The Human Memory Activity and its Role in Translation فاطمة عليوي1

The aim of this research paper is to discuss the human memory activity and its role in translation. Translation, nowadays, is not regarded as a mere transfer of knowledge, scientific or literary, and a simple transference of human experiences from one language to another. In fact, it is a very complex process. Recent studies, chiefly those dealing with cognitive neurosciences, no longer focus -only- on translation methods and strategies, the effect of translation as a product on the receiver and studying the source text intellectual and aesthetic specificities. Rather, their focus is on the translator and the mental processes of translation, and their objective is to identify the translator's mental aptitudes to store information in short-term and long-term memory and the mechanisms for retrieving it in translation. Hence, the research question: How does a translator activate his memory and employ it in his task despite its inherent processes that will be apparent in the translation stages they will go through: understanding, analyzing and transferring? We will study these complex and consecutive mental processes that take place in the translator's brain, though inherent, in order to recognize the helping factors in translation and understand what contributes to the success or failure of a translation.