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Article published In:
Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 18:2 (2023) ► pp.213–234

Reading patterns, reformulation and eye-voice span (IVS) in sight translation

ORCID logo | Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
ORCID logo | Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

The study examined how a required reformulation of a source text affects reading patterns in sight translation. We also tested how interpreters regulated their eye-voice span (IVS, understood as the delay between viewing the source language word and speaking it in the target language) in the task. Twenty-four professional conference interpreters sight translated (from Polish into English) a text with syntactically symmetrical sentences (that could be copied in the target language) or asymmetrical ones (that required reformulation). The participants’ output and eye movements were recorded. Mean IVS turned out to exceed 8s. Text viewing durations and IVS did not differ between symmetrical and asymmetrical sentences. In contrast, reformulated output structures generated larger IVS than the retained ones. Also, words appearing later in the text on the screen were associated with longer IVS. This shows that IVS is a complex construct and that reformulation affects reading patterns in sight translation.

Keywords: sight translation, reading patterns, eye-tracking, ear-voice span, syntactic reformulation
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Eye-voice span (IVS)
  • Syntactic processing in sight translation
  • The study
    • Participants
    • Materials
    • Apparatus
    • Procedure
    • Data analysis
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 11 October 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.21021.chm
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