The processing of website contents in native and non-native language

Eyetracking has been used widely to research the translation process in recent years. The reception of text in multimedia environments has also been studied with the help of eyetracking, where subtitles have been the focus of most studies. This paper presents a study which investigates the viewing behaviour and processing of materials' information (originals and translations) related to museum exhibitions by native and non-native speakers. The texts used in a museum context often address native and non-native readers to a similar extent. However, do we process information equally in our native and non-native language, assuming a very high language proficiency in the foreign language? The participants ($n=16$) read extracts of two Digitorials® (one in German, one in English) provided on the website of the Schirn Art Gallery in Frankfurt. The participants' task was to prepare for a hypothetical test in the context of a cultural studies course (which are part of the translation degrees in Germersheim). The questions of the test were presented right after the participants had worked through the materials. The results show that the language in which the materials are presented has a statistically significant influence on the total fixation duration.