeur heuristique en Histoire : hégémonie vs dissidence du discours médical (Espagne, début du XXe siècle) 267
- Zur Münchhausen-Rezeption in Portugal 283
- Index 295
