Emotions are complex reactions comprising experiential, behavioural, and physiological components. The role that they play in the practice of translation has been mooted for some time. In 1996, Jääskeläinen observed that affective factors, be they personal involvement, commitment, motivation, or attitude, may be a relevant parameter in accounting for translational behaviour. It is only relatively recently, however, that scholars have started to explore empirically the influence on the translation process and product of affect, the term used in psychology to refer to emotions that influence one’s thinking and actions. Translation studies (TS) can be thus said to have witnessed an affective turn, inspired by a growing focus on emotions in the field of psychology (e.g., Sander & Scherer 2009), which has dramatically altered and expanded the scope of research on the role of emotions in translation (see also Translation psychology).

References

Abbamonte, Lucia, and Flavia Cavaliere

2006 “Lost in Translation—Politically Incorrect Rendering: English vs. Italian Unicef ‘The State of the World’s Children 2004’ Report.” In Insights into Specialized Translation, ed. by Susan Šarcevic, and Maurizio Gotti, 235–258. Bern: Peter Lang.

Apfelthaler, Matthias

2014 “Stepping into Others’ Shoes: A Cognitive Perspective on Target Audience Orientation in Written Translation.” MonTI 1: 303–330.

Bolaños-Medina, Alicia

2014 “Self-efficacy in Translation.” Translation and Interpreting Studies 9 (2): 197–218.

Courtney, Jennifer, and Mary Phelan

2019 “Translators’ Experiences of Occupational Stress and Job Satisfaction.” Translation and Interpreting 11 (1): 100–113.

Gaddis-Rose, Marilyn

2012 “Celebrating the Inevitable.” In Translation and Literary Studies: Homage to Marilyn Gaddis-Rose, ed. by Marella Feltrin-Morris, Deborah Folaron, and María Constanza Guzmán, 25–31. Manchester: St. Jerome.

Hubscher-Davidson, Séverine

2017 Translation and Emotion—A Psychological Perspective. London: Routledge.

Jääskeläinen, Riitta

1996 “Hard Work will Bear Beautiful Fruit. A Comparison of Two Think-aloud Protocol Studies.” Meta 41 (1): 60–74.

Kenesei, Andrea

2010 Poetry Translation Through Reception and Cognition: The Proof of Translation is in the Reading. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.

Koskinen, Kaisa, and Minna Ruokonen

2017 “Love Letters or Hate Mail? Translators’ Technology Acceptance in the Light of their Emotional Narratives.” In Human Issues in Translation Technology, ed. by Dorothy Kenny, 26–42. London: Routledge.

Lehr, Caroline

2014 The Influence of Emotion on Language Performance—Study of a Neglected Determinant of Decision-Making in Professional Translators. Doctoral thesis, University of Geneva.

Ramos-Caro, Marina

2016 “Testing Audio Narration: the Emotional Impact of Language in Audio Description.” Perspectives 24 (4): 606–634.

Risku, Hanna

2014 “Translation Process Research as Interaction Research: From Mental to Socio-Cognitive Processes.” MonTi 1: 331–353.

Rose, Julie

2013 “The Art of Hearing the Voice.” In Perspectives on Literature and Translation—Creation, Circulation, Reception, ed. by Brian Nelson, and Brigid Maher, 13–30. London: Routledge.

Rosiers, Alexandra, and June Eyckmans

2017 “Investigating Tolerance of Ambiguity in Novice and Expert Translators and Interpreters: An Exploratory Study.” The International Journal for Translation and Interpreting Research 9 (2): 52–66.

Sander, David, and Klaus R. Scherer

(eds) 2009 The Oxford Companion to Emotion and the Affective Sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Shields, Kathleen M., and Michael J. Clarke

(eds) 2011 Translating Emotion: Studies in Transformation and Renewal Between Languages. Oxford: Peter Lang.

Wittwer, Michael

2007 “Emotion and Translation: Using the Example of Popularising Medical Texts in Paediatrics.” In Evidence-Based LSP: Translation, Text and Terminology, ed. by Ahmad Khurshid, and Margaret Rogers, 345–356. Bern: Peter Lang.

Further essential reading

Damasio, Antonio

2003 Looking for Spinoza. Joy, Sorrow and the Feeling Brain. New York: Harvest Book Harcourt.

Ji, Christine, and Susan Petrilli

(eds) forthcoming Emotions in Translation: An Intersemiotic Approach. London: Routledge.

Koskinen, Kaisa

2020 Translation and Affect: Essays on Sticky Affects and Translational Affective Labour. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Maier, Carol

2006 “Translating as a Body: Meditations on Mediation (Excerpts 1994–2004).” In The Translator as Writer, ed. by Susan Bassnett, and Peter Bush, 137–148. London: Continuum.