Translatology adopts psychological and cognitive approaches to study the complex processes underlying translational phenomena. As such, it deals with both translations and the translators who produce them. The present study uses think-aloud protocols and keystroke logging to explore the impact of affective factors such as self-efficacy beliefs on the selection and application of translation problem-solving strategies by a group of trainee translators completing a translation task. Four translation trainees completed a Translation Self-efficacy Questionnaire. Participants with both high and low self-efficacy rankings were asked to translate a text using the Translog keylogger while simultaneously verbalizing their mental processes. Analysis of the verbal protocols indicated considerable differences within the group regarding the cognitive and metacognitive strategies that they chose to employ. The results suggested that low self-efficacy leads subjects to spend too much time translating, due to repeated attempts at production and extensive revision. Implications of the findings for translator training are discussed.