ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the concept of chunking, shows how chunking can access frames, gives examples of chunking up, sideways and down, gives practical examples of chunking in translation: to establish text function; for culture-bound lexis, behaviour and orientation. It discusses the mediator's translation/interpretation tasks according to logical level. In terms of language and translation, cultural interpreters need to be able to chunk up and down to establish the wider and narrower frames of reference of the source text. Lateral Chunking is particularly useful for cultural mediation, and provides the type of mental gymnastics or mind shifting required to change cultural frame. In chunking sideways, the mediator is looking for alternatives that can more readily access SC frames. Through chunking, the translator can decide whether to produce a more TC-oriented or SC-oriented translation. One area where machine translation is used successfully is for the translation of explicit or restricted language texts, such as legal contracts and weather bulletins.
