Karen Chung-chien Chang

National Taipei University, Taiwan

 

Abstract

In recent years, although many translation and interpretation (T&I) courses have been offered in undergraduate programs among universities in Taiwan, sight translation (ST), the suggested preparatory course for learning interpreting (Ilg & Lambert, 1996) is not commonly offered as a separate course but an included component in other T&I courses. This study was inspired by the relatively few studies in ST, aiming to examine the effectiveness of the activities incorporated in an ST course to guide the students to practice the related skills. The data collection process lasted over three years and covered 81 students. This study investigated two issues: the students’ perceptions about the effectiveness of ST activities and the challenges encountered in this learning experience. Data collection tools included a learning survey and interview. The former asked the students to evaluate the effectiveness of the incorporated course activities, and the latter focused on exploring students’ learning experiences of ST, especially on the challenges they encountered. The findings indicated that English source language (SL) explanation of texts, pair practice, and teacher feedback/comments were perceived as a great help by the students, leading to their positive evaluation of learning and performing ST. In addition, the students evaluated their ST learning experiences positively for the reasons of being able to respond to translation tasks more quickly, being able to apply the acquired knowledge and learned skills, perceiving ST tasks as challenging and interesting, and enjoying more freedom in performing ST than written translation. Last, the students indicated that the challenges they encountered in ST learning and performance were mainly related to insufficient topical knowledge, unfamiliar expressions/jargon, inadequate vocabulary items, awkward expressions, and incorrect production in the target language. To strengthen students’ ability in performing ST, the instruction should emphasize text analysis, extensive reading on various topics, expanding vocabulary repertoire, and feedback provisions.

 

Key Words:sight translation, guided teaching activity, text analysis, learning activity

 

「視譯」課程的教、學活動:檢視學生之學習成效感受

 

張中倩
國立台北大學

 

摘要

近幾年,台灣許多大學紛紛開設口筆譯相關課程,然而「視譯」這門被相關學者建議為口譯先修課程的科目(Ilg & Lambert, 1996),卻較少開設,因此,與之相關的教學、課程設計研究也非常少。本研究旨在探討視譯課程之教學活動,包含原文理解、內容分析、時間掌控、組織流暢之譯文等。此研究以台灣北部某一大學應用外語系學生為主體,共涵括81 位大三學生,探討其一學期之「視譯」學習經驗,研究議題有二:學生對於視譯教學活動成效的感受、學習視譯所面臨的挑戰。前者希望能夠透過學生角度,了解教學活動的成效;後者檢視學生對於此學習經驗的感受,尤其著重於碰到的困難與挑戰。資料收集包含學習問卷及學生個別訪談。分析結果顯示,在六個課程活動中,四個活動被學生評估為非常有助於視譯學習,這些活動分別為:英譯中的原文解釋、中譯英的原文分析及英文句型補充、同學間的兩兩練習、教師即時評語回饋。此外,訪談結果也顯示:學生對於此課程的學習經驗給予正面肯定,他們認為學習視譯可以加快自身的反應速度、有學以致用的機會、帶來挑戰與成就感,相較筆譯,有較多的自由與發揮空間。另外學生反應主要挑戰及困難為:對某些主題缺乏知識、對專業術語及用詞不熟、字彙不足、譯文不流暢或錯譯。結果指出,在視譯課程中,不管翻譯方向是中譯英或英譯中,教學重點都應強調原文分析與解讀、相關背景知識的累積與字彙量的增加,因此在教學時,可強調字彙表的整理及不同主題的閱讀,以累積學生對於許多議題的知識與相關詞彙,課程指導則應著重於文章內容分析及評語回饋提供,方能提升學生之學習成效。

 

關鍵字:視譯、視譯課程設計、視譯教學活動