Cognition and Translation

My research on quality in translation is based on three experiences: (A) as an exegete in a traditional team of translators using the Barnwell method; (B) as a consultant in a team that followed an orality-centered method (trainers for FCBH and Render); (C) as a trainer and exegete with an experimental team, coordinating oral and written techniques to improve the quality of the translated NT and its acceptability. The translators (A) and (B) were confronted with a double difficulty: 1) their level of expertise in reading and writing and 2) their ability to use oral and written language in a complementary and coordinated way. My research focuses on a characteristic trait of all these translators: They live in a socio-cultural context with an oral tradition. So how does orality affect their written practice? How does the brain process written and oral language? To what extent does combining the two condition the translators’ performance? My analysis takes into account the processes of linguistic deverbalization and internalization. Since these approaches show that it is productive to respect the functioning of the brain at different stages of the translation process, my chosen theoretical input is neurosciences and neurolinguistics. Experimental findings show that team (C) best meets the traditional quality criteria of "naturalness", "accuracy" and "faithfulness". I deduce that it is the training of these translators in techniques that respect their cognitive processes of comprehension and production of an utterance that allows them to unify form and meaning into a single cognitive task, thus favoring a quality translation and saving time.