Exploring Semiotic Resources in Sight Translation

Abstract

In this article, we \npresent a pilot study with data from exploratory video-recorded \nexperiments of sight translation,\nand subsequent focus group interviews. Our theoretical \nperspective is interactionist, with the encounter as a whole taken into consideration. The \nquestion we \naim to answer is: what kinds of semiotic resources do interpreters use while \ninterpreting from a written text? \nThus, we supplement the interactionist perspective\n(Wadensjö 1998)\nwith perspectives from multimodality and socio-semiotics.\nWe \ndemonstrate how these perspectives may offer a new way of studying the interpreter’s \ndual \nfunction as a translator and as a coordinator of the dialogue.\nThe results from our pilot study show variations\nin how interpreters exploit semiotic \nresources such as handling of the \nwritten text, body posture, and gaze. Therefore, we \nargue that it is necessary to draw attention to \nthe \nsemiotic resources available for sight \ntranslation. There is also a need to rethink assessments and educational programmes \nregarding sight translation, \nand to include perspectives from social semiotics and \nmultimodality. We recommend further investigation of the exploitation of semiotic \nresources in the process of interpreting. In particular, more research is needed that relates \nto how interpreters combine semiotic resources to construct their renditions.