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.

摘要

从历史上看，翻译一直是铸造社会主导意识形态及其产生的叙事的重要力量。然而，翻译研究的文化转向揭示了意识形态力量可以利用翻译的方式，从而说明了其操纵能力。借鉴以前的著作，本文介绍了翻译操作的各种实例，但为解决这些问题，重点从外部意识形态力量转向内部认知过程。这涉及提出翻译理解实验的发现，并讨论语言的歧义性以及如何依靠主观信念来缓解歧义。因此，采用心理学理论（例如图式理论和格式塔理论）来探索信念之间的相互作用，认知和翻译。从这个讨论中可以得出一个假设，该假设断言认知过程中存在一个组成部分，即“认知回路”，它习惯性地利用语言的歧义来产生与现有信念相融合的含义。在这种范式中，有人认为，除了诸如意识形态力量之类的外力之外，在解释似乎是意识形态对翻译的操纵时，还应考虑认知过程的各个方面。