Mental Simulation and Translation: An Analysis of the Cognitive Motivations in the English Translations of 天淨沙•秋思

Abstract

This research features the argument that the essence of translation is embodied simulation, which is powered by mirror neurons in the human brain. Through a renewed and detailed analysis of the two contrastive English translations of a well-known Chinese poem 天淨沙•秋思, it is argued that the embodied simulation principles can persuasively govern the mental operations in translation. On the one hand, a translator derives the mental simulation from the source language and culture, and such simulation is conditioned by numerous influencing factors, such as his linguistic competence in the source language and his overall knowledge of the source culture, both of which are individualized by one’s life experiences. On the other hand, the translator represents or restores the simulations he has constructed from the source language in the target language and culture. The representation process and the final products, in turn, are constrained by the translator’s conditions. Since translators’ background conditions differ, the simulation that each of them makes then varies accordingly, resulting in diverse renditions of the same source language text.

Keywords

Cognition / embodiment / embodied simulation / mirror neurons / metaphor / metonymy / priming / affordance / Chinese/English translation

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