UNIVERSIDAD DE EL SALVADOR FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS Y HUMANIDADES DEPARTAMENTO DE IDIOMAS

ENSAYO FINAL TRADUCCION A LA VISTA SIGHT TRANSLATION: IS IT A COMBINATION OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION?

Presentado por: Elmer Jorge Guardado San Salvador, 10 de diciembre de 2010

Sight Translation: Is it a combination of Translation and Interpretation? Comparing and contrasting the main characteristics of translation and sight translation (How do they differ? How are they the same? What abilities are needed by both? What specific abilities are needed for each of them?). Nowadays, in many regions of the world Language professionals are often assumed to be able to perform a number of language functions such as teaching, developing tourism, business management, call center employees translator and interpreter or even in tasks in different technical areas or services. Most of the work of the Translator and Interpreter fall into five main categories: economic and financial, legal, literary, medical, and scientific and technical. It is understood that language has different functions and require the different types of language skills, language characteristics and specific abilities that belongs to the linguistics fields in each language, when it is used for professional purposes, that it is better through professional training and practice. Indeed language professionals in case of a translator or interpreter should has a wide bilingual profile of the languages involve such as Spanish and English, but what is this all about; let focus in the combination of translation and interpretation skills which both of these two language functions build up Sight Translation. However, Language professionals need to be aware of the three of the functions that are the purview of language professionals are translating, interpreting, and sight translating. While these three functions require similar skills such as a good memory, the ability to analyze meaning, and knowledge of terminology, each also relies on different skills within the four macro-skills of language such as: listening, speaking, reading, and writing therefore the three systems of the language such as : pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. The followings are the definitions of the three language functions involve in the process of Sight Translation in order to establish the differences among them.

DEFINITIONS Interpreting: Interpreting is the oral rendering of spoken or signed communication from one language into another. Central to spoken or signed language interpreting are the following skills: the ability to comprehend the intended message of oral communications in two languages (listening skills), and the ability to produce an accurate and complete conversion from one language into another (speaking or speech productions skills). Interpreting requires listening and speaking skills in the two languages being used. Depending on the context, interpreters are often called upon to provide bidirectional conversions that is, from language 1 into language 2 and from language 2 into language 1 in the moment. Written Translation: Often referred to only by the term translation, written translation is the rendering of a written text in one language in a comparable written text in another language. Central to written translation are the following skills: the ability to comprehend written text in one language (reading skills), and the ability to produce a comparable rendition in written form in a second language (writing skills) into another. Most professional translators provide only unidirectional translations, as a rule working

into their dominant language. Unlike spoken or signed language interpreters, translators often have the luxury of time and other resources to come up with the best way to capture the nuances of meaning in the original text.

Sight translation: Sight translation is the oral rendition of text written in one language into another language and is usually done in the moment. Central to sight translation are the following skills: the ability to comprehend written text in one language (reading skills) and the ability to produce an oral or signed rendition in another language (speaking or speech production skills). Sight translation is often requested of an interpreter during an interpreting assignment.

The ability to sight translate and to do written translation is certainly an asset in an interpreter. However, sight translation requires different skills than oral interpreting, and sight translating long documents can consume quite a lot of time, fatigue the interpreter and increase the risk for error. Written translation requires yet a different skill set. Interpreters are not necessarily qualified as translators and, even if so qualified, few will have the time while interpreting to perfect a written translation. For these reasons, it is important for interpreters to limit themselves to performing the tasks for which they are trained and qualified.

WHAT SKILLS ARE IMPORTANT?

The combination of these important skills, knowledge, and abilities are essential for Translators and Interpreters which help to master Sight Translation:

Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively. Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people Spanish Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the Spanish language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation. English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language

including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar. Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media. Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person. Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand. Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you. Memorization - The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures. Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted. Auditory Attention - The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.

As it is mentioned in this essay that Translators deal with written text. Interpreters work with speech. They listen to speakers and interpret what they say. Sight Translators convert written words into spoken words and transcribers convert spoken words into written words. Translators, Interpreters, and Sight Translators convert the source language into the target language. Translators and Interpreters must have native or near-native fluency in the languages with which they deal and must be quite knowledgeable of the subject matter involved. In addition, they should have excellent background of linguistics research of the languages in this Spanish and English. Sight Translator also should have public speaking skills. Sight translation Interpreter is an intermediary figure in the intercultural and Interlingua process that does a double function as well a translation competence which is divided into: communicative sub competence between the two languages, extra linguistic sub competence, transference sub competence, professional sub competence, psychophysiological sub competence and strategic competence need to be developed by the Sight translation Interpreter. According to Gloria Regina Loreto Sapaio PhD in Communication and Semiotics Sight Translation demands the activation of a complex combination of mental operations, in which refined linguistics and cognitive skills, general and specialist knowledge. It is important to take into account that in Sight Translation we have a most special form of text production because the oral translation is concurrent with the reading of the text, form a written input in the source language we master, as a response, a verbal output in the target

language. But, this complex combination of mental process requires a previous practice and preparation in order to develop the abilities to do an excellent performing during Sight Translating. Sight Translation also deals with teaching for example: it is a good exercise to check and improve the student's mother tongue, vocabulary, capacity of synthesis, etc. Shadowing and the so-called mirror effect are equally useful to prepare them for future situations as professional translators. Some interpreters find Sight Translation more difficult than the other forms of interpreting because they have more trouble focusing on meaning rather than words- the essence of proper interpretation- when the message is written in black and white in a piece of paper. I would like to remark some the abilities that I have mentioned above such as: Reading comprehension is an important element of Sight Translation because is the input information and it needs to be understood, to master reading comprehension the Sight Translator needs to manage the reading techniques such as: Skimming is used to quickly identify the main ideas of a text. When you read the newspaper, you're probably not reading it word-by-word; instead you're scanning the text. Skimming is done at a speed three to four times faster than normal reading. People often skim when they have lots of material to read in a limited amount of time. Use skimming when you want to see if an article may be of interest in your research. Scanning which it is a technique you often use when looking up a word in the telephone book or dictionary. Scanning involves moving your eyes quickly down the page seeking for keywords or ideas. In most cases, you know what you are looking for; in Sight Translation you for specific ideas and technical, legal or unknown terms, so you must be concentrate on finding a particular answer.

A special need to improve and maintain reading comprehension is one reason why during my Sight Translation practice in my course I should read ahead as much and as far forward as possible. To enhance reading comprehension skills, I precede the Sight Translation with two or three less close versions of the text. This exercise offers several advantages: it develops competence at an instant discourse analysis; it forces away from the linguistic forms of the original, and enables them to get familiar with the topic, vocabulary, and perhaps terminology that will be used in the actual translation. This is also a good vocabulary- building exercise, together with the brain storming sessions to carry out prior to translation. Another aspect of paramount importance for Sight Translation is the rate of delivery, and the delivery itself. As it already said, provided the students do it right, the quicker sight translation is done, the better. It is important that the interpreter speaks loudly and enunciate clearly, with proper intonation and voice modulation. Smooth pacing is also essential; sudden starts and stops and long pauses while the interpreter figures out a difficult translation problem distract the listener. Ideally, a sight translation should sound as

if the interpreter were merely reading a document written in the target language. Paraphrasing is a helpful exercise that develops the mental ability needed for sight translation. It forces students to read ahead and solve problems quickly; it also helps them focus on meaning rather than words, thus avoiding stilted, literal translations. Paraphrasing is a great vocabulary-building exercise, for it helps changing the wording as much as we can without altering the meaning. Also, it is a good problem-solving technique: if the student has trouble translating a phrase in a sight translation text, try to have him/ her paraphrase it mentally in the source language first, and it may trigger a solution in the target language. It is important to point out, however, that paraphrasing is a valuable learning tool and mental exercise; interpreters should not paraphrase when are actually interpreting. As I have been going through to this new linguistic field to me, after I have been analyzing the whole process I would like to conclude by saying that Sight Translation requires a rigorous combination of the two macro-skills such as: Reading as input skill and Speaking as output skill. It also demands exercises in public speaking that deals with reading aloud, controlling emotions, and reading ahead in the text as one of the hardest ability to be developed to me. Sight Translation relates two languages in a very complicated and complex linguistic process from its preparation until the Sight Translation performing.

References

Sight Translation and Written Translation: Guidelines for Healthcare Interpreters National Council on Interpreting in Health Care, 2009. www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov Mastering Sight Translation Skill; Gloria Regina Loreto Sapaio PhD in Communication and Semiotics. La Traduccin a la Vista ,Tesis Doctoral presentado por Amparo Jimenez Ivars