“The trick was to find adequate words”: the effect of mood on translation

Psychological studies suggest that positive and negative affective states have clear differential impacts on daily tasks such as cognitive processing, problem solving and decision-making. Despite its potential relevance for translation performance, the role of mood on translator behaviour has not yet been fully explored. This article aims to shed light on the impact of translators’ moods on their final translation products by reporting on a case study. Six student translators were asked to complete a short translation from French into English following a mood induction procedure. Results from the study indicate that less extreme moods may be conducive to a more successful translation performance, and that contrasting mood states foster the use of different translation processing styles. Implications for translator training are discussed