Subtle grammatical problems in translated texts: How can language acquisition research inform translator education?

摘要

This paper attempts to relate translation studies and the theory of language acquisition,two research areas that have traditionally developed separately, by looking at recentfindings on some grammatical properties of translated texts on the one hand, and theresults of acquisitional studies dealing with those same properties on the other. In additionto reviewing research on the long known phenomenon of pronoun overuse, it focuseson a less explored problem, namely the overuse of possessive adjectives, reporting preliminarydata from English to Serbian translations. Based on a comparison with theresults obtained in acquisitional studies of possessives, it is argued that the differentcases of patterning between translation and language acquisition, in particular secondlanguage acquisition and first language attrition, point to a similarity in the linguisticsystems of translators and language acquirers, or attriters, and speak in favour of closercollaboration between the fields. In particular, we suggest that such collaboration couldbe of benefit to future translators, whom the knowledge of language acquisition theorycould help become more aware of the domains of grammar that are particularly problematic.