熟手與生手口譯員視譯理解過程差異之眼動研究

Abstract

口譯學生及生手都希望能找出產出品質穩定的好譯文的關鍵因素。但到目前為止，雖已有不少研究透過不同方式角度探討，依舊無法找出熟手口譯員之所以有好表現的客觀因素。本研究將觀察熟手口譯員在視譯時的眼動軌跡，並將其與生手的眼動資料比較，探討兩者在理解處理過程中之異同。實驗的口譯產出亦會進行評分，以確認熟手口譯員的產出品質的確較佳。

本實驗由十八名熟手口譯員為受試者，每位需完成閱讀、朗讀、及視譯。所有原文皆為中文，視譯則譯入英文。實驗中的眼動軌跡資料全程記錄，口譯產出亦錄音。收集的資料之後與黃致潔(2011)所收集的生手口譯員眼動資料做比較。

結果顯示熟手口譯員在視譯過程中，首次閱讀時已經不單僅閱讀與理解，而同時還進行其他處理，生手口譯員則是僅能處理閱讀跟理解。再者，熟手口譯員雖在首次閱讀時已經開始處理，之後仍需要重覆閱讀處理的時間。由於熟手口譯員最終產出品質比生手口譯員佳，因而推論視譯過程中的重組階段(reformulation stage)可進一步分層為兩階層，而生手口譯員僅能完成第一（基本）階段，但熟手口譯員已可順利完成二階段，進而產出高品質譯文。Student and novice interpreters have struggled to find an exact trait or processing model that allows more experienced interpreters to constantly deliver quality interpretations. However, although past researches haves attempted to observe and define objective criteria for an “expert interpreter” with various standards and from different perspectives, there has been no conclusive answer so far mainly due to the complexity of the interpreting task. This study observes the eye movements of experienced interpreters during sight translation and compares the results with eye movement data collected from novice interpreters, to see whether the former group shows any difference in terms of comprehension and processing procedures. The interpretations were also evaluated to confirm experienced interpreters do deliver better quality outputs.

18 experienced interpreters took part in the experiment, and were required to complete silent reading, read aloud, and sight translation. All source texts were in Mandarin Chinese, and for the sight translation task, interpreted into English. Eye movements during all tasks were recorded, as well as the deliveries of sight translation. The results were later analyzed and compared with those of novices collected by Huang (2001).

Findings suggest that experienced interpreters begin to engage in other efforts besides comprehension during first pass reading when sight translating, as opposed to novices which who seem to be only able to handle comprehension. However, even though they began to process input earlier, experienced interpreters still required rereading time. It is speculated that the reformulation stage during sight translation can be further divided into two levels, and while novices can only complete one (the basic) level of reformulation, experienced interpreters are able to finish both levels, therefore delivering better interpretations.