Chapter 2. The strange attractions of translation

Abstract

The complex-adaptive systems model is useful for understanding translational behavior and cognition in a way that unites our discipline with others (economics, biology, psychology) investigating complex, non-linear, dynamical, and adaptive systems. We can recast some conceptions of the development of translation expertise and the methods and strategies of translation pedagogy using the metalanguage and concepts of complexity theory. Donald Kiraly realized this earlier, and this article extrapolates upon his innovative work. In particular, we examine the role of boundary conditions and “strange attractors” in the systemic emergence of behavioral patterns such as Halverson’s “default translations.” We examine how introducing new attractors as “lever points” can disrupt student translational systems and cause them to shift and settle into more pedagogically desirable phase spaces.