10 The Linguist Vol/58 No/2 2019
ciol.org.uk/tl
ALL IN THE MIND
A patient is prepared
for an EEG, the oldest
functional brain imaging
technique, which
provides real-time
measurements of
brain activity
What cutting-edge developments in cognitive neuroscience
reveal about the translating brain. By Binghan Zheng
In this increasingly globalised world, language mediation
has become widespread – from daily communication and
business negotiation to international affairs. Over the past
three decades, researchers have undertaken in-depth
investigation into the cognitive process of translation by
applying methods such as keystroke logging and eye-
tracking in order to address a key question: 'What goes
on in the translator's mind?' This has greatly contributed
to our understanding of the behavioural and cognitive
processes of translation. However, the core question
regarding the neurobiological mechanisms underlying
the complex mental processes involved has remained
one of the chief 'known unknowns' in Translation Studies.
Translation scholars and neurolinguists share an
increasing interest in the interface between the cognitive
process and neurophysiological evidence, which has
been primarily supported by the development of
powerful neuroimaging technologies such as EEG, PET
and fMRI (for details, see glossary on page 12).
It is the general view of neurolinguistic researchers that
for most right-handed individuals, the left hemisphere of
the brain controls the functions relating to grammar,
vocabulary and literal meaning. The two major areas
associated with language comprehension and speech
production (Broca's area and Wernicke's area) are also
located in the left hemisphere. Confirming this, recent
research has found that translation routes are strongly left-
lateralised, and this is supported by empirical evidence
that damage to this language-dominant hemisphere
leads to severe dysfunction in translation tasks.
Forward vs backward translation
Translation directionality studies look into the differences
between forward translation (from L1 into L2) and
backward translation (from L2 into L1).
1
Since there has
been a 'golden rule' that forward translation should be
discouraged, researchers have created experimental
projects to test the evidence for this assertion. Kroll and
The translator's brain
