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Describing Cognitive Processes in Translation: Acts and events
Edited by Maureen Ehrensberger-Dow, Birgitta Englund Dimitrova, Séverine Hubscher-Davidson and Ulf Norberg
[Benjamins Current Topics 77] 2015
► pp. 63–84

The role of intuition in the translation process

A case study

This chapter explores the psychological construct of intuition and its influence in decision-making behavior. Intuition was defined by Jung (1971) as a primary mode of perception operating subconsciously. As opposed to sensing personality types who prefer concrete details, intuitive personality types prefer to acquire information by imagining possibilities (Myers and Myers 1995). In this chapter, an analysis of verbalization data from a translation process study is discussed in order to demonstrate the influence of intuition on decision-making during the translation process and to explore the implications of this influence. Recent studies have found that intuition plays a role in learning and decision-making tasks involving affect (Laborde, Dosseville, and Scelles 2010: 786). Intuition is therefore here viewed as a potentially vital component of translator behavior which could predict individuals’ translating effectiveness.

Keywords: decision-making, individual differences, intuition, think aloud protocols, translation process research
Published online: 1 October 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.77.05hub
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