English-Chinese and Chinese-English Translations of Literary Texts: The Influence of Stylistic Features on the Translation Process and Eyetracking Technology.

Abstract

This study is based on an experimental method of eye-tracking to investigate how translators perceive and understand translated literary texts and how different stylistic features influence their perception. This methodology allowed us to observe which parts of the text translators focused on the most, providing valuable data on their reading patterns and cognitive processes. Among English-Chinese translators, 95 out of 120 participants (79%) showed a tendency to prioritize faithfully conveying the source text's meaning over crafting a target text that aligns with Chinese stylistically. In the specific context of Chinese-English translation out of the 120 instances examined, the translators exhibited a reduced fixation duration on words in the source language, accounting for 34 instances (28%). This suggests a greater concern for preserving the source text's meaning rather than adapting it to the target culture. This research can assist translators and linguists in translating the stylistic features of English and Chinese literary texts more effectively. Future studies can explore other language stylistic features that may impact translation and compare translation styles across various literary genres and language pairs.