The Effect Of Background Knowledge On The Performance Of English-Chinese Sight Translation

The thesis applies Comprehension Equation, the Effort Model of Sight translation,the Sequential Model and psycholinguistic theories to demonstrate the effect ofbackground knowledge on the performance of English-Chinese sight translation.Supported by the above mentioned theories and based on the previous studies, thethesis plans to answer the follow ing questions:1) Does background knowledge influence the English-Chinese sight translationperformance of senior interpretation trainees in the University ofInternational Business and Economics( UIBE) ? If so, to what degree is theeffect significant?2) Does English proficiency reduce the negative effects on their sighttranslation performance due to the lack of background knowledge? If so, can itoverride the effect of background knowledge?The study is an empirical research based on experimental tests on the second-yearpostgraduates majoring in Interpretation in UIBE. The subjects are divided into twogroups : one group has much background knowledge on the test passage while the otherhas little background knowledge. In the experiment, English proficiency andbackground knowledge are the two independent variables and the performance of sighttranslation is taken as the only dependent variable with other factors controlledas constants. Qualitative analysis is adopted to analyze the subjects'interpretation performance. Individual subject's interpretation performance isanalyzed in terms of the accuracy of the target language, smoothness and timelinessof the reproduction. After comparing the performances of the two groups, the authordraws the following conclusions:1) Background knowledge exerts a significant effect on the performance ofEnglish-Chinese sight translation.2) English proficiency reduces the negative effect caused by the lack ofbackground knowledge. But it cannot override the effect of backgroundknowledge.As the subjects are the second-year postgraduates majoring in interpretation in UIBE,the study may shed light on the training of English-Chinese sight translationprovided by universities and colleges.