Didactics of Translation: Text in Context

A controlled processing centre:

The controlled processing centre is the area where translation problems are processed consciously following the failure of the intuitive workspace to perform spontaneous associations.
Thus, according to Kiraly (1995: 100), a translation is the result of “the interaction of intuitive and controlled processes using linguistic and extralinguistic information”. More specifically, the intuitive workspace is first the site of combinations between long-term memory information on the one hand and source text input and external input on the other, leading to the emergence of two types of results: “tentative translation elements and translation problems”. The first are unmonitored products of spontaneous associations” which can either go through the controlled processing centre or simply “bypass” it. If they go through the controlled processing unit, then these tentative translations receive two types of monitoring: target language monitoring concerning “syntactic fit” and “semantic accuracy” and textual monitoring with regard to features of target text organization.
As for translation problems, which appear as a result of the failure of the intuitive workspace to produce tentative translation solutions, they are dealt with in the controlled processing centre and specific translation strategies are invoked to tackle these problems. However, if the strategy does not succeed in solving the translation problem, the latter, Kiraly suggests, may be “sent back to the intuitive workspace with information not previously taken into account (e.g. as the result of the subsequent application of a rereading strategy) (Kiraly 1995: 10). Finally, a tentative translation could be either accepted if the intuitive workspace does not again yield the right solution, or this tentative solution may be abandoned and a new attempt at finding the adequate solution is started.
The following representation is an adaptation of Kiraly’s model and its components:

Figure 2: Kiraly’s Model of Translation Processes (adapted from Kiraly 1995)

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