| Sight translation combines elements of traditional translation and interpreting,and is a significant research component of translation studies.In recent years,translation research has been combined with cognitive research,and sight translation can provide an excellent research perspective to investigate translators’ cognitive load during the translation process.The current study used the popular eye-tracking method and designed a self-paced eye movement experiment using the Eye Link 1000 Plus eye tracker.The following are specific research questions:(1)What are the similarities and differences in translators’ cognitive load when performing bidirectional sight translation with different translation directions?(2)What are the similarities and differences in the cognitive load of bidirectional sight translators with varying levels of English proficiency?Students from the Foreign Language College of a university in the northeast part of China were invited to participate in the study with 23 in high English proficiency group,and 23 in low English proficiency group.The stimuli material for sight translation were chosen from the Chinese government’s anti-Covid-19 epidemic white paper that was published in 2020.Seven material sentences in English and seven in Chinese were chosen as the materials of sight translation.There is one metaphor expression in each stimuli material.Prior the eye movement experiment,questionnaires were used to evaluate the translation difficulty and the salience of metaphoricity for the stimuli material’s metaphor expressions.It proved a resemblance of the translation difficulty and salience of metaphoricity between metaphor expressions in English stimuli material and Chinese stimuli material.In the current study,metaphor expression in the stimuli material provides a breakthrough point in determining translators’ cognitive load in sight translation.The current research used Eye Link 1000 Plus to perform the eye movement experiment,and data from the current research were analyzed using Data Viewer 4.3.10 and SPSS 26.0.As eye movement analysis indicators,gaze duration,total fixation duration,fixation count and first fixation duration were used.As temporal analysis indicators,total task time,preparation time and oral production time were selected.Here comes the results:(1)When making a comparison between two translation directions,eye movement indicators of high proficiency translators demonstrated that more cognitive load was required in E-C sight translation;however,temporal indicators showed that C-E sight translation requires more cognitive load;in the sight translation performed by low proficiency translators,gaze duration of the eye movement indicator demonstrated that E-C sight translation was more cognition-demanding,and total task time and oral production time of the temporal indicators proved that C-E sight translation required more cognitive load.Other eye movement indicators and the temporal indicators did not show a difference in cognitive load between E-C and C-E directions.(2)When making a comparison between participants with varying English proficiency,high proficiency translators required approximately the same cognitive load as that of low proficiency translators in E-C sight translation,and both eye movement indicators and temporal indicators showed no salient difference between two proficiency groups;in the C-E sight translation,high proficiency translators presented a lower cognitive load than low proficiency translators as presented by total fixation duration and fixation count of eye movement indicators.From the perspective of sight translation research,the current study has a further investigation of the influence exerted by translation direction and translators’ English proficiency on translators’ cognitive load.It consents with the fact that translation direction and English proficiency are able to influence translators’ cognitive load in sight translation,but also challenges the traditional opinion of “one translation direction is more difficult than another”with different opinions.It’s hoped that some assistance can be offered to the with the role that translation direction and translators’ English proficiency play in sight translation studies. |
