The Role of Bilingualism in Translation Activity
by Burce Kaya Introduction hroughout the world, translation is an everyday activity for many bilingual children. This fact inevitably raises a question in one's mind: Can every bilingual become a translator? In order to find an answer to this question, first the definitions of particular terms has to be made clear. The concept of bilingualism is a field of study in psychology and particularly in psycholinguistics, and different scholars attribute different roles to bilingualism in the general theory of translation. The way bilingual people interpret words is different from the dictionary translations of the same words. The aim of this paper is to attempt to examine the role of bilingualism in translation activity in a psychological framework. The innateness of translating skills will be questioned with the help of examples from various case studies conducted on bilinguals. The main terms such as 'natural translation, social bilingual, professional bilingual, nativ...