Natural translators and trainee translators in the context of societal bilingualism

This doctoral thesis is an investigation into the process of translation performed by “natural” translators in comparison to MA Translation Studies students, hereon after will be termed trainee translators. “natural” translators were defined following Harris and Sherwood understanding of “natural” translation as: “the translation done in everyday circumstances by people who have had no special training for it” (1978: 155). The research examines bilinguality and diglossia in the context of Kuwait and how these two factors influence the translation process. The research examines the participants’ working units as well as the most commonly used strategies in the translation of culture-specific items and in the translation of English passive voice into Arabic. The study also explores the cohorts’ perceptions of translation and of the role of the translator drawing from Tymoczko’s call to look beyond Western conceptualisations of translation. The study uses think-aloud protocols (TAPs) to monitor and understand the process of translation. Different levels of working translation units were identified among the cohorts which further highlights the importance of translator training. Trainee translators worked on larger segments, mixing different levels of translation units. On the other hand, natural translators worked primarily on smaller units, although some worked on larger units. In terms of strategies, the research explores how time restrictions and the observational method might influence the strategies applied in a translation task. In terms of strategies there were general similarities in the types used, trainee participants and “natural” participants used global and local strategies to complete the task within the time frame. The participants were observed to advocate for an active role of the translator in some instances, however, the authority of the text was also an important aspect that was taken into consideration during the task. This project aims to contribute to existing literature in process-oriented research by comparing the process of translation with that of “natural” translators to academically instructed translators. This research also sets out to make an empirical contribution to the research in translation from English to Arabic