In his seminal book, Gile (1995) suggests a stratificational translation process model, in which a translator iteratively reads a piece of the ST and then produces its translation. First the translator creates a “Meaning Hypothesis” for a ST chunk (ie a Translation Unit) which is consistent with the “context and the linguistic and extra linguistic knowledge of the translator”(p. 107) before the translation is produced. Similarly, Craciunescu et al.(2004) claim that “the first stage in human translation is complete comprehension of the source language text”. Only after this complete (ie deep) comprehension is achieved can the translation be produced. Also Angelone (2010) supports that translators process in cycles of comprehension-transfer-production and that “uncertainties” of translators can be attributed to any of the comprehension, transfer, or production phases. Some scholars challenge this view, stating that translation processes can also be based on a shallow understanding and that ST understanding and TT production can occur in parallel. According to Ruiz et al.(2008)“the translator engages in partial reformulation while reading for the purpose of translating the source text”. They assume that in parallel processing “code-to-code links between the SL and TL [are involved] at least the lexical and syntactic level of processing”. Similarly, Mossop (2003) claims the existence of “direct linkages in the mind between SL and TL lexicogrammatical material, independent of ‘meaning’”, and that a translator “automatically produces TL lexical and syntactic material based on the incoming SL forms”.

In a study comparing reading behaviour for different purposes, Jakobsen & Jensen (2008: 16) investigate (among other things) the difference between test persons reading a text for comprehension and reading a similar text in preparation for translating. Their study showed that reading purpose has a “clear effect on eye movements and gaze behaviour” and they suggest “that a fair amount of pre-translation probably enters into the reading of a text as soon as it is taken to be the source text for translation”.