Cover not available
Article published In:
Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 12:3 (2017) ► pp.469–488

Asymmetry and automaticity in translation

| University of Łódź
This article adopts an interdisciplinary approach to integrate insights from cognitive psychology and Cognitive Linguistics into translational inquiry by modeling the translator’s operations as alternating between System 1 and System 2 thinking. We analyze trainee output to investigate translatorial decision-making in scenarios employing instances of basic cross-linguistic asymmetry in the partitioning of conceptual material. The objective is to better understand the role that automaticity plays in those contexts: how pronounced it is, how it influences translation output, and to what extent the skill of monitoring it can be regarded a component of translation competence. The study also tests, in one condition, whether the translator trainer can induce System 2 processing in trainees by issuing extra pre-task instruction, thereby helping optimize their performance.
Keywords: dual process theories, decision-making, translation competence, language and cognition, processing in translation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Dual processing
  • 3.Processing in translation
    • 3.1Investigating the translation process
    • 3.2Automaticity in translation processing
      • 3.2.1Automaticity and translation competence
  • 4.Asymmetric interlingual structuring of content
  • 5.The study
    • 5.1Participants and materials
    • 5.2Data analysis
      • 5.2.1Sample 1
      • 5.2.2Sample 2
      • 5.2.3Sample 3
      • 5.2.4Sample 4
  • 6.General discussion
  • 7.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 23 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.12.3.06dec
References (90)
References
Alves, Fabio (ed). 2003. Triangulating Translation. Perspectives in Process Oriented Research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Alves, Fabio and Daniel Vale. 2011. “On drafting and revision in translation: a corpus linguistics oriented analysis of translation process data.” Translation: Corpora, Computation, Cognition 1(1): 105–122.Google Scholar
Alves, Fabio. 2015. “Translation process research at the interface: Paradigmatic, theoretical, and methodological issues in dialogue with cognitive science, expertise studies, and psycholinguistics.” In Psycholinguistic and Cognitive Inquiries into Translation and Interpreting, ed. by Aline Ferreira and John W. Schwieter, 17–40. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Alvstad, Cecilia, Adelina Hild, and Elisabet Tiselius (eds). 2011. Methods and Strategies of Process Research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Angelone, Erik and Gregory M. Shreve. 2011. “Uncertainty Management, Metacognitive Bundling in Problem Solving and Translation Quality.” In Cognitive Explorations of Translation, ed. by Sharon O’Brien, 108–130. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Ariely, Dan. 2008. Predictably Irrational. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Bell, Roger T. 1991. Translation and Translating. Theory and Practice. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Börsch, Sabine. 1986. “Introspective methods in research on interlingual and intercultural communication.” In Interlingual and Intercultural Communication: Discourse and Cognition in Translation and Second Language Acquisition Studies, ed. by Juliane House and Shoshana Blum-Kulka, 195–209. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Chang, Vincent Chieh-Ying. 2009. Testing Applicability of Eye-Tracking and fMRI to Translation and Interpreting Studies: An Investigation into Directionality. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Imperial College London.Google Scholar
Deckert, Mikołaj. 2013. Meaning in subtitling: toward a contrastive cognitive semantic model. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2015. “The automated interlingual mapping in trainee subtitlers.” Journal of Specialised Translation 241: 28–43.Google Scholar
. 2016. “Translatorial dual-processing – evidence from interlingual trainee subtitling.” Babel 62(3): 495–515. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Deckert, M. 2017. “Translation and cognition: cases of asymmetry. An editorial.” Research in Language 15(2): 119–128. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen, Susanne Göpferich, and Sharon O᾽Brien (eds). 2015. Interdisciplinarity in Translation and Interpreting Process Research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Epstein, Seymour. 1994. “Integration of the cognitive and the psychodynamic unconscious.” American Psychologist 491: 709–724. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2003. “Cognitive-experiential self-theory of personality.” In Comprehensive Handbook of Psychology, Volume 5: Personality and Social Psychology, ed. by Theodore Millon and Melvin J. Lerner, 159–184. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Evans, Jonathan. St. B. T. 1984. “Heuristic and analytic processes in reasoning.” British Journal of Psychology 751: 451–68. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Evans, Jonathan St. B. T. 1996. “Deciding before you think: Relevance and reasoning in the selection task.” British Journal of Psychology 871: 223–240. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010. Thinking twice: Two minds in one brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Evans, Jonathan St. B. T. and David E. Over. 1996. Rationality and reasoning. Hove: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Evans, Jonathan St. B. T. and Keith E. Stanovich. 2013. “Dual-process theories of higher cognition: Advancing the debate.” Perspectives on Psychological Science 81: 223–241, 263–271. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Evans, Vyvyan and Melanie Green. 2006. Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Frankish, Keith and Jonathan St. B. T. Evans. 2009. “The duality of mind: An historical perspective.” In Two Minds: Dual Processes and Beyond, ed. by Jonathan St. B. T. Evans and Keith Frankish, 1–29. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ferreira, Aline and John W. Schwieter (eds). Psycholinguistic and Cognitive Inquiries into Translation and Interpreting. Amsterdam: John Benjamins DOI logo
Frederick, Shane. 2005. “Cognitive reflection and decision making.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 19(4): 25–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Geeraerts, Dirk. 1993. “Vagueness’s puzzles, polysemy’s vagaries.” Cognitive Linguistics 41: 223–272. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Geeraerts, Dirk and Hubert Cuyckens. 2007. Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gerloff, Pamela Ann. 1990. From French to English: a look at the translation process in students, bilinguals, and professional translators. Doctoral dissertation, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Gladwell, Malcolm. [2005] 2006. Blink. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Göpferich, Susanne, Arnt L. Jakobsen, and Inger M. Mees (eds). 2009. Behind the Mind: Methods, Models and Results in Translation Process Research. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.Google Scholar
Göpferich, Susanne, Fabio Alves, and Inger M. Mees (eds). 2010. New Approaches in Translation Process Research. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.Google Scholar
Greene, Joshua. 2013. Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them. New York: Penguin Press.Google Scholar
de Groot, Annette. 1997. “The cognitive study of translation and interpretation: Three approaches.” In Cognitive Processes in Translation and Interpreting, ed. by Joseph H. Danks, Gregory M. Shreve, Stephen B. Fountain, and Michael McBeath, 25–56. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Hansen, Gyde (ed). 1999. Probing the Process in Translation: Methods and Results. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.Google Scholar
. 2003. “Controlling the process: Theoretical and methodological reflections on research into translation processes.” In Triangulating Translation: Perspectives in process oriented research, ed. by Fabio Alves, 25–42. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hejwowski, Krzysztof. 2004. Translation: A Cognitive-Communicative Approach. Olecko: Wydawnictwo Wszechnicy Mazurskiej.Google Scholar
House, Juliane. 2015. Translation Quality Assessment: Past and Present. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jarniewicz, Jerzy. 1997. “Problems with gender in English-Polish literary translation.” In Translation and Meaning. Part 4, Proceedings of the Łódź Session of the 2nd International Maastricht-Łódź Duo Colloquium, ed. by Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk and Marcel Thelen, 235–240. Maastricht: Maastricht School of Translation and Interpreting.Google Scholar
Jääskeläinen, Riitta. 1999. Tapping the Process: An Explorative Study on the Cognitive and Affective Factors Involved in Translating. Ph.D. dissertation. Joensuu: University of Joensuu.Google Scholar
Jensen, Astrid. 2001. “The effects of time on cognitive processes and strategies in translation.” Copenhagen: Copenhagen working papers in LSP.Google Scholar
Kahneman, Daniel. 2011. Thinking, Fast and Slow. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Klein, Gary A. 1999. Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Krings, Hans. P. 1986. Was in den Köpfen von Übersetzern vorgeht: Eine empirische Untersuchung der Struktur des Übersetzungsprozesses an fortgeschrittenen Französischlernern. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
1986b. “Translation problems and translation strategies of advanced German learners of French (L2).” In Interlingual and Intercultural Communication: Discourse and Cognition in Translation and Second Language Acquisition Studies, ed. by Juliane House and Shoshana Blum-Kulka, 263–275. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
1988. “Blick in die 'Black Box'–Eine Fallstudie zum Übersetzungsprozeß bei Berufsübersetzern.” In Textlinguistik und Fachsprache: Akten des Internationalen Übersetzungswissenschaftlichen AILA-Symposions, ed. by Reiner Arntz, 393–412. New York: Georg Olms.Google Scholar
Kubiński, Wojciech. 2002. “Prolegomenon to a cognitive theory of translation?” In Language Function, Structure, and Change, ed. by Wiesław Oleksy, 138–144. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Lakoff, George. 1987. Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Langacker, Ronald W. 1987. Foundations of cognitive grammar. Vol. 1, Theoretical prerequisites. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
2002. Concept, Image, Symbol: The Cognitive Basis of Grammar, 2nd ed. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
1991. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Vol. 2, Descriptive Application. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
2008. Cognitive Grammar: A Basic Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara. 1987. Conceptual Structure, Linguistic Meaning, and Verbal Interaction. Łódź: Łódź University Press.Google Scholar
. 2007. “Polysemy, Prototypes, and Radial Categories.” In Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, ed. by Dirk Geeraerts and Hubert Cuyckens, 139–169. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
. 2010. “Re-conceptualization and the emergence of discourse meaning as a theory of translation.” In Meaning in Translation, ed. by Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk and Marcel Thelen, 105–147. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mandelblit, Nili. 1996. “The cognitive view of metaphor and its implications for translation theory.” In Translation and Meaning. Part 3, Proceedings of the Łódź Session of the 2nd International Maastricht-Łódź Duo Colloquium, ed. by Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk and Marcel Thelen, 483–495. Maastricht: Maastricht School of Translation and Interpreting.Google Scholar
Mees, Inger M., Fabio Alves, and Susanne Göpferich (eds). 2009. Methodology, Technology and Innovation in Translation Process Research. Copenhague: Samfundslitteratur.Google Scholar
Moser-Mercer, Barbara. 2010. “The search for neuro-physiological correlates of expertise in interpreting.” In Translation and Cognition, ed. by Gregory M. Shreve and Erik Angelone, 263–288. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O’Brien, Sharon. 2006. “Eye-tracking and translation memory matches.” Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 14(3): 185–205.Google Scholar
. 2011. “Introduction.” In Cognitive Explorations of Translation, ed. Sharon O’Brien, 1–14. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
. 2013. “The Borrowers: Researching the Cognitive Aspects of Translation.” Target 23(1): 5–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paxton, Joseph. M., Leo Ungar, and Joshua D. Greene. 2012. “Reflection and reasoning in moral judgment.” Cognitive Science 36(1): 163–177. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pedersen, Jan. 2005. “How is culture rendered in subtitles?” In Proceedings of MuTra: Challenges of Multidimensional Translation, ed. by Sandra Nauert and Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast. Saarbrücken.Google Scholar
Posner, Michael I. and Charles R. R. Snyder. 1975. “Attention and cognitive control.” In Information Processing and Cognition, ed. by Roberto L. Solso, 55–85. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Pym, Anthony. 2011. “Training translators.” In The Oxford Handbook of Translation Studies, ed. by Kirsten Malmkjær and Kevin Windle, 1–10. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
. 2003. “Redefining Translation Competence in an Electronic Age. In Defence of a Minimalist Approach.” Meta 48(4): 481–497. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Quine, Willard Van Orman. 1960. Word and Object. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Rand, David G., Joshua D. Greene, and Martin A. Nowak. 2012. “Spontaneous giving and calculated greed.” Nature 489 (7416): 427–430. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rojo, Ana and Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano (ed). 2013. Cognitive Linguistics and Translation. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rothe-Neves, Rui. 2003. “The influence of working memory features on some formal aspects of translation performance.” In Triangulating Translation: Perspectives in Process Oriented Research, ed. by Fabio Alves, 97–119. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ruiz, Carmen, Natalia Paredes, Pedro Macizo, and Maria Teresa Bajo. 2007. “Activation of lexical and syntactic target language properties in translation.” Acta Psychologica 128(3): 490–500. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Saldanha, Gabriela, and Sharon O’Brien. 2014. Research Methodologies in Translation Studies. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sanders, Ella Frances. 2014. Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.Google Scholar
Séguinot, Candace. 1989. “The translation process: an experimental study.” In The Translation Process, ed. by Candace Séguinot, 21–53. Toronto: H. G. Publications.Google Scholar
Seleskovitch, Danica. 1976. “Interpretation, a Psychological Approach to Translation.” In Translation: Applications and Research, ed. by Richard W. Brislin, 92–116. New York: Gardner Press.Google Scholar
. 1978. “Language and cognition.” In Language, Interpretation and Communication, ed. by David Gerver and H. Wallace Sinaiko, 333–341. London: Plenum Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shiffrin, Richard M. and Walter Schneider. 1977. “Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending, and a general theory.” Psychological Review 84(2): 127–90. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shreve, Gregory M. and Erik Angelone (eds). 2010. Translation and Cognition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sloman, Steven A. 1996. “The empirical case for two systems of reasoning.” Psychological Bulletin 1191: 3–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stanovich, Keith E. 1999. Who is rational? Studies of individual differences in reasoning. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2004. The robot’s rebellion: Finding meaning in the age of Darwin. Chicago: Chicago University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011. Rationality and the Reflective Mind. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Szarkowska, Agnieszka. 2013. Forms of address in Polish-English subtitling. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tabakowska, Elżbieta. 1993. Cognitive linguistics and poetics of translation. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Talmy, Leonard. 2000. Toward a Cognitive Semantics, vol. 1: Concept Structuring Systems. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Tirkkonen-Condit, Sonja. 2002. “Metaphoric expressions in translation processes.” Across Languages and Cultures 3(1): 101–116. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005. “The monitor model revisited: Evidence from process research.” Meta 50(2): 405–414. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tirkkonen-Condit, Sonja and Riitta Jääskeläinen (eds.) 2000. Tapping and Mapping the Process of Translation and Interpreting. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Toury, Gideon. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies – and beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilss, Wolfram. 1996. Knowledge and Skills in Translator Behavior. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Whyatt, Bogusława (ed). 2016. Language processing in translation. Special issue of Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 52(2).Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Su, Wenchao & Defeng Li
2019. Identifying translation problems in English-Chinese sight translation. Translation and Interpreting Studies 14:1 ► pp. 110 ff. DOI logo
Deckert, Mikołaj
2017. Translation and Cognition: Cases of Asymmetry. An Editorial. Research in Language 15:2 ► pp. 119 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.