Voyutskaya Alexandra A.

This article is an attempt to view translation as a decision-making process based on the concepts, categories and methods of the decision-making theory. The article presents the results of the experiment which made it possible to add new types of translation decisions and steps to existing ones as well as to analyze the notions of translation strategy and translation unit which are considered to be issues common to translation research.

This article is an analysis of the decision­making mechanisms in translation based on the criteria of acceptability and preference . The article considers a variety of approaches to decision­making, which is determined by both objective parameters and an interpreter’s perception of the main components of translation as a complex system .

This article is about decision-making in translation. The author makes an attempt to apply the dual processes theory, developed by D. Kahneman, to describing decision-making in translation. The experiment conducted within the framework of our research made it possible to draw conclusions about different types of thinking peculiar to different types of translation decisions, as well as about the levels at which these decisions are made.

Any human activity takes place within the context of limitations. Any translator, being a decision-maker, faces a constant challenge to overcome external (contextual) and internal (personal) limitations. Differences observed in translators’ decision-making behaviour under limitations are manifested in the time spent to make a decision, in the number of decision-making stages, etc. These differences come from both the translator’s personality characteristics and the degree of his or her awareness while acting under limitations. An unconscious approach to translation activity leads to increasing eff orts or to decision-making errors and, as a consequence, to a lower quality of translation. The translator’s task is therefore to be able to recognise external and internal factors limiting the decision-making process, and to choose an optimal strategy in each translation situation.

This report presents the results of an experimental study of translation as decision-making, obtained by the method of written verbalisation of the translation process. The types of limitations revealed in this study and the frequent errors coming from an unconscious approach to translation activity allowed us to come to conclusions that may contribute to improving translation didactics and, in general, to expanding the translator’s potential to achieve the best result possible.