A Study Of The Cognitive Process Of Sentence Translation By Verbal Reports And Observation

This thesis is a study of the cognitive process of sentence translation. The theoretical basis for the study draws from cognitive and linguistic conceptions of translation as a process. This is a qualitative study with data collected using think aloud protocols (TAPs), introspection, retrospection and observation. The translators' translation strategies and especially their thinking at various stages are the major concerns of the investigation. The findings are as follows: 1. As soon as the translator uses his visual recognition system to build a linear sentence, the sentence will move down to the translator's FLS and FSS, which functions as sifters. 2. It is important to analyze out "participants", "process" and "relations among them" by semantic analyzer. 3. Pragmatic analysis is sometimes conscious and sometimes unconscious. 4. During the synthesis stage, translators tend to retain products synthesized from synthesis stage same in meaning, structure and style as the products analyzed from analyzer, which is the default way. However if he was not satisfied with the tentative products, he would send them back to syntactic analyzer or semantic analyzer to process them again. 5. Relative to synthesis, analysis is supposed to be the starting point. However, translators sometimes go back and forth between the analysis stage and the synthesis stage several times during their translation. The translation process can be proven to be not linear but integrated. 6. There are some translation strategies that can be seen in the translation process: "Sifter" strategy, Guess strategy, Combining encyclopedic knowledge strategy, Choosing-and-evaluating strategy, Association strategy and Planner-and-idea-organizer strategy. 7. Professional translators pay more attention to the meaning, content and style rather than to structure. 8. Professional translators go back and forth between analysis and synthesis more frequently and use planner, idea organizer, and choosing-and-evaluating mechanism more frequently. The findings have the potential to contribute to the professional development of translators.