Article published In: Developments in Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies
Edited by Kairong Xiao and Sandra L. Halverson
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies 8:2] 2021
► pp. 462–481
Translator training and translation reception
Bridging the epistemological gap
Issues in CTS knowledge application to training
Published online: 22 November 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.00086.gar
https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.00086.gar
Abstract
Despite Cognitive Translation Studies’ (CTS) interest in didactic applications, the actual impact of research on training programs has been modest in comparison with the advances made in terms of methodology, theoretical sophistication and expansion of the object of study. It is argued that the modest impact of CTS on training originates, on the one hand, in an epistemological problem – one of mild incommensurability – and, on the other, on the difficulty of developing realistic cognitive task models. Adopting constructs and models in CTS and didactics that share an embodied, extended view on cognition may contribute to fitting empirical data and describing skill development. To that end, a sketch of a template to develop translation task models is presented for discussion.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Competence? What competence?
- 3.Competence and incommensurability
- 4.Modelling the translation task
- 5.Translation skill development as an object of study
- 6.A sketch for a template of a translation task model
- 7.Concluding remarks
- Notes
References
References (71)
Alves, F., & Gonçalves, J. L. V. R. (2007). Modelling translator’s competence: Relevance and expertise under scrutiny. In: Y. Gambier, M. Shlesinger and R. Stolze (ed.). Translation Studies: Doubts and directions, (pp. 41–55). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Angelone, E. (2018). Reconceptualizing problems in translation using triangulated process and product data. In I. Lacruz & R. Jääskeläinen (Eds.), Innovation and expansion in translation process research (pp. 17–36). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Angelone, E., & Marín García, A. (2017). Expertise acquisition through deliberate practice: Gauging perceptions and behaviors of translators and project managers. Translation Spaces, 6(1), 122–158.
Arevalillo, J. J. (2020). El perfil del traductor especializado desde los ámbitos profesional y académico: retos, expectativas y el proyecto eTransfair. In S. Álvarez Álvarez & M. T. Ortego Antón (Eds.), Perfiles estratégicos de traductores e intérpretes (pp. 5–26). Granada: Comares.
Baggs, E., Raja, V., & Anderson, M. L. (2020). Extended Skill Learning. Frontiers in Psychology, 111, 1956.
Beeby, A. (2000). “Choosing an Empirical-Experimental Model for Investigating Translation Competence: The PACTE Model,” Maeve Olohan (ed.). Intercultural faultlines: Research models in translation studies I textual and cognitive aspects (pp. 43–55). Manchester: St Jerome.
Blumczynski, P., & Hassani, G. (2019). Towards a meta-theoretical model for translation. Target, 31(3), 328–351.
Cnyrim, A., Hagemann, S., & Neu, J. (2013). Towards a framework of reference for translation competence. New Prospects and Perspectives for Educating Language Mediators. Translationswissenschaft, 101, 9–34.
Colina, S. (2003). Translation teaching, from research to the classroom: A handbook for teachers. McGraw-Hill.
Ehrensberger-Dow, M., & Heeb, A. H. (2016). Investigating the ergonomics of the technologized translation workplace. In R. Muñoz Martín (Ed.), Reembedding translation process research (pp. 69–88). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Ericsson, K. A. (1996). The acquisition of expert performance: an introduction to some of the issues. In K. A. Ericsson (Ed.), The road to Excellence: The acquisition of expert performance in the arts, sciences, sports and games (pp. 1-50). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Ericsson, K. A., & Charness, N. (1997). Cognitive and developmental factors in expert performance. In P. Feltovich, M. Ford, and R. Hoffman (Eds.), Expertise in Context: Human and Machine (pp. 3-41). Cambridge, MA: The MIt Press.
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363.
EUATC (European Union of Associations of Translation Companies). (2019). Language industry survey – Expectations and concerns of the European language industry. Available at [URL]
Friedlander, K. J., & Fine, P. A. (2016). The grounded expertise components approach in the novel area of cryptic crossword solving. Frontiers in psychology, 71, 567.
Galán-Mañas, A., & López García, P. (2020). Las competencias transversales en el mercado de la traducción. In S. Álvarez Álvarez & T. Ortego Antón (Eds.) Perfiles estratégicos de traductores e intérpretes (pp. 27–42). Granada: Editorial Comares.
Gile, D. (2017). The Effort Model Clarifications. Presentation. , [Last visited on 20th February 2021> [URL]]
González Davies, M. (2004). Multiple voices in the translation classroom. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Göpferich, S. (2008). Translationsprozessforschung [Translation Process Research]. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.
(2009). Towards a model of translation competence and its acquisition: the longitudinal study TransComp. In S. Göpfeirch, A. L. Jackobsen & I. M. Mees (Eds.), Behind the mind: Methods, models and results in translation process research (pp. 11–37). Copenhagen: Samfundslitterature Press.
Halverson, S. L. (2013). Implications of Cognitive Linguistics for Translation Studies. In A. Rojo & I. Ibarretxe-Antuñano (Eds.), Cognitive Linguistics and translation: Advances in some theoretical models and applications (pp. 33–74). Berlin: De Gruyter.
(2015). Cognitive TS and the merging of empirical paradigms: The case of ‘literal translation’. Translation Spaces, 4(2), 310–40.
(2019). ‘Default’ translation: A construct for cognitive translation and interpreting studies. Translation, Cognition & Behavior, 2(2), 187–210.
Hambrick, D. Z., Macnamara, B. N., & Oswald, F. L. (2020). Is the deliberate practice view defensible? A review of evidence and discussion of issues. Frontiers in Psychology, 111, 1134.
Hansen-Schirra, S., Hofmann, S., & Nitzke, J. (2018). Acquisition of generic competencies through project simulation in translation studies. In O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, G. Wittum & A. Dengel (Eds.), Positive learning in the age of information (pp. 267–280). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
Holz-Mänttäri, J. (1984). Translatorisches handeln. Theorie und methode. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica.
Hubscher-Davidson, S. (2011). A discussion of ethnographic research methods and their relevance for translation process research. Across Languages and Cultures, 12(1), 1–18.
Hurtado Albir, Amparo. (2018). Training. In L. D’hulst & Y. Gambier (Eds.), A history of modern translation knowledge: Sources, concepts, effects (Vol. 1421). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Inoue, I., & Candlin, C. N. (2015). Applying task-based learning to translator education: Assisting the development of novice translators’ problem-solving expertise. Translation and Interpreting Studies, 10(1), 58–86.
Kiraly, D. (2000). A Social constructivist approach to translator education. Manchester: St. Jerome.
Kiraly, D. C. (2015). Occasioning translator competence: Moving beyond social constructivism toward a postmodern alternative to instructionism. Translation and Interpreting Studies, 10(1), 8–32.
Kussmaul, P. (1995). Training the translator. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social: An introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Laudan, L. (1978). Progress and its problems: Towards a theory of scientific growth. Berkeley: Univ of California Press.
Liu, C. (2013). A quantitative enquiry into the translator’s job-related happiness: Does visibility correlate with happiness? Across Languages and Cultures, 14(1), 123–147.
Marais, K. (2012). Translation theory and development studies: A complexity theory approach. London and New York: Routledge.
Marín García, A. (2019). The opportunities of epistemic pluralism for Cognitive Translation Studies. Translation, Cognition & Behavior, 2(2), 165–185.
(in press). Against coherence: Intradisciplinary dialogues in Translation and Interpreting Studies. In G. Silva & M. Radicioni (Eds.), Recharting territories: Intradisciplinarity in translation studies. Leuven: Leuven University Press.
Maturana, H. R., & Varela, F. J. (1980). Autopoiesis: The organization of the living. Autopoiesis and cognition: The realization of the living, 421, 59–138.
Mellinger, C. D. (2019). Metacognition and self-assessment in specialized translation education: Task awareness and metacognitive bundling. Perspectives, 27(4), 604-621.
Muñoz Martín, R. (2010). On paradigms and Cognitive Translatology. In G. M. Shreve & E. Angelone (Eds.), Translation and cognition (pp. 169–187). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
(2014a). A blurred snapshot of advances in translation process research. In R. Muñoz Martín (Ed.), Minding Translation (Special issue No. 1 of MonTI), 49–84.
(2014b). Situating translation expertise: A review with a sketch of a construct. In J. Schwieter & A. Ferreira (Eds), The development of translation competence: Theories and methodologies from psycholinguistics and cognitive science (pp. 2–56). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing Cambridge.
(2016). Reembedding translation process research: An introduction. In R. Muñoz Martín (Ed.), Reembedding translation process research (pp. 1–20). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
. (2005). Investigating translation competence: Conceptual and methodological issues. Meta, 50(2), 0609–619.
Pym, A. (2003). Redefining translation competence in an electronic age: In defence of a minimalist approach. Meta, 48(4), 481–97.
(2011). Training translators. In K. Malmkjaer & K. Windle (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of translation studies (pp. 475–485). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rico, C. (2010). Translator training in the European higher education area: Curriculum design for the Bologna Process. A case study. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 4(1), 89–114.
(2010). A cognitive scientific view on technical communication and translation: Do embodiment and situatedness really make a difference? Target, 22(1), 94–111.
Risku, H., Rogl, R., & Milosevic, J. (2017). Translation practice in the field: Current research on socio-cognitive processes. Translation Spaces, 6(1), 3–26.
Schäffner, C., & Adab, B. (Eds.). (2000). Developing translation competence. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Seeber, K. (2013). Cognitive load in simultaneous interpreting: Measures and methods. Target, 25(1), 18–32.
Shapiro, L. A. (2012). Embodied Cognition. In E. Margolis & S. Stich (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of philosophy of cognitive science (pp. 118–146). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Shreve, G. M. (2002). Knowing translation: Cognitive and experiential aspects of translation expertise from the perspective of expertise studies. In A. Riccardi (Ed.), Translation studies: Perspectives on an emerging discipline (pp. 150–171). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(2006). The deliberate practice: Translation and expertise. Journal of Translation Studies, 9(1), 27–42.
Shreve, G. M., & Angelone, E. (2010). Translation and cognition: Recent developments. Translation and cognition (pp. 1–13). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Shreve, G. M., Angelone, E., & Lacruz, I. (2018). Are expertise and translation competence the same? In I. Lacruz & R. Jääskeläinen (Eds.), Innovation and expansion in translation process research (pp. 37–54). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Teixeira, C. S., & O’Brien, S. (2017). Investigating the cognitive ergonomic aspects of translation tools in a workplace setting. Translation Spaces, 6(1), 79–103.
Ullen, F., Hambrick, D. Z., & Mosing, M. A. (2016). Rethinking expertise: A multifactorial gene–environment interaction model of expert performance. Psychological Bulletin, 142(4), 427–446.
Von Uexküll, J. (1934/1992). A stroll through the worlds of animals and men: a picture book of invisible worlds. Semiotica, 89(4):319–391.
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Marín García, Álvaro
2025. Finding synergies in Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies via task design. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 37:2 ► pp. 271 ff.
Haapaniemi, Riku
2023. How production and distribution processes shape translations in organisations. Translation Spaces 12:1 ► pp. 74 ff.
Mellinger, Christopher D.
2023. Embedding, extending, and distributing interpreter cognition with
technology. In Interpreting Technologies – Current and Future Trends [IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature, 37], ► pp. 195 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 december 2025. 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.