A cognitive modelling of translation

Abstract This paper attempts to usher in a cognitive linguistic theory into (cognitive) translation studies and offers a theoretical model of translation from the construal perspective. In this construal-based theory, translators are modelled as construers which are featured by subjectivity, and meaning decoding and encoding in translation are equated with construal which is manifested at two levels. At the cognitive level, translators construe the source text whereas at the linguistic level the construal established by the translators is packaged in the target language. Translation process involves translators’ construal operations such as perspective, selection, prominence and dynamicity, and imagination. Since construal is situated in context, it is impossible to recreate the construals of the source text author but optimal construal can be envisioned if the situated contexts for the source text author(s) as well as that for the target text are best accommodated.