The impact of verbal working memory on written translation: Empirical evidence and an initial model

Jie Li

doi:10.52034/lanstts.v19i0.558

Abstract

Working memory refers to a metaphorical mental workspace involved in the temporary storage and processing of information which has been considered a key construct in Cognitive Translation Studies. This study investigates whether verbal working memory in the translator’s first and/or second language is related to written translation speed and quality. Through three selection tests, 33 student translators in the second or third year of their Master’s in Translation and Interpreting at nine Chinese universities were selected to participate. In the first test, processing and storage capacities of verbal working memory in their first and second language were assessed separately by means of a dual-task paradigm implemented in the e-Prime software suite. In the second study, participants translated a technical text from their second language to their first language. Their behavioural data were collected with a keylogger and the quality of their translations was evaluated by four expert translators. The correlation analysis suggests that the processing function of verbal working memory in the second language does affect logged translation speed; and that the processing function of verbal working memory in the first language has an effect on translation quality. Furthermore, through regression analysis, an initial model was established, which shows the precise structure of the impact of bilingual working memory on written translation. These findings have significant implications for translation skills training. It appears that additional verbal working memory training for both first and second languages would enhance the students’ translation skills.

Highlights

“Our memory is a more perfect world than the universe: it gives back life to those who no longer exist.” Guy De Maupassant
As a cognitive system (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974), it metaphorically refers to a mental workspace or a piece of mental jotting paper, with two separate functions: first, a temporary storage function analogous to short-term memory and, second, an information-processing function that controls the flow of information between the short-term storage systems and long-term memory (LTM) (e.g., Baddeley, 1986, 2003; Cowan, 1988; Juffs & Harrington, 2011)
In tests 1 and 2, the response-time and correctness of the visual judgement performance were automatically recorded by e-Prime, whereas we manually recorded the correctness of the verbal-recall task and calculated the specific working memory (WM)-storage span of the participants according to the following formula (let n represent the block number; n + 1, the latest round in this block; and a the error counters in this block): storage span

Summary

Introduction

“Our memory is a more perfect world than the universe: it gives back life to those who no longer exist.” Guy De Maupassant. In order to solve an arithmetic problem such as (4 × 2) − (5 × 3) in our head, without writing it on paper, or to read a text and summarize it without taking notes, or to follow what the professor says until the end in a hard class, we need a kind of memory that helps us to retain ideas and thoughts as we work on them. This type of memory is called working memory (WM). Following the task-switching model by Towse et al (2001), WM performance may be associated with difficulty in task-switching from storing information to processing it

Methods

Results

Conclusion