Translator's Unconscious: Psychoanalytic Study of Translation

Abstract

This paper aims to suggest an answer to one of the questions in the field of Translation
Studies, i.e. one of the root causes of the professional translators’ erroneous renderings. By
drawing on Freudian psychoanalysis, this paper suggests that one of the root causes of the
erroneous renderings in the work of any accomplished translator is the unwitting exposition of
his or her unconsciousness. This paper, in four consecutive sections, tries to show how this
understanding is reached and what implications it can have for the field of Translation Studies in
general. In doing so, the first section draws on the theoretical framework of Freud's school of
thought. The second applies the same theoretical framework to expose the influence of
unconsciousness in the Persian translation of the Iran nuclear agreements. The third part
interprets Freud's tripartite model in the translational terms. And finally, the fourth recapitulates
the whole paper and equips the reader with some insights from the psychoanalytic study.