Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12 (1), 2019, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2019 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Social Psychological and Personality Science page: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/SPP on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - (Not) Lost in Translation
T2 - Psychological Adaptation Occurs During Speech Translation
AU - Meier, Tabea
AU - Boyd, Ryan
AU - Mehl, Matthias R.
AU - Milek, Anne
AU - Pennebaker, James W.
AU - Martin, Mike
AU - Wolf, Markus
AU - Horn, Andrea B.
N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12 (1), 2019, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2019 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Social Psychological and Personality Science page: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/SPP on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - While language style is considered to be automatic and relatively stable, its plasticity has not yet been studied in translations that require the translator to “step into the shoes of another person”. In the present study, we propose a psychological model of language adaptation in translations. Focusing on an established inter-individual difference marker of language style, i.e., gender, we examined whether translators assimilate to the original gendered style or implicitly project their own gendered language style. In a pre-registered study, we investigated gender differences in language use in TED Talks (N = 1,647), and their translations (N = 544) in same- versus opposite-gender speaker/translator dyads. The results showed that translators assimilated to gendered language styles even when in mismatch to their own gender. This challenges predominating views on language style as fixed and fosters a more dynamic view of language style as also being shaped by social context.
AB - While language style is considered to be automatic and relatively stable, its plasticity has not yet been studied in translations that require the translator to “step into the shoes of another person”. In the present study, we propose a psychological model of language adaptation in translations. Focusing on an established inter-individual difference marker of language style, i.e., gender, we examined whether translators assimilate to the original gendered style or implicitly project their own gendered language style. In a pre-registered study, we investigated gender differences in language use in TED Talks (N = 1,647), and their translations (N = 544) in same- versus opposite-gender speaker/translator dyads. The results showed that translators assimilated to gendered language styles even when in mismatch to their own gender. This challenges predominating views on language style as fixed and fosters a more dynamic view of language style as also being shaped by social context.
U2 - 10.1177/1948550619899258
DO - 10.1177/1948550619899258
M3 - Journal article
VL - 12
SP - 131
EP - 142
JO - Social Psychological and Personality Science
JF - Social Psychological and Personality Science
SN - 1948-5506
IS - 1
ER -