On Inconsistencies and Strategies, or How to Translate the Unnatural Naturally

Abstract

This article highlights the results of an experimental study dedicated to analysing the concept of translation naturalness in terms of the processoriented paradigm of Translation Studies. The multidisciplinary nature of modern Translation Studies is revealed through applying methods, concepts, and theories of different areas of knowledge in regard to different translation-related phenomena as well as translation itself. Experimental methods devised by cognitive psychology for exposing the mechanisms of decision-making in complex processes have proven their validity in translatology for the last thirty years. The aim of the study is to investigate the translators’ decisions intended to make their output look more natural. Our hypothesis is that such decisions are in particular motivated by aspiration to eliminate different types of inconsistencies that can potentially result in unnaturalness in the target text. To verify this hypothesis, we developed and conducted an introspective experiment based on the think-aloud methodology. The material for the study was taken from Terry Pratchett’s novel A Hat Full of Sky, within which we singled out three control elements characterised by structural, semantic or stylistic inconsistency. The analysis of the TAPs of ten semi-professional subjects demonstrated that they did not always successfully identify the inconsistencies in the control elements, but when they did, their reaction was to apply strategies aimed at eliminating them and therefore enhancing the target text naturalness.