Mind your mind

Cognitive ergonomics can seem like such a blurry concept. This is not something that we are used to coming across, but you have already had a taste of what “ergonomics” is. Half the job is done, I will explain what’s left. Cognitive ergonomics focuses on cognitive functioning, which is the mental processes that are involved in information processing, such as attention, working memory, decision-making, and learning. These are overall present in jobs that imply learning and application of abstract knowledge. OSHWiki defines cognitive ergonomics as “the discipline of making human-system interaction compatible with human cognitive abilities and limitations, particularly at work.” In a nutshell, it studies how to facilitate your relationship with your work environment by matching your mental abilities, psychologically and behaviourally speaking.

As a future translator, you can undeniably use tips from cognitive ergonomics. Indeed, you will probably spend hours and hours behind your screen, sometimes alone, sometimes with colleagues. You can work from home or in an office – open spaces are trendy these days. The point is you will inevitably interact with computers, people and space. They need to be adapted to your (human) mental and cognitive abilities for you to work efficiently and keep well.

Mental Processes

Cognitive ergonomics considers that mental processing is impacted by your environment. It includes focus, learning and memory, among others.

You can think that you don’t need to focus to work well, but this is an unpopular opinion. Focus is important, and two things that are really cognitively demanding are switching between tasks and performing several tasks at once. Reduce these two actions as much as possible by working in a comprehensive environment (e.g., Trados) and by organising your time. Moreover, your mind has short-term limits. You need to have a reasonable number of elements to keep in mind in order to stay focused. You can use a lot of tools for that, but a good old notebook is perfect as an extension of your mind. Your focus time is also limited. You have to take breaks away from your screen and manage your time so you don’t need to work for 11 hours straight. The Pomodoro Technique allows you to work more efficiently. Poor and boring texts don’t help to focus and create stress, so try to avoid them whenever you can. If you can’t, fidget toys can help you stay focused by entertaining the little monkey in your head that always needs distraction.

There is a saying that goes “You never stop learning”. But you need to remember that learning takes time. Be patient, and try not to be too hard on yourself for that. Skills, knowledge and cognitive abilities are hard to acquire, and no one should blame you for that. Don’t hesitate to ask for feedback, that way you can learn faster, heading in the right direction from the start.

To learn, you need memory. This has limits too. According to Nelson Cowan, the capacity of working memory is about 4 items to remember at once. And without rehearsal, information fades from your working memory in less than 30 seconds. Remember your sticky notes, CAT tools with translation memories… Feel free to use external memory aid.

And above all, do not forget that all of these things are made more difficult by sleep deprivation, stress and time pressure.

Perception

Your physical perception is essential. Your environment has to be gentle with your senses. Make sure you choose the right size and contrast of text and the right lightning – for your screen and in your room. Avoid moving objects (or co-workers) and flashing lights, which will break your focus and tire you. Noise, especially when it contains speech fragments, will probably disturb you. You can use earplugs, music or a sea/forest/river/cat sound environment if it helps (no one will know your choice).

Phone notifications and co-workers can both be a source of disturbance and distraction. Make sure you turn off the unnecessary notifications and choose your co-workers wisely if possible, as you hear them, see them… and smell them.

Make sure you separate your work from your home. The line between business time and personal time can become blurred until you find yourself answering emails from your bed and having meetings over breakfast. An environment that provides a healthy work-life balance reduces stress by setting clear working hours and creating a boundary between your responsibilities at the office and the rest of your day.

All these measures can help you stay mentally healthy.

Emotions

But all of this also goes with a healthy emotional condition.

Stress, time pressure, or an unstable position at work (unliteral) can impact your emotions, and therefore your work. As a translator, your clients will not always know what it takes to perform a good translation. This is how you end up with no recognition of your work, poor respect and unrealistic deadlines from your clients.

Regarding your relationships at work, you need to be careful too. Co-workers can be tough to handle. You will need to act and talk with diplomacy, by reasoning with facts and not myths when dealing with disagreement. But otherwise, remember that they are also here to distract you, and help. Feel free to ask for advice or knowledge if you’re working with experts, make the most of it! If it doesn’t work, a good work/life balance also helps when you have bad relationships with them. But good relationships matter and they don’t necessarily occur at work! Social stimulation is important, so go out, walk, see your friends and your family. Isolating yourself is easy when working from home.

To sum it up, default cognitive functions have limits that can impact your work if your environment is not adapted to them. However, you can expand them by learning. For that, you have to make sure your work environment does not impair your mental processes. Perceptions and emotions are also very important in your work life. You need to see people, manage pressure and leave your work out of your personal life. All the tips I gave you are definitely easier said than done, but knowing all that, you’ll definitely have fun while translating. Good luck, and mind your mind!

Claire Dubonnet – M1 TSM 2021-2022