Abstract Reading is the initial act and the essential part of any L2 to L1 translation bustle. In spite of its importance, it has not received due attention it deserves for much attention has been paid to the act of translation at the cost of developing necessary reading skills. This study attempts to examine this effect through comparing the reading time of two groups of undergraduate students who study in two different departments, i.e., English language and literature and translation departments. Using a TOEFL reading text, this paper has found a significant difference in the reading speed of the two groups. As the results show, Literature students have done much better than Translation students in terms of reading speed. In addition, we have scrutinized those aspects de rigueur of reading comprehension from the cognitive perspective and suggested ways of enhancing reading comprehension in translation classes.

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