Thinking-for-translating of manner beyond the motion domain: An analysis of directionality and proficiency in Chinese–English and English–Chinese translation

Lin Shen
University of Cambridge

Typological influences on translating manner-of-motion have been extensively examined, but few studies have analyzed whether the ‘thinking-for-translating’ hypothesis extends to other semantic domains and how factors like directionality and proficiency interact with typology. Using Stosic’s (2020) framework for multi-domain manner analysis, this study, which draws on the Parallel Corpus of Chinese EFL Learners, analyzes a bidirectional corpus of 8008 target texts translating twenty-four manner verbs and adjuncts between Chinese (equipollently-framed) and English (satellite-framed) by learners with varying English proficiency. The results reveal that: (1) Directionality affects manner transfer, with higher manner verb transfer in Chinese-to-English translation and higher manner adjunct transfer in English-to-Chinese translation; (2) English proficiency influences manner transfer, though with small effect sizes; (3) the effects of proficiency on manner transfer differ by translation directionality. These findings expand the ‘thinking-for-translating’ hypothesis to more semantic domains and offer implications for considering directionality and typology in translation training.

Publication history

Date received: 17 December 2024

Date accepted: 26 October 2025

Published online: 7 November 2025

Table of contents

Talmy’s (1985, 2000) typology of motion events has been foundational in understanding how motion is differently conceptualized and verbalized across languages. His work identifies two typological categories: verb-framed (V-framed) and satellite-framed (S-framed) languages. V-framed languages, like Spanish, typically encode the path of motion in the verb and the manner outside the verb, while S-framed languages, such as English, express the path through particles or prepositions outside the verb and place emphasis on the manner of motion encoded in the verb (Talmy 1985). Slobin (2006) introduces the concept of equipollently-framed (E-framed) languages, adding another layer to Talmy’s system. E-framed languages, such as Chinese, encode both manner and path through equal serial verbs.

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