Cognitive effort in direct and inverse translation performance: Insight from eye-tracking technology

Authors

  • Aline Ferreira University of California Santa Barbara
  • John Wayne Schwieter Wilfrid Laurier University
  • Alexandra Gottardo Wilfrid Laurier University
  • Jefferey Jones Wilfrid Laurier University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2016v36n3p60

Abstract

This case study examined the translation performance of four professional translators with the aim of exploring the cognitive effort involved in direct and inverse translation. Four professional translators translated two comparable texts from English into Spanish and from Spanish into English. Eye-tracking technology was used to analyze the total time spent in each task, fixation time, and average fixation time. Fixation count in three areas of interest was measured including: source text, target text, and browser, used as an external support. Results suggested that although total time and fixation count were indicators of cognitive effort during the tasks, fixation count in the areas of interest data showed that more effort was directed toward the source text in both tasks. Overall, this study demonstrates that while more traditional measures for translation difficulty (e.g., total time) indicate more effort in the inverse translation task, eye-tracking data indicate that differences in the effort applied in both directions must be carefully analyzed, mostly regarding the areas of interest. 

Author Biographies

Aline Ferreira, University of California Santa Barbara

Aline Ferreira is an Assistant Professor of Hispanic and Portuguese Linguistics at the University of California Santa Barbara in the United States. She is coediting The Handbook of Translation and Cognition (Wiley Blackwell) with John W. Schwieter. Ferreira and Schwieter have recently coedited  Psycholinguistic and cognitive inquiries into translation and interpreting (2015, John Benjamins) and The development of translation competence: Theories and methodologies from psycholinguistics and cognitive science (2014, Cambridge Scholars). 

John Wayne Schwieter, Wilfrid Laurier University

John W. Schwieter is an Associate Professor of Spanish and Linguistics and Faculty of Arts Teaching Scholar at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada and a Visiting Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Centre for Applied Research and Outreach in Language Education at the University of Greenwich in England. 

Alexandra Gottardo, Wilfrid Laurier University

Dr. Alexandra Gottardo is a Full Professor in Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. She has a background in educational psychology and speech-language language pathology. Her research interests include examining factors related to the development of reading, both word reading and reading comprehension, in second language learners. As a developmental psychologist she studies development across a wide range of ages, from preschoolers to adolescents. Although her focus is on cognitive-linguistic variables with and across languages, she has recently become more interested in socio-cultural variables as additional explanatory variables.

 

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Published

2016-09-06

How to Cite

Ferreira, A., Schwieter, J. W., Gottardo, A., & Jones, J. (2016). Cognitive effort in direct and inverse translation performance: Insight from eye-tracking technology. Cadernos De Tradução, 36(3), 60–80. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2016v36n3p60

Issue

Vol. 36 No. 3 (2016): Edição Regular

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