Traducción de textos generales y literarios inglés-español (Grado en Estudios Ingleses)

2º Cuatrimestre Junio 2019 Modelo A

- Se permite 1 diccionario (no electrónico)

Este examen consta de 2 preguntas teóricas y 3 traducciones, de las que habrá que elegir 1
pregunta teórica y 2 traducciones. Se trata, pues, de 2 secciones que se valorarán con: 2 puntos
máximo para la pregunta teórica y 4 por cada traducción (3 por la traducción y 1 por el
comentario sobre la traducción, relacionando las estrategias utilizadas con la teoría estudiada).
La pregunta de teoría habrá que contestarla correctamente en inglés en esta misma hoja y
es muy importante utilizar un castellano correcto en las traducciones (los comentarios también
se redactarán en inglés correcto).

Part A: Please answer one of the following questions.

1. How would you define Translation Studies?

2. Which are the main elements to bear in mind when you approach the translation of
drama?
[answer taken from the book- other possibilities, as long as they speak about main elements
to bear in mind and are well structured, as perfectly possible]
If the translation of prose has not received the required attention to this day as far as
systematic studies are concerned, drama translation seems to be even more neglected in
comparison with the translation of prose in academia. This is probably due to the complexity
of the task, that combines codes, modes and diverse sorts of participants that interact in the
production of the final TT; in theatre translation, the text is only one of the pieces of the
dramatic discourse, since many other systems (visual, auditory, gestural, etc.) and elements
(scenography, budget, historical context) come into play.
The main purpose of translating drama is most often to make the text susceptible of
successful performance in front of a target audience, producing a similar effect to that of the
original play; besides, the reception of this TT also differs from other translations (usually
directed to an individual reader) since the theatre audience introduces a public dimension.
This scenario also implies that drama translators cannot clarify any cultural reference or
linguistic ambiguity using footnotes nor signal any particular emphasis through punctuation
or stylistic marks (bold, italics, etc.).
Dramatic texts present a mixture of codes (linguistic and theatrical) and modes (visual and
acoustic). Provided that the linguistic code is written to be spoken and performed, the orality
of these texts needs to be highlighted at all times, and so the prosodic and paralinguistic
elements, conversational mechanisms, etc. are to be considered in the translation. The
definitory element of this type of translation is its performance on stage or ‘playability’, so
the resulting TT needs to involve a combination of oral and written characteristics.
 Part B: Please translate two of the following texts.

TEXT 1. Translate the following extract of an online article on parenting, paying special
attention to intra and extratextual elements to bear in mind when we consider translation as a
purposeful activity in your analysis.
[Source: https://www.handinhandparenting.org/]

How to set effective limits and help children cooperate

Like it or not, part of everyday life as a parent is Setting Limits with our child. We naturally want to
keep our kids safe, help them build respectful relationships and learn to take care of themselves. And
that means we need them to do things like stop snatching toys from a friend, wash their hair, and get
into the car seat. Knowing when and how to set effective limits can be a challenge.

The need for effective limits is real but hard

Despite the need for rules and boundaries, many of us feel at a loss or afraid we’re not sure how to
set effective limits with our children. This is totally understandable when we begin to consider
personal histories and our strong desire to raise our children well.

I’ve worked with many, many parents who were brought up with harshly set limits and listened to
the deep hurt that leaves. I’ve also worked with countless parents who had few or no limits as a child
and witnessed the pain and loneliness that comes from lack of guidance.

So, with shaky templates to draw on, we might find ourselves in power struggles trying to reason
with our kids, cajole and bribe them. Perhaps we become harsh and threatening, saying things we
later regret.

TEXT 2. Translate the following short excerpt from Different Seasons, by Stephen King,
focusing on lack of equivalence at different levels in the analysis of the translation process.

The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because
words diminish them — words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no
more than living size when they’re brought out. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? The most important
things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies
would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people
look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you’ve said at all, or why you thought it was so
important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That’s the worst, I think. When the secret
stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.

Las cosas más importantes son las más difíciles de decir. Son cosas de las que te avergüenzas,
porque las palabras las vuelven casi insignificantes. Porque lo que en tu cabeza parecía gigante se
reduce a una escala mundana cuando las palabras lo sacan a la luz. Pero hay algo más, ¿verdad? Las
cosas más importantes están demasiado próximas al lugar donde están enterrados tus secretos más
profundos, como señales indicando un tesoro que tus enemigos matarían por robar. Y quizás reveles
algo que te cueste mucho compartir, y solo encuentres miradas de extrañeza, porque la gente no es
capaz de entender lo que has dicho ni el hecho de que lo expresaras al borde del llanto. En realidad,
eso es lo peor: tener que guardar secretos no por no tener a nadie que te escuche, sino por no tener a
nadie que te entienda.
ANALYSIS

This is a short literary extract written in a simple but poetic language, addressed to an unknown
recipient. The register is neutral with simple sentences (from a grammatical perspective) that hide
complicated messages about human feelings and emotions.
In order to deal with lack of equivalence at different levels, a series of relevant translation choices
have been made. Some of the main decisions taken in this regard are presented below.
At word level, it should be highlighted the change of category performed in the word ‘secret’, from
adjective into noun, following a reinterpretation of the original message that may be more
understandable to the target language readers; consequently, ‘heart’ is omitted and modulated
through ‘más profundos’.
Regarding collocations, ‘in a funny way’ has been transformed into a different collocation taking
into account the surrounding lexical context, resulting into ‘miradas de extrañeza’. This involves a
neutralisation strategy that makes use of simplification or reduction.
At grammar level, one of the most significant changes has taken place in the last sentence, through a
necessary verbalisation of the original noun ‘want’ into ‘no tener’. Other changes are grammar level
are voice change (get ashamed of-de las que te avergüenzas) or the nominalisation with the
consequent expansion, modulation, and grammatical transposition of ‘diminish’ into ‘las vuelven
casi insignificantes’.
Finally, at textual level, there has been a sentence that has been reorganized so as to adapt the target
text to a more natural thematic structure, as well as to avoid repetition, to adapt punctuation, and to
maintain a more cohesive target text: ‘—words …brought out’. ‘Porque’ compensates for the
punctuation change, ‘lo’ avoids repetition of ‘the things’ and maintains cohesion and reference, and
there is a final necessary voice change (‘lo sacan a la luz’), that also helps to keep a correct
information structure as regards the following sentence.
All in all, this text has represented an example of a short extract that may look simple and short at
first sight, but that can present into a series of unexpected translation challenges of different sorts
that need to be solved in an interrelated manner.

TEXT 3. Translate the following poem by Langston Hughes: The Negro Speaks of Rivers
specially focusing on the figurative use of language in your analysis.

I’ve known rivers:

I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

He conocido ríos:
Ríos ancestrales como el mundo y más viejos que
la sangre que fluye por las venas humanas.

Mi alma se ha vuelto insoldable cual río.

Me bañé en el Eúfrates con el despertar de la juventud.

Construí mi cabaña cerca del Congo, y me dejé acunar.
Oteé el Nilo y erigí las pirámides más allá.
Escuché el canto del Mississipi cuando Lincoln
descendió a Nueva Orleans, y pude ver su pecho
de lodo volverse dorado al atardecer.

He conocido ríos:
Ancestrales y crepusculares ríos.

Mi alma se ha vuelto insoldable cual río.

ANALYSIS

This is a poem by Langston Hughes, an Afro-American poet known for his fight against racial
discrimination. The poem conveys the idea of the black people as having been here forever, just like
rivers. These rivers are personalized to stress the humanity of the black people from the start. This
message needs to be kept throughout the translation together with the figurative use of language,
adapted to the corresponding target language, Spanish.
In this poem, the free verse of the original has been maintained in the target text, trying to keep the
length of the sentences relatively similar. This has led to some simplifications, such as ‘Oteé el Nilo’,
the reduction of the anaphora (‘I’ve known rivers’), the omission of one ‘human’ in the third verse,
or nominalisations such as ‘juventud’.
In spite of the neutralisations mentioned above, all the personifications included in the original have
been maintained, provided that this element is one of the key aspects of the content and the spirit of
the poem: viejos, me dejé acunar, canto, pecho, etc.
Some changes regarding the final translation solutions have derived from the intention of
maintaining the evocative effect of the poem, even at the risk of altering relevant figures of speech
such as the aforementioned anaphora ‘I’ve known rivers’. An example would be ‘cual río’: this
solution alters the message (modulation) but keeps the evocative effect that probably an alternative
solution such as ‘como los ríos’ would have unidermined.
Finally, it must be noted that to keep naturalness and aesthetic beauty, so that the translated poem
may convey similar feelings to those stemming from the source text, a change of tense has been
made at grammar level in all verbal forms except the main one (‘I’ve known rivers’) and the repeated
verse (‘My soul….rivers’). All the others with a past reference have been transposed into simple
past, to account for the sequence of past events that the author is conveying and so as to keep the
reading in Spanish more fluent.