Cover not available

Article published In: The Development of Professional Competence
Edited by Maureen Ehrensberger-Dow, Birgitta Englund Dimitrova and Séverine Hubscher-Davidson
[Translation and Interpreting Studies 9:1] 2014
► pp. 109–127

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

Analyzing recursiveness patterns and retrospective protocols of professional translators in L1 and L2 translation tasks

Published online: 7 July 2014
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.9.1.06fer
This study aims to investigate cognitive processing during translation by eight professional translators. In particular, it examines the extent to which the translation process is modulated by the direction of the translation: from English (L2) to Brazilian Portuguese (L1) and vice versa. The data collection was based on the triangulation of translation process data, combining different data elicitation tools to investigate the translation process (Alves 2003a; Jakobsen 1999). The analyses of the translation data drew on linear representations of the variable recursiveness. The recursive movements were calculated and classified, and the results from various tasks were compared. The quantitative data analyses revealed a higher number of recursive movements in L1 when compared to the L2 translation when the participants translated texts on the same topic. However, recursiveness was less in L1 translation when the same participants translated texts on different topics. These quantitative data were analyzed in parallel with the qualitative data provided by the retrospective protocols, permitting meta-reflection instances to be evaluated during decision-making processes (Alves and Gonçalves 2007). Results show that recursiveness and retrospective protocols can be used as indicators to measure translation task difficulty.
References (30)
Alves, Fabio. 2001. “A Triangulação como Opção Metodológica em Pesquisas Empírico-Experimentais em Tradução.” In Metodologias de Pesquisa em Tradução, ed. by Adriana Silvina Pagano, 69–93. Belo Horizonte: Faculdade de Letras.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003b. “Tradução, Cognição e Contextualização: Triangulando a Interface Processo-Produto no Desempenho de Tradutores Novatos.” DELTA 191: 71–108. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. “Ritmo cognitivo, Metarreflexão e Experiência: Parâmetros de Análise Processual no Desempenho de Tradutores Novatos e Experientes.” In Competência em Tradução: Cognição e Discurso, ed. by Adriana Pagano, Célia Magalhães, and Fabio Alves, 109–153. Belo Horizonte: Editora da UFMG.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alves, Fabio, and José Luiz Gonçalves. 2003. “A Relevance Theory Approach to the Investigation of Inferential Processes in Translation.” In Triangulating Translation. Perspectives in Process Oriented Research, ed. by Fabio Alves, 3–24. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. “Modelling Translator’s Competence: Relevance and Expertise Under Scrutiny.” In Translation Studies: Doubts and Directions. Selected Papers from the IV Congress of the European Society for Translation Studies, ed. by Yves Gambier, Miriam Shlesinger, and Radegundis Stolze, 41–55. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Buchweitz, Augusto, and Fabio Alves. 2006. “Cognitive Adaptation in Translation: An Interface between Language Direction, Time, and Recursiveness in Target Text Production.” Letras de Hoje 411: 241–272.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Campbell, Stuart. 1998. Translation into the Second Language. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferreira, Aline. 2012. “Investigando o Processamento Cognitivo de Tradutores Profissionais em Tradução Direta e Inversa no Par Linguístico Inglês-Português.” Cadernos de Tradução 11: 73–92. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. Direcionalidade em Tradução: O Papel da Subcompetência Bilíngue em Tarefas de Tradução L1 e L2. Ph.D. dissertation, Federal University of Minas Gerais.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flower, Linda, and John Hayes. 1981. “A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing.” College Composition and Communication 321: 365–387. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jakobsen, Arnt Lykke. 1999. “Logging Target Text Production with Translog.” In Probing the Process in Translation: Methods and Results, ed. by Gyde Hansen, 9–20. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. “Translation Drafting by Professional Translators and by Translation Students.” In Empirical Translation Studies: Process and Product, ed. by Gyde Hansen, 191–204. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003. “Effects of Think Aloud on Translation Speed, Revision, and Segmentation.” In Triangulating Translation. Perspectives in Process Oriented Research, ed. by Fabio Alves, 69–96. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. “Investigating Expert Translators’ Processing Knowledge.” In Knowledge Systems and Translations, ed. by Helle V. Dam, Jan Engberg, and Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast, 173–189. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jakobsen, Arnt Lykke, and Lasse Schou. 1999. “Translog Documentation.” In Probing the Process in Translation. Methods and Results, ed. by Gyde Hansen, Appendix, 1–36. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kelly, Dorothy. 2003. “La Traducción Inversa en la Bibliografía de la Traductología.” In La direccionalidad en Traducción e Interpretación. Perspectivas Teóricas, Profesionales y Didácticas, ed. by Dorothy Kelly, Anne Martin, Marie-Louise Nobs, Dolores Sánchez, and Catherine Way. Granada: Editorial Atrio.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kroll, Judith, and Erika Stewart. 1994. “Category Interference in Translation and Picture Naming: Evidence for Asymmetric Connections between Bilingual Memory Representations.” Journal of Memory and Language 331: 149–174. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Livbjerg, Inge, and Inger Mees. 2003. “Patterns of Dictionary Use in Non-Domain-Specific Translation.” In Triangulating Translation. Perspectives in Process Oriented Research, ed. by Fabio Alves, 123–135. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lorenzo, María Pilar. 2002. “¿Es Posible la Traducción Inversa? Resultados de un Experimento sobre Traducción Profesional a una Lengua Extranjera.” In Empirical Translation Studies: Process and Product, ed. by Gyde Hansen, 85–124. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McAlester, Gerard. 1992. “Teaching Translation into a Foreign Language--Status, Scope and Aims.” In Teaching Translation and Interpreting, ed. by Cay Dollerup, and Anne Loddegaard, 291–297. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Newmark, Peter. 1988. A Textbook of Translation. New York: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
PACTE Group. 2011. “Results of the Validation of the PACTE Translation Competence Model: Translation Project and Dynamic Translation Index.” In Cognitive Explorations of Translation, ed. by Sharon O’Brien, 30–56. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pavlović, Nataša. 2007. Directionality in Collaborative Translation Processes. Ph.D. dissertation, Universitat Rovira i Virgili.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. “What Were They Thinking?! Students’ Decision Making in L1 and L2 Translation Processes.” Hermes. Journal of Language and Communication Studies 441: 63–87.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwieter, John W., and Aline Ferreira. 2013. “Language Selection, Control, and Conceptual-Lexical Development in Bilinguals and Multilinguals.” In Innovative Research and Practices in Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism, ed. by John W. Schwieter, 241–266. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Snell-Hornby, Mary. 1997. “Released from the Grip of Empire: Lingua Franca as Target Culture.” In La Palabra Vertida. Investigaciones en torno a la Traducción, ed. by Angel Vega, and Rafael Martín Gaitero, 45–56. Madrid: Universidad Complutense de Madrid.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taboada, Maite, and William C. Mann. 2006. “Rhetorical Structure Theory: Looking Back and Moving Ahead.” Discourse Studies 8 (3): 423–459. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (21)

Cited by 21 other publications

Chen, Shirong, Jia Feng, Michael Carl & Muhammad Zammad Aslam
2025. Exploring preparatory reading in bidirectional sight and written translation through clustering analysis of eye-tracking data. PLOS One 20:8 ► pp. e0329858 ff. DOI logo
Collischonn, Lúcia
2025. Literary Exophonic Translation, DOI logo
Han, Chao & Yueqing Wang
2025. Conducting replication in translation and interpreting studies. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 37:3 ► pp. 444 ff. DOI logo
Wang, Fuxiang, Qingli Xu & Vijayalakshmi Kakulapati
2025. Processing of translation units by student and semi-professional translators in translating texts with different levels of translation difficulty. PLOS ONE 20:4 ► pp. e0320809 ff. DOI logo
Qassem, Mutahar & Buthainah M. Al Thowaini
2024. Translation processes and products in L1-to-L2 and L2-to-L1 translations: Insights from keylogging data. Education and Information Technologies 29:16 ► pp. 21789 ff. DOI logo
Jia, Juan, Ziyu Wei, Heben Cheng & Xiaolu Wang
2023. Translation directionality and translator anxiety: Evidence from eye movements in L1-L2 translation. Frontiers in Psychology 14 DOI logo
Pietryga, Marcelina
2022. Perception of Directionality in Translation Among Students. Acta Neophilologica 1:XXIV ► pp. 87 ff. DOI logo
Liu, Xiaodong
2021. Cognitive Processing Routes in CI: Settings and Language Directions. In Cognitive Processing Routes in Consecutive Interpreting [New Frontiers in Translation Studies, ], ► pp. 117 ff. DOI logo
Stasimioti, Maria, Vilelmini Sosoni & Konstantinos Chatzitheodorou
2021. Investigating post-editing effort. Cognitive Linguistic Studies 8:2 ► pp. 378 ff. DOI logo
Whyatt, Bogusława & Nataša Pavlović
2021. Translating languages of low diffusion: current and future avenues. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 15:2 ► pp. 141 ff. DOI logo
Sekino, Kyoko
2019. Revisão das micro- e macrounidades de tradução na abordagem processual e pragmática da pesquisa de tradução. Domínios de Lingu at gem 13:2 ► pp. 743 ff. DOI logo
Su, Wenchao & Defeng Li
2019. Identifying translation problems in English-Chinese sight translation. Translation and Interpreting Studies 14:1 ► pp. 110 ff. DOI logo
Abdel Latif, Muhammad M. M.
2018. Towards a typology of pedagogy-oriented translation and interpreting research. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 12:3 ► pp. 322 ff. DOI logo
Ferreira, Aline, Alexandra Gottardo & John W. Schwieter
2018. Decision-making processes in direct and inverse translation through retrospective protocols. Translation, Cognition & Behavior 1:1 ► pp. 98 ff. DOI logo
Ferreira, Aline & John W. Schwieter
2017. Directionality in Translation. In The Handbook of Translation and Cognition, ► pp. 90 ff. DOI logo
Lourenço da Silva, Igor A., Fabio Alves, Márcia Schmaltz, Adriana Pagano, Derek Wong, Lidia Chao, Ana Luísa V. Leal, Paulo Quaresma, Caio Garcia & Gabriel Eduardo da Silva
2017. Translation, post-editing and directionality. In Translation in Transition [Benjamins Translation Library, 133], ► pp. 107 ff. DOI logo
Schwieter, John W. & Aline Ferreira
2017. Bilingualism in Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies. In The Handbook of Translation and Cognition, ► pp. 144 ff. DOI logo
Whyatt, Bogusława, Katarzyna Stachowiak & Marta Kajzer-Wietrzny
2016. Similar and different: cognitive rhythm and effort in translation and paraphrasing. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 52:2 DOI logo
Gumul, Ewa
1970. O metodzie badawczej zapożyczonej z psychologii, czyli jak zaprojektować i przeprowadzić badanie za pomocą metody protokołów retrospektywnych w tłumaczeniu symultanicznym. Między Oryginałem a Przekładem 27:4 (50) ► pp. 31 ff. DOI logo
Gumul, Ewa
2021. O metodzie badawczej zapożyczonej z psychologii, czyli jak zaprojektować i przeprowadzić badanie za pomocą metody protokołów retrospektywnych w tłumaczeniu symultanicznym. Między Oryginałem a Przekładem 26:4 (50) ► pp. 31 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2019. The Neurocognition of Translation and Interpreting [Benjamins Translation Library, 147], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 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.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue