Die Übersetzung des Romans "La Tesis de Nancy" (1962) von Ramón J. Sender ins Deutscheeine Kognitiv-funktionale Untersuchung der mentales Prozesse und der Verarbeitung von Information während der Recherchephase illustriert an einigen Beisplielen im Rahmen einer literarischen Übersetzung

Resumen

The present dissertation is based on the hypothesis that a professional translator not only should have a profound knowledge of the languages and cultures involved in the translation process, but that he/she should also know and be aware of the mental and cognitive processes that play an important role in translation. The investigations of this dissertation are based on interdisciplinary approaches of the field of translation studies, especially of functionalism. Furthermore, a theoretical frame based in cognitive linguistics serves as a basis for the translator’s self-reflection of the process. The results of the introspection of the mental processes in literary translation are derived from a qualitative analysis, which is carried out in a dimension that can hardly be empirically measured or quantified. In order to provide insight into the cognitive processing of information, some translation problems and strategies that have taken place during the translation of the novel La Tesis de Nancy (1962) will be justified and analysed. The consideration of different literary translation norms enables the translator to maintain the function of a certain text and to translate it in the interest of the prospective readership, without neglecting the connection of a text to its original culture. The human being constantly perceives a multitude of impressions which operate as mental impulses and which activate parts of the long-term memory to facilitate the understanding of new information. The meaning of words is created through the interpretation and understanding of the speaker, who uses them in a certain context to express his/her knowledge about the world, integrated in his/her consciousness and also embedded in a certain sociocultural context. According to the scenes-and-frames semantics theory by FILLMORE (1977), the meaning of words has a prototypical and experiential character. It is determined by the communicative situation and the context. Another fundamental cognitive tool is categorization. This innate cognitive competence is essential to understand new perceptions through stored knowledge and by classifying information according to shared characteristics. LAKOFF (1987) describes that human knowledge is organized through idealized cognitive models (ICM). These cognitive structures organize and store human experience. They are specific models that represent the human reality of a cultural or linguistic community. Starting from a cognitive approach about the modelling of human thought and language, the theory of mental spaces by FAUCONNIER and TURNER (2002) is based on the idea that the understanding of new information and the creation of meaning involve the development of mental spaces and their combination through conceptual blending. Apart from the development of mental spaces, the metaphorical thinking plays an important role in the creation of meaning and in the understanding of reality. A professional translator has to consider that an awareness of such processes can be an inspirational source for a creative and functional translation.