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Article published In: Target
Vol. 11:1 (1999) ► pp.33–63

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A Cognitive Approach to Source Text Difficulty in Translation

 | University of Western Sydney Macarthur
Published online: 5 November 1999
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https://doi.org/10.1075/target.11.1.03cam
Abstract
The notion of "difficulty" is of practical relevance to many of the stakeholders in the business of training and accrediting translators. This article proposes that difficulty can be tackled in terms of source text, translation task, and translator competence. Focussing on text difficulty, a case study is reported that shows that the source text can be an independent source of translation difficulty and that a substantial proportion of the items can be equally difficult to translate into typologically different languages. The study also highlights possible reasons for text difficulty at the level of lexis, and suggests that difficulty can be interpreted in cognitive terms, with the support of models of working memory and of language comprehension and production.
Résumé
Le concept de "difficulté" en traduction est d'une grande importance aux yeux de tous ceux qui s'attachent à la formation et à l'évaluation des traducteurs. Cet article se propose d'aborder cette notion par trois biais: le texte-source, la tâche du traducteur, et sa compétence traductive. En rapport avec le premier point, une étude de cas montre que le texte-source engendre des difficultés intrinsèques, indépendamment de leur traduction en des langues-cibles pourtant éloignées sur le plan typologique. Ensuite, l'étude essaie de spécifier les difficultés de nature lexicale, suggérant qu'elles peuvent s'interpréter en termes cognitifs, à l'aide des modèles de mémoire pratique, et de compréhension et production linguistiques.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A General Framework for Considering Translation Difficulty
  • 3.A Cognitive Framework for Considering Translation Text Difficulty
  • 4.The Case Study
    • 4.1.Aims and Assumptions
    • 4.2.Method
    • 4.3.Results
      • 4.3.1.Mean Ranking of Difficulty across the Languages
      • 4.3.2.Similarities across Languages
      • 4.3.3.Reconstituting the Texts
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1.Inherent Difficulty of the Source Text
    • 5.2.Difficulty and Word Class
    • 5.3.Meaningfulness
    • 5.4.Complex Noun Phrases
    • 5.5.Abstractness
    • 5.6.Frequency and Familiarity
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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