On Thinking In Translating

The international background of the general cultural exchange makes translation necessary in the society mainly based on communication. The traditional translation theories, however, are confined to the science and art of translation, which falls far behind today's translation practice. At heart, translation is a thinking activity and interlingual activity as well. From the perspective of theory, the research and construction of translation theories should begin with thinking. And from the perspective of translation practice, there is a need to discuss the relationship between translation and thinking in order to improve the translators'ability and promote translation teaching.In recent years, the development of the contemporary thinking science and the construction of the system of thinking in images, logical thinking and inspirational thinking serve as the prerequisite to the introduction of thinking in translation studies. Image, imagination and manifestation are the three specific forms of thinking in images. Links in the process of thinking in images, i.e. identification, creation and representation of image, correspond to the process of understanding and expression in translating.Logical thinking is another basic thinking type besides thinking in images. As for the translation subject, translation thinking is primarily logical thinking. By means of concept, judgment and inference, it represents the laws of the movement of objective things with the aim to find out the nature and the inner link of them. Therefore, to master the rules of logical thinking and employ those in translation practice are the basic skills of translators and the key element of a successful version.Inspirational thinking is one of the three basic thinking types discovered by human being at present. Inspiration is a kind of cognition and creation drawing supports from intuition and subconscious activity. The perfect version is hardly to be achieved without the sparkle of inspiration."Insight"in Gestalt theory has a close relationship with inspirational thinking.In the last chapter, the author ventures to put forward inertial thinking as an independent type to discuss according to her translation practice and teaching experience so as to make a tentative approach to it. Inertial thinking is a type of preparatory psychological mentality caused by former knowledge, experience and habits, and it will influence the trend, degree and mode of the following activity. A translator's inertial thinking comes from the influence of his mother tongue, this influence has a dual nature, on the one hand, it is positive, while on the other hand it is negative, it will make people dull and tend to commit mistranslation.In general, in translation practice, the four thinking types are comprehensive and tridimensional, mingled with each other, not separative and plane. Therefore, for a qualified translator, to improve his thinking ability is the need of intelligence and quality improvement; and for the teachers of translation, the training of thinking can not be ignored.