A socio-cognitive approach to mistranslation: A case study of Chinese classical poetry

Abstract Using the socio-cognitive approach (SCA), this study examines mistranslations in English translations of Chinese classical poetry. First, this paper redefines the concept of mistranslation and classifies it into three types: formal, semantic, and cultural mistranslations. Next, this study introduces the socio-cognitive framework for mistranslation research, which incorporates social and individual traits in the translation process. Based on this framework, the paper argues that the fundamental cause of mistranslation originates from translators’ egocentrism, which manifests in three key aspects: miscomprehension of prior context, failure to construct common ground, and deviated prioritization of salience. This study helps to expand the intercultural pragmatics research paradigm and offers a new perspective for mistranslation studies.