Investigating the conceptual-procedural distinction in the translation process
A relevance-theoretic analysis of micro and macro translation units
This chapter draws on relevance theory (Sperber and Wilson 1986/1995) and its application to translation (Gutt 2000) to investigate processing effort in translation in relation to two different types of encodings, namely conceptual and procedural encodings (Blakemore 2002; Wilson 2011). Building on the experimental paradigm of data triangulation in translation process research (Alves 2003; Jakobsen 2005), it analyses the translation processes of eight professional translators when performing a direct and an inverse translation task. The analysis focuses on the number and types of encodings found in micro/macro translation units (Alves and Vale 2009; 2011). Results suggest that processing effort in translation is greater in instances of procedural than conceptual encodings.
References (23)
References
Alves, Fabio. 1995. Zwischen Schweigen und Sprechen: Wie bildet sich eine transkulturelle Brücke? Hamburg: Dr. Kovac.
Alves, Fabio. 2007. “Cognitive Effort and Contextual Effect in Translation: A Relevance-Theoretic Approach.” Journal of Translation Studies 10 (1): 18–35.
Alves, Fabio, Adriana Pagano, and Igor Silva. 2009. “A New Window on Translators’ Cognitive Activity: Methodological Issues in the Combined Use of Eye Tracking, Key Logging and Retrospective Protocols.” In Methodology, Technology and Innovation in Translation Process Research. A Tribute to Arnt Lykke Jakobsen, ed. by Inger Mees, Fabio Alves, and Susanne Göpferich, 267–291. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.
Alves, Fabio, and Daniel Vale. 2009. “Probing the Unit of Translation in Time: Aspects of the Design and Development of a Web Application for Storing, Annotating, and Querying Translation Process Data.” Across Languages and Cultures 10 (2): 251–273.
Alves, Fabio, and Daniel Vale. 2011. “On Drafting and Revision in Translation: A Corpus Linguistics Oriented Analysis of Translation Process Data.” TC3. Translation: Corpora, Computation and Cognition 1 (1): 105–122.
Blakemore, Diane. 1987. Semantic Constraints on Relevance. Oxford: Blackwell.
Blakemore, Diane. 2002. Relevance and Linguistic Meaning: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Discourse Markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Elman, Jeffrey L., Elizabeth A. Bates, Mark H. Johnson, Annette Karmiloff-Smith, Domenico Parisi, and Kim Plunkett. 1996. Rethinking Innateness: A Connectionist Perspective on Development. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gutt, Ernst-August. 1998. “Relevance and Effort: A Paper for Discussion.” Paper presented at the
II Relevance Theory Workshop
, 8–10 September 1998, University of Luton.
Gutt, Ernst-August. 2000. Translation and Relevance: Cognition and Context, 2nd ed. Manchester: St Jerome.
Jakobsen, Arnt. 2005. “Investigating Expert Translators’ Processing Knowledge.” In Knowledge Systems and Translation, ed. by Helle V. Dam, Jan Engberg, and Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast, 173–189. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Jensen, Astrid. 2001. The Effects of Time on Cognitive Processes and Strategies in Translation. Copenhagen: Working Papers in LSP.
Königs, Frank. 1987. “Was beim Übersetzen passiert: theoretische Aspekte, empirische Befunde und praktische Konsequenzen.” Die neueren Sprachen 2: 162–185.
PACTE. 2008. “First Results of a Translation Competence Experiment: ‘Knowledge of Translation’ and ‘Efficacy of the Translation Process’.” In Translator and Interpreter Training. Issues, Methods and Debates, ed. by John Kearns, 104–126. London: Continuum.
Scardamalia, Marlene, and Carl Bereiter. 1991. “Literate Expertise.” In Toward a General Theory of Expertise, ed. by Karl-Anders Ericsson, and John Smith, 172–194. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shreve, Gregory. 2006. “The Deliberate Practice: Translation and Expertise.” Journal of Translation Studies 9 (1): 27–42.
Sperber, Dan, and Deirdre Wilson. 1986/1995. Relevance: Communication and Cognition, 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell.
Taboada, Maite, and William C. Mann. 2006. “Rhetorical Structure Theory: Looking Back and Moving Ahead.” Discourse Studies 8 (3): 423–459.
Wilson, Deirdre, and Dan Sperber. 1993. “Linguistic Form and Relevance.” Lingua 90: 1–25.
Wilson, Deirdre. 2011. “The Conceptual-Procedural Distinction: Past, Present, and Future.” In Procedural Meaning: Problems and Perspectives, ed. by Victoria Escandell-Vidal, Manuel Leonetti, and Aoife Ahern, 3–28. London: Emerald Group.
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Alves, Fabio & Arnt Lykke Jakobsen
2022.
The Translation Process. In
The Cambridge Handbook of Translation,
► pp. 34 ff.
Jakobsen, Arnt Lykke
2017.
Translation Process Research. In
The Handbook of Translation and Cognition,
► pp. 19 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 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.