Cover not available

Article published In: Translation, Cognition & Behavior
Vol. 8:1 (2025) ► pp.1–37

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

The modulation effect of (trained) bilingualism on cross-linguistic idiomaticity

ORCiD logo with link | California State University Long Beach
 | Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center, CIMCYC | University of Granada
 | Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center, CIMCYC | University of Granada
Published online: 26 August 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tcb.25003.tog
Abstract
We investigated how translation expertise and untrained bilingualism modulate the retrieval of translation equivalents of idiomatic units across languages. We employed a dual task paradigm to assess the cognitive resources that untrained bilinguals and professional translators engaged to process idioms for later translation. Our hypothesis was that translators would be able to map idioms cross-linguistically in a relatively more automatic way than untrained bilinguals, based on the idea that comprehension and retrieval processes become faster and more automatic because of training in translation tasks. This automaticity presumably plays a key role in the allocation of task-relevant cognitive resources. Results did not match our predictions and showed that translators exerted higher levels of cognitive control over the task, possibly to guarantee the high-quality standards required by professional practice. Findings are discussed considering theoretical models of bilingual idiomatic processing, implications for the translation process and translation pedagogy.
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Idiomatic processing in untrained bilinguals
    • Idiomatic processing in trained bilinguals
    • Idiomatic processing and translation expertise: The present study
  • Experiment 1
    • Method
      • Participants
      • Design and materials
      • Procedure
  • Results and discussion
    • Tone detection RTs
      • The processing of congruent idiomatic forms
      • The processing of incongruent idiomatic forms
    • Accuracy: Translation errors in correct tone detections
      • Errors in congruent idiomatic forms
      • Errors in incongruent idiomatic forms
    • Accuracy: Semantic translations in correct tone detections
    • Erroneous approach to incongruent material
    • Erroneous word-by-word translations of incongruent forms
    • Erroneous translation of control sentences as idiomatic expressions
  • Experiment 2
    • Method
      • Participants
      • Materials and design
  • Procedure
  • Results
    • Tone detection RTs
    • Accuracy: Translation errors in correct tone detections
  • General discussion
  • Conclusion
  • References
References (97)
References
Abel, B. (2003). English idioms in the first language and second language lexicon: A dual representation approach. Second language research, 19(4), 329–358. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Abrams, K., and Bever, T. G. 1969. “Syntactic structure modifies attention during speech perception and recognition”. The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology, 21(3), 280–290. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Albir, A. H., and Alves, F. 2009. “Translation as a cognitive activity”. In The Routledge companion to translation studies (pp. 68–87). London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alves, F. 1997. “A formacao de tradutores a partir de uma abordagem cognitiva: reflexoes de um projeto de ensino”, TradTerm 4 (2): 19–40. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2015. “Translation process research at the interface”. Psycholinguistic and cognitive inquiries into translation and interpreting, 1151, 17–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bajo, M. T., Padilla, P., and Padilla, F. 2000. “Comprehension processes in simultaneous interpreting”. In A. Chesterman, N. Gallardo and Y. Gambier (Ed.), Translation in context. John Benjamin. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boers, F., and Lindstromberg, S. (Eds.). 2008. Cognitive linguistic approaches to teaching vocabulary and phraseology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bortfeld, H. 2003. “Comprehending idioms cross-linguistically”. Experimental Psychology 501: 217–230. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cacciari, C. (1993). The place of idioms in a literal and metaphorical world. In Idioms. Processing, structure and interpretation (pp. 27–55). Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cacciari, C., and Tabossi, P. 1988. “The comprehension of idioms”. Journal of Memory and Language 271: 668–683. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cacciari, C., and Glucksberg, S. 1991. “Understanding idiomatic expressions: The contribution of word meanings”. In G. B. Simpson (Ed.), Understanding word and sentence, pp. 217–240. Amsterdam: North Holland. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Caillies, S., and Butcher, K. 2007. “Processing of idiomatic expressions: Evidence for a new hybrid view”. Metaphor and Symbol 221: 79–108. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carrol, G., and Conklin, K. 2014. “Getting your wires crossed: Evidence for fast processing of L1 idioms in an L2”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 171: 784–797. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carrol, G., Conklin, K., Gyllstad, H. 2016. “Found in translation: the influence of the L1 on the reading of idioms in a L2”. Stud. Sec. Lang. Acqu. 381, 403–443. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Christoffels, I., de Groot, A., and Kroll, J. 2006. “Memory and language skills in simultaneous interpreters: The role of expertise and language proficiency”. Journal of Memory and Language 541: 324–345. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Christoffels, I. K., de Groot, A. M. B., and Waldorp, L. J. 2003. “Basic skills in a complex task: A graphical model relating memory and lexical retrieval to simultaneous interpreting”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 61: 201–211. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cieślicka, A. 2006. “Literal salience in on-line processing of idiomatic expressions by second language learners”. Second Language Research 221: 115–144. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cieślicka, A. B. (2015). Idiom acquisition and processing by second/foreign language learners. Bilingual figurative language processing, 208–244. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cieślicka, A. B., Heredia, R. R., and García, A. C. 2021. “The (re) activation of idiomatic expressions (La (re) activación de expresiones idiomáticas)”. Studies In Psychology, 42(2), 334–372. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cohen, L., and Mehler, J. 1996. “Click monitoring revisited: An on-line study of sentence comprehension”. Memory and Cognition, 24(1), 94–102. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Conklin, K., and Schmitt, N. 2012. “The Processing of Formulaic Language”. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 321: 45–61. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Groot, A. M. 2000. “A complex-skill approach to translation”. In S. Tirkkonen-Condit, and R. Jääskeläinen (Eds.), Tapping and mapping the processes of translation and interpreting: Outlooks on empirical research (pp. 53–68). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Groot, A., and Christoffels, I. 2006. “Language control in bilinguals: Monolingual tasks and simultaneous interpreting”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 91: 189–201. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Delisle, J., Lee-Jahnke, H., and Cormier, M. C. 1999. Terminologie de la Traduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dellar, H. and Walkley, A. 2016. Teaching Lexically: Principles and Practice. United Kingdom: Delta Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Du, L., Elgort, I., and Siyanova-Chanturia, A. 2021. “Cross-Language Influences in the Processing of Multiword Expressions: From a First Language to Second and Back”. Front in Psychol., 121, 666520. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., Charness, N., Feltovich, P. and Hoffman, R. R. (Eds.) 2006. Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. W., and Nayak, N. P. 1989. “Psycholinguistic studies on the syntactic behavior of idioms”. Cognitive Psychology 211: 100–138. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gile, D. 2001. “Consecutive vs. Simultaneous: which one is more accurate?” Interpretation Studies 11: 8–20.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giora, R. 1997. “Understanding figurative and literal language: The graded salience hypothesis”. Cognitive Linguistics, 8(3):183–206. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1999. “On the priority of salient meanings: Studies of literal and figurative language”. Journal of Pragmatics 31 (7): 919–929. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Glucksberg, S. 2003. “The psycholinguistics of metaphor”. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 71: 92–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Green, D. W. 1997. “Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 11: 67–81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heredia, R. R., Olivares, M., and Cieślicka, A. 2014. Essential topics in applied linguistics and multilingualism. London: Springer International Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hervais-Adelman, A., Moser-Mercer, B., and Golestani, N. 2015. “Brain functional plasticity associated with the emergence of expertise in extreme language control”. NeuroImage, 1141, 264–274. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hubbard, R., Bulkes, N., and Lai, V. T. 2023. “Predictability and decomposability separately contribute to compositional processing of idiomatic language”. Psychophysiology, 60(8), e14269. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ibáñez, A., Macizo, P., and Bajo, M. T. 2010. “Language access and language selection in professional translators”. Acta Psychologica, 1351, 257–266. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Irujo, S. 1986. “Don’t Put Your Leg in Your Mouth: Transfer in the Acquisition of Idioms in a Second Language”. TESOL Quarterly 201: 287–304. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1993. “Steering clear: avoidance in the production of idioms”. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 311: 205–219. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Isobe, Y. 2011. “Representation and Processing of Formulaic Sequences in L2 Mental Lexicon: How Do Japanese EFL Learners Process Multi-word Expressions?”. Jacet関西紀要, 131, 38–49.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jankowiak, K., Naranowicz, M., and Rataj, K. 2021. “Metaphors are like lenses: Electrophysiological correlates of novel meaning processing in bilingualism”. International Journal of Bilingualism, 25(3), 668–686. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jiang, N., and Nekrasova, T. M. 2007. “The processing of formulaic sequences by second language speakers”. Modern Language Journal 911: 433–445. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kecskes, I. (2011). Salience in language production. Salience and defaults in utterance processing, 81–105. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F., Dussias, P. E., & Bajo, M. T. (2018). Language use across international contexts: Shaping the minds of L2 speakers. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 381, 60–79. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kyriacou, M., and Köder, F. 2024. “Not Batting an Eye: Figurative Meanings of L2 Idioms Do Not Interfere with Literal Uses”. Languages, 9(1), 32. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ladefoged, P., and Broadbent, D. E. 1960. “Perception of sequence in auditory events”. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 121: 162–170. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levelt, W. J. 1978. “A survey of studies in sentence perception: 1970–1976”. In W. J. M. Levelt and G. B. Flores D’Arcais (Eds.), Studies in the perception of language. New York, Wiley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lewis, M. 1993. The Lexical Approach: The State of ELT and a Way Forward. Hove, UK: Language Teaching Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Libben, M. R., and Titone, D. 2008. “The multidetermined nature of idiom processing”. Memory and Cognition, 36(6), 1103–1121. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Logan, G. D. 1988. “Toward an instance theory of automatization”. Psychological review, 95(4), 492. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
López, B. G., and Vaid, J. 2018a. “Fácil or A piece of cake: Does variability in bilingual language brokering experience affect idiom comprehension?”. Bilingualism: Language and cognition, 21(2), 340–354. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lopez, B. G., and Vaid, J. 2018b. “Divergence and overlap in bilingual conceptual representation: does prior language brokering experience matter?”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21(1), 150–161. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
López, B. G., Vaid, J., Tosun, S., and Rao, C. 2017. “Bilinguals’ Plausibility Judgments for Phrases with a Literal vs. Non-literal Meaning: The Influence of Language Brokering Experience”. Frontiers in psychology, 81, 1661. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luk, G., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Bilingualism is not a categorical variable: Interaction between language proficiency and usage. Journal of cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 605–621. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Macizo, P., and Bajo, M. T. 2006. “Reading for repetition and reading for translation: Do they involve the same processes?”. Cognition 991: 1–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Macizo, P., Bajo, M. T., and Martín, M. C. 2010. “Inhibitory processes in bilingual language comprehension: Evidence from Spanish–English interlexical homographs”. Journal of Memory and Language 631: 232–244. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matlock, T., & Heredia, R. R. (2002). 11 Understanding phrasal verbs in monolinguals and bilinguals. In Advances in psychology (Vol. 1341, pp. 251-274). North-Holland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muñoz Martín, R. 2009. “Expertise and environment in translation”. Mutatis Mutandis: Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción, 2(1), 24–37.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nida, E. A. 1982. Translating Meaning. San Dimas: English Language Institute.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Padilla, F., Bajo, M. T., and Macizo, P. 2005. “Articulatory suppression in language interpretation: Working memory capacity, dual tasking and word knowledge”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 81: 207–219. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruiz, C., Paredes, N., Macizo, P., & Bajo, M. T. (2008). Activation of lexical and syntactic target language properties in translation. Acta psychologica, 128(3), 490–500. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Savaiano, E., and Winget, L. W. 1995. 2001 Spanish and English idioms. Lyndhurst, NJ: Barnes and NoblesGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmitt, N. 2000. Vocabulary in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schneider, W., Eschman, A., and Zuccolotto, A. 2002. E-Prime: User’s guide. Pittsburgh: Psychology Software Tools, Inc.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schneider, W., and Jason, M. C. 2003. “Controlled and automatic processing: Behavior, theory, and biological mechanisms.” Cognitive Science 27 (3): 525–559. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwartz, A. I., Kroll, J. F., & Diaz, M. (2007). Reading words in Spanish and English: Mapping orthography to phonology in two languages. Language and Cognitive processes, 22(1), 106-129. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Segalowitz, Norman S., and Sidney J. Segalowitz. 1993. “Skilled performance, practice, and the differentiation of speed-up from automatization effects: Evidence from second language word recognition.” Applied Psycholinguistics 14 (3): 369–385. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Selivan, L. 2018. Lexical grammar: Activities for teaching chunks and exploring patterns. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Senaldi, M. S., and Titone, D. A. 2022. “Less direct, more analytical: Eye-movement measures of L2 idiom reading”. Languages, 7(2), 91. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Senaldi, M. S., Titone, D. A., and Johns, B. T. 2022. “Determining the importance of frequency and contextual diversity in the lexical organization of multiword expressions”. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 76(2), 87. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shiffrin, R. M., & Schneider, W. 1977. “Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory”. Psychological review, 84(2), 127. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
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. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 150–71.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2006. “The deliberate practice: translation and expertise”. Journal of translation studies, 9(1), 27–42.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seleskovitch, D. (1976). Traduire: de l'expérience aux concepts. Études de linguistique appliquée, 241, 64.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1999). The teaching of conference interpretation in the course of the last 50 years. Interpreting, 4(1), 55–66.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sprenger, S. A., Beck, S. D., & Weber, A. (2024). What fires together, wires together: The effect of idiomatic co-occurrence on lexical networks. Languages, 9(3), 105. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sprenger, S., Levelt, W., and Kempen, G. 2006. “Lexical access during the production of idiomatic phrases”. Journal of Memory and Language 541: 161–184. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Steinel, M. P., Hulstijn, J. H., & Steinel, W. (2007). Second language idiom learning in a paired-associate paradigm: Effects of direction of learning, direction of testing, idiom imageability, and idiom transparency. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29(3), 449–484. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tabossi, P., Fanari, R., and Wolf, K. 2009. “Why are idioms recognized fast?”. Memory and Cognition 371: 529–540. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Titone, D., and Connine, C. 1994a. “Comprehension of idiomatic expressions: Effects of predictability and literality”. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 201: 1126–1138. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1994b. “Descriptive norms for 171 idiomatic expressions: Familiarity, compositionality, predictability, and literality”. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity 91: 247–270. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Titone, D., and Connine, C. M. 1999. “On the compositional and non-compositional nature of idiomatic expressions”. Journal of Pragmatics 311: 1655–1674. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Titone, D., Libben, M., Mercier, J., Whitford, V., & Pivneva, I. (2011). Bilingual lexical access during L1 sentence reading: The effects of L2 knowledge, semantic constraint, and L1–L2 intermixing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(6), 1412. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Titone, D., Columbus, G., Whitford, V., Mercier, J., and Libben, M. 2015. “Contrasting bilingual and monolingual idiom processing”. Bilingual figurative language processing, 171–207. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Titone, D., Lovseth, K., Kasparian, K., and Tiv, M. (2019). “Are figurative interpretations of idioms directly retrieved, compositionally built, or both?”. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale 73(4): 216. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Togato, G., and Macizo, P. 2023. “Cognitive Flexibility in Interpreting”. In Ferreira, A., and Schwieter, J. W. (Eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Translation, Interpreting and Bilingualism (1st ed.) (pp. 280–297). New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Togato, G., Paredes, N., Macizo, P., and Bajo, T. 2017. “Syntactic processing in professional interpreters: Understanding ambiguous sentences in reading and translation”. Applied Linguistics, 38(4), 581–598. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Togato, G., Macizo, P., and Bajo, T. 2022. “Automaticity and cognitive control in bilingual and translation expertise”. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/ Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale 76(1), 29–43. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tzou, Y. Z., Vaid, J., and Chen, H. C. 2017. “Does formal training in translation/interpreting affect translation strategy? Evidence from idiom translation”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20(3), 632–641. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolter, B., and Gyllstad, H. 2011. “Collocational links in the L2 mental lexicon and the influence of L1 intralexical knowledge”. Applied Linguistics 321: 430–449. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2013. “Frequency of input and L2 collocational processing”. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 351: 451–482. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolter, B., and Yamashita, J. 2014. “Processing collocations in a second language: A case of first language activation?”. Applied Psycholinguistics 11: 1–29. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolter, B., Yamashita, J. 2018. “Word frequency, collocational frequency, L1 congruency, and proficiency in L2 collocational processing”. Stud. Sec. Lang. Acqu. 401, 395–416. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yamashita, J., and Jiang, N. 2010. “L1 Influence on the Acquisition of L2 Collocations: Japanese ESL Users and EFL Learners Acquiring English Collocations”. TESOL Quarterly 441: 647–668. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue