PSYCHOLINGUISTIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF MOBILITY OF TRANSLATOR’S LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE

Introduction. Translator’s linguistic knowledge operates under conditions which are different from ordinary language use, i.e., under increased psychological and cognitive load. For this reason, it should possess some professionally oriented characteristics which will ensure its effective functioning in the translation process. One of such characteristics is the mobility of translator’s linguistic knowledge. Aim of the paper is to identify and analyse factors which influence the degree of mobility of translator’s linguistic knowledge and to give some recommendations as to what approaches and activities can be used to increase it when teaching foreign languages to trainee translators. Material and methods. The material of the research included theoretical and practical works of national and foreign researchers in the field of translation studies, bilingual lexicon, code-switching, foreign language teaching. The following theoretical and empirical methods were used: analysis of scientific and methodological literature, generalization of experience, analysis and synthesis, comparison, modeling, extrapolation, analysis of pedagogical experience. Results and discussion. Based on the analysis of literature the following factors influencing the degree of mobility of translator’s linguistic knowledge have been identified: 1) the type of lexical representations in the bilingual lexicon (word association vs concept mediation); 2) the type of connections between languages and the conceptual store in the bilingual lexicon, and more specifically, the degree of independence of a foreign language and the existence of a direct connection between this language and the conceptual store; 3) conditions required for the creation and functioning of interlingual connections (connections within one vs across different subject areas, connections between semantic systems in a foreign and native language,); 4) psychological readiness for using linguistic means determined by the task. The following approaches and activities can contribute to increasing the degree of mobility of linguistic knowledge: 1) specifically targeting words and phrases which cause mobility to decrease; 2) increasing the frequency of occurrence of newly and previously learnt vocabulary; 3) strengthening the connection between the foreign language and the conceptual store through varying contexts and types of activities (cognitive operations with vocabulary, information- gap tasks); 4) ensuring vocabulary practice within one or across multiple subject areas; 5) ensuring the use of vocabulary determined by the task and strengthening the connection from L1 to L2 (pushed output tasks). Conclusion. Bearing in mind the factors which affect mobility of linguistic knowledge and using appropriate activities, it is possible to create preconditions for prompt functioning of translator’s linguistic knowledge in the translation process.

language teaching for translation, mobility of linguistic knowledge, bilingual lexicon, code-switching