Reading processes in English-Chinese sight interpreting/translation tasks

Chen En Ho, Yao Xiao

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

Reading is essential during Sight Interpreting/Translation (SiT) and is found to directly affect SiT quality and performance. It is found that SiT consists of several stages: normal reading in the first reading pass, reformulation in the second, followed by error correction. Nonetheless, reading is so far used as an umbrella term in SiT studies with no finer descriptions. This study complements previous understanding of reading in SiT by investigating whether multiple processes of different natures are involved and whether there are characteristic reading patterns. Eleven participants conducted three unprepared English-Chinese (L2-L1) SiT tasks. By using a combination of fixation duration and saccade length and direction, our findings show that different processes are present in the so-called ‘reading’ in SiT. Moreover, reading is highly irregular throughout the task, with a forward saccade following another forward saccade around 30% of the time, while (forward-followed-by-backward) regressions and backward-followed-by-forward movements account for 25%.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Routledge handbook of Chinese interpreting
PublisherTaylor and Francis A.S.
Chapter13
Pages186-206
Number of pages21
ISBN (Electronic)9781040148037
ISBN (Print)9781032664569
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Nov 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 selection and editorial matter, Riccardo Moratto and Cheng Zhan.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Arts and Humanities
  • General Social Sciences

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