Cognitive aspects of compound translation: Insights into the relation between implicitation and cognitive effort from a translation process perspective

Abstract

In this paper we analyse translation of compounds from English to German relating our observations to the phenomenon of implicitation, explicitation and structural equivalence using translation process data from the CRITT translation process research database (TPR-DB). We look into complex nominal phrases, e.g. nominal compounds in English-German translations. We determine a number of product and process features that have an impact on cognitive effort during compound translation. Our results show that in most cases translators opt for the structural equivalent, and that choosing a direct equivalent requires less cognitive effort than choosing an implicitation. This is explained by the fact that direct equivalents can be easily activated whereas changing the structure and using a more implicit, less typical translation requires more effort, which in turn leads to longer production pauses.