Traduire l’argent : le rôle des compléments cognitifs dans la traduction littéraire

Abstract

The paper aims to emphasize that the use of cognitive complements during the translation process is essential. Based on the Interpretive Theory of Translation (ITT), this analysis sees translation as a cognitive approach. In the first instance, the author explores the presence of cognitive processes during the three phases of translation: comprehension, deverbalization, reformulation. Thereafter, the paper shows the difference between linguistic and extralinguistic elements that contribute to translation and stresses the importance of linguistic competencies and of the encyclopedic knowledge. Cognitive complements, understood as extralinguistic parameters, notional and affective, that contribute to understanding sense, help the translator carry the message not only from one language to another, but also from one cognitive world to another. In order to solve translation difficulties, the translator resorts to cognitive complements and adopts adequate strategies. When he/she wants to preserve the particularities of the source cognitive milieu, the translator uses literary translation or explicitations. On the contrary, when the translator intends to alleviate the specificities of the cognitive environment presented in the source text, he/she resorts to generalizing techniques or to adaptations. A case study is also included in the paper: the analysis of the way in which explicit and implicit references to money in an excerpt of the novel Eugenie Grandet by Balzac have been translated into English and Romanian. The analysis of the corpus shows that translation strategies should be chosen according to the knowledge that the translator shares with the target audience.