Efficacy of sight translation in english-japanese consecutive interpreting training in a university course

Abstract

A special type of simultaneous interpreting, sight translation has been a topic of particular interest as a variant of written and oral translation. The association of sight translation and simultaneous interpreting has been discussed for many pedagogical and professional purposes. However, few studies based on empirical evaluation have investigated the efficacy of sight translation as a comprehension component in relation to consecutive interpreting. This study examined the effectiveness of intensive sight translation activities for the subsequent training in consecutive interpreting of students registered on an English-Japanese interpreting course at a university in Japan. Data analysis revealed the efficacy of sight translation practice but showed that it had no significant impact on consecutive interpreting. Several exploratory analyses were conducted that may provide insight into the characteristics of the two distinct modalities by presenting the differences in processing capacities needed by the two respective modes.