Sight translation - speaking versus writing

ln this thesis we addressed tbe subject of sight translation. This special type of interpreting is often not given adequate academic attention even though it can be considered one of tbe most di:fficult exercises due to its dichotomie character. Sight translation is Dot mere transfer from one language to another, it is also transfer from written mode to oral mode. Tbe most important characteristics, as well as the largest area of differentiation ... of written and oral texts is syntax. Therefore, we centred our research on this issue. Dur research is qua1itative, with no hypothesis. We merely describe tbe situation in sight translation from English into Czech. We chose non-participant observation as tbe method of our research, thus decreasing tbe number of variables. Tbe ohservation took place from January 2006 to Seplember 2007 during Stale Final Exams al the Department of Translation Studies af tbe Charles University in Prague. AH students specialized in interpreting. The empirical material consists of 13 origina1 texts and 13 interpreters' renditions. In tbe theoretical part of our tbesis we briefly characterise sight translation, drawing mainly on tbe doctoral thesis of Jimenez-Ivars (1999). Then we discuss tbe translatological aspects of tbe difIerence between written and oral texts, quoting Shlesinger..