Translation, echoes of the mind or a very deliberate act?: Analysing translation manipulation through the lens of psychology

Abstract

ABSTRACT Historically translation has been an essential force in the casting of socially dominant ideologies and the narratives they spawn. However, the cultural turn in translation studies unearthed the manner translation can be exploited by ideological forces, and thus illustrated its manipulative capability. Drawing from previous works, this article presents various instances of translation manipulation, but to account for these the focus is shifted from external ideological power to the internal cognitive process. This involves presenting findings from a translation comprehension experiment and a discussion on the ambiguity of language and how it is alleviated through the reliance of subjective beliefs. Accordingly, theories from psychology such as schema theory and gestalt theory, are employed to explore the interaction between beliefs, cognition and translation. From this discussion a hypothesis is synthesised that asserts there is a component of the cognitive process, the ‘cognitive loop’, that habitually exploits the ambiguity of language to produce meanings that cohere with existing beliefs. Within this paradigm it is argued that in addition to external forces such as ideological power, facets of the cognitive process should also be considered when accounting for what appears to be the ideological manipulation of translation.