Conceptual mediation in translating alien sources

incl. ref.

In this paper, an attempt is made to link the deployment of translation strategies in the target text with the act of conceptual mediation at the cognitive level. Data are drawn from how alien sources are translated from and into Chinese. It is argued that conceptual mediation in terms of processing economy is related to how a strategy might be deployed. In this respect, source deletion is the most economical but its outcome the least desirable for translation. On the other hand, substitution is the least economical but could preserve both the imagery and underlying concept of the source. Trans-coding and paraphrasing stand in between, with the former preserving the imagery and the latter the underlying concept. The statistics from four translated texts is in agreement with this processing economy conceivable at the cognitive level.