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Article published In: Translation, Cognition & Behavior
Vol. 8:1 (2025) ► pp.99–120

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Unraveling creativity in translation

A study of product-process interface

ORCiD logo with link | Guizhou University
Published online: 10 October 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tcb.25012.luo
Abstract
Creativity is one of the most valued human qualities, capable of enhancing the quality of final products across diverse fields, including translation. This study integrated translation products and processes through an experiment in which 42 student participants translated six excerpts from science fiction and science-technology texts, with data collected via eye-tracking and keylogging tools. The translation products were classified and quantified using entropy values, and statistical significance tests were conducted to examine the correlations between product and process indicators. The findings reveal no significant correlations between translation entropy and overall task duration, fixation count, or pause count, whereas creative products were associated with significantly higher revision frequency. From the product-process interface, it can be inferred that translational creativity involves sustained cognitive effort throughout the translation process, with active engagement in revisions playing a crucial role in enabling the final translation to display creativity.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Related work
    • 2.1Creativity in the translation process
    • 2.2Creativity in the translation product
  • 3.Research framework
    • 3.1Three approaches to integrating process and product research
    • 3.2Direct interface between process and product
  • 4.Experiment design
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Materials
    • 4.3Experiment environment and procedure
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Measuring creativity in translation products
      • 5.1.1Evaluating translation effectiveness
      • 5.1.2Exploring novelty in translations
    • 5.2Relating translation products to processes
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1Factors leading to creative products
    • 6.2Creative product and process interface
      • 6.2.1The correlation between creative products and cognitive effort
      • 6.2.2The correlation between creative products and revisions
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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