Bridging Language Acquisition and Translation Competence: A Cognitive-Engineering Framework for Translation Pedagogy

Abstract

This article proposes a cognitive-engineering framework for rethinking the persistent pedagogical gap between foreign language teaching and translation competence development in university-level translation programmes. Drawing on questionnaire survey data and theoretical analysis, the study investigates the structural causes of the langue–traduction dichotomy and reinterprets the four-dimensional Language–Discourse–Culture–Translation model through the cognitive architecture of Thinking Engineering, particularly its tripartite memory-space system and emotion-driven thinking mechanism. The findings suggest that the separation between language instruction and translation training reflects a cognitive imbalance in which explicit linguistic knowledge is prioritised over contextualised experiential knowledge and abstract cultural-model construction. The data further indicate that professional, procedural, and strategic knowledge are more strongly associated with translation competence development than declarative language knowledge alone. Based on these findings, the study proposes an integrated LDCT–cognitive-engineering framework that reconceptualises translation competence as a process of progressive memory-space construction, inductive–deductive abstraction, and metacognitively regulated strategic development. The framework provides a theoretical basis for integrating foreign language teaching and translator training and offers practical implications for curriculum design, textbook evaluation, and AI-assisted translation education.