3. Need for More Research
Little research has been done on ST; it is rarely mentioned in discussions of the skills
required of interpreters and translators or of the mental processes involved in interpre
tation (Jiménez Ivars, 1999). Courses designed for the training of interpreters often de
vote less time to ST than to other modes of interpreting. Agrifoglio (2004) mentions that
many scholars view it as a mere pedagogical exercise for getting started in the techniques
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of interpreting and improving their oral skills. For example, Viaggio (1992) calls ST “per
haps the most effective and complete prelude to and preparation for attacking simulta
neous interpretation” (p. 45). Descriptions of interpreting modes often omit ST altogether.
Only Weber (1984) and Gile (1995) discuss ST in any detail in their books on training in
terpreters. Although they do refer to ST as a mode of interpretation and provide exam
pies of real-world applications, they primarily emphasize its value as a method of training
interpreting students:
Through sight translation, students learn how to conduct themselves in front of
an audience. They also acquire the basic reflexes required to transpose a mes
sage into another language (assuming that they have not had any translation
courses beforehand). Moreover, they develop a swift eye-brain-voice coordina
tion, which becomes vital in the process of simultaneous interpretation of speeches
that have been prepared beforehand and are read at top speed by the speaker.
Finally, it is a little easier to analyze a message that is presented visually than one
that is presented orally. (Weber, 1984, pp. 27—28)
Jiménez Ivars (1999) acknowledges the paucity of empirical research on ST in her ex
tensive review of the literature, noting that most of what has been written on the topic
to date is more theoretical or pedagogical in nature. According to Gorszczyñska (2010),
scholars did not focus their attention on ST until very recently, although Agrifoglio
(2004) does cite research from 1989 and 1993. Gorszczyñska introduces her own re
search project by referencing two other studies carried out in 2007, in addition to Agri
foglio’s work (she may not have been aware of Jiménez Ivars’ research, as it was published
in Spanish). Viezzi (1989) found that interpreters who performed ST of a text retained
less of its content than they did when simultaneously interpreting, suggesting that the
“permanent” presence of the source text made interpreters less likely to focus on pro
cessing for retention. Viezzi concluded that ST and simultaneous interpreting involve dif
ferent strategies. Jiménez Ivars (1999) had a group of interpreters sight translate and
then perform a written translation of the same text, and then she compared the per
ceived difficulty of the task and the number of errors between the two products. Not sur
prisingly, she found that the interpreters experienced more difficulty with ST than with
written translation, and also made more errors. Whereas the problems with written
translation were attributed to a variety of different factors, “psycho-physiological” fac
tors due to time limitations (anxiety control, memory capacity and speed of semantic
access) accounted for 50% of the difficulties encountered in ST. Less predictably, Jimenez
Ivars found no correlation between the results of a memory test and the quality of ST
performance or between the ability to control anxiety and ST performance. Of the fac
tors analyzed in her small-scale study, only speed of semantic access (oral fluency) was
positively correlated with ST performance. She also found that interpreters with limited
ability to quickiy find semantic equivalents made the most errors on an ST task, and
concluded that speed of semantic access is the most important of the skill components
analyzed.