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Course Code SN1400 Candidate Number 2106715

Module Title SN1400 Spanish Submission Date 10/02/2021

Language:
Culture and
Translation

Coursework Tutor Camilo Chiappe Word Count 1.891

Bejar

Coursework Title Spanish

Language:
Culture and
Translation

Referencing System

Bibliography included? (Highlight as relevant) Yes No

Please note: the School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures has a policy of online marking.
You will be able to access your feedback via Moodle.

Homework 1

‘Procrastinar puede ser bueno’

El País Semanal, 3 octubre 2018

Que levante la mano quien no aplaza de vez en cuando tareas desagradables,

difíciles o aburridas mientras dedica el tiempo a otras menos “importantes”.

Procrastinar, un verbo que se ha puesto de moda en los últimos años y que se refiere

a “dejar para mañana lo que se podría hacer hoy”, es básicamente el nombre que

damos a un tipo de conducta de elección. Hablamos de procrastinación cuando alguien

opta por hacer aquello que resulta más gratificante o menos aversivo y retrasa otras

tareas más fastidiosas.

Aunque algunos autores pretenden diferenciar la procrastinación de la pereza —

procurando probablemente no poner a la defensiva a sus lectores—, lo cierto es que

hablamos de lo mismo: una negligencia o descuido en las cosas que estamos

obligados a hacer. El procrastinador o perezoso no cumple sus tareas, ve mermada su

productividad y en última instancia deja de ser un “ciudadano útil” y un “ser humano

efectivo”, como nos explica John Perry, profesor de filosofía en Stanford y creador de

uno de tantos métodos contra este mal. […]

Los estudios sobre la procrastinación se caracterizan por abordar el fenómeno en

relación con características personales del individuo y buscan establecer qué tienen en

común las personas que aplazan sus tareas “importantes”. Desde esta perspectiva, se

concibe la procrastinación como un rasgo estable e interno del individuo, que se

relaciona con especificidades de su personalidad, determinado funcionamiento cerebral

y la acción de ciertos genes. Gracias a estos estudios sabemos que guarda relación

con altos niveles de impulsividad y bajos de autodisciplina, cierta incapacidad para

regular los estados de ánimo y las emociones, problemas en la función ejecutiva y

otras tantas conclusiones curiosas.

[…]Pero podríamos hacernos otra pregunta: ¿Por qué es necesariamente un problema

procrastinar? ¿Por qué tenemos que ser productivos, “ciudadanos útiles”, “seres

humanos efectivos”? […] Procrastinar puede ser en ocasiones un problema, pero

también puede ser un indicador de que necesitamos parar, de que nos vemos

empujados a requerimientos que exceden nuestra capacidad de afrontarlos, de que

estamos sometidos a un ritmo excesivamente severo. El derecho a procrastinar se

convierte en una exigencia revolucionaria en tiempos de hiperactividad productiva. […]

a) Using a Spanish monolingual dictionary, look up the definition of the underlined

words and explain the meaning of each one in English in your own words.

« Que levante la mano »

It means to raise your hand.

« se ha puesto de moda »

When something is becoming fashionable or getting trendy.

« fastidiosas »

It means that something is annoying, boring or tiresome.

« pretenden »

One of the meanings of pretender is to try to do something or also acclaim something.

« poner(se) a la defensiva»
It means that the slightest thing irritates you.

« mermada »

It means diminished.

« abordar »

To cope or deal with something or someone.

« se concibe »

It means to think up an idea or a plan.

« Guarda relación con »

It means to be connected with something or someone.

« y otras tantas »

It is an expression that means “and so many others”.

« afrontarlos »

It means to deal or face something or someone.

b) Write a one-sentence translation strategy for the text.

This ST belongs to a newspaper article written mostly for adults and teenagers, its function is

informative language function with a formal register, and the resources that I have used to

develop the translation are online dictionaries such as Collins dictionary and the Real Academia

Española.

c) Translate the whole text into English.

“Procrastinate can be good”

El País Semanal, 3rd of October 2018
Raise your hand if you ever have deferred some unpleasant, difficult or boring tasks while you

gave time to others that were less “important”. Procrastinate, a verb which is becoming

fashionable these recent years and that refers to “never pull off till tomorrow what you can do

today”, is the name which we give to a type of behaviour of choice. We talk about

procrastination when someone chooses to do something that is more gratifying or less aversive

and delays other tiresome tasks.

Although some authors intend to differentiate procrastination from sloth—trying probably not to

get defensive to their readers—, the truth is that we talk about the same thing: negligence or

carelessness in the things we are forced to do. The procrastinator or lazy do not fulfil with his

tasks, sees his productivity reduced and ceases to be a “ useful citizen” and an “effective human

being” as John Perry, a philosophy professor in Stanford and creator of one of the many methods

against this illness, explains. [...]

Studies about procrastination are characterised by addressing the phenomenon concerning the

personal characteristics of the individual and seeking to establish what people who defer their

"important" tasks have in common. From this perspective, procrastination is conceived as a

stable and internal trait of the individual, which relates to the specificities of his personality,

determining brain function and the action of certain genes. Due to these studies, we know that is

connected with high levels of impulsivity and low self-discipline, certain inability to regulate

moods and emotions, problems in executive function and many other curious conclusions.

[...] But we could ask ourselves another question: Why is necessarily a problem to procrastinate?

Why do we have to be productive, “useful citizens”, “effective human beings?” [...]

Procrastination can be sometimes a problem, but it also can be a sign that we need to stop, that

we are pushed to requirements that exceed our ability to deal with them, that we are subjected to

an excessively severe pace. The right to procrastinate becomes a revolutionary requirement in

times of productive hyperactivity. [...]

d) Write a commentary on your translation, explaining how you resolved 3 translation problems.

The main difficulties that I have had trying to translate this ST were the expressions and idioms.

For instance, the expressions “se ha puesto de moda” and “poner(se) a la defensiva”, I managed

to translate it thanks to online dictionaries. Another difficulty that I had was the false friend

“pretend” which does not mean “pretender”, in Spanish it means “fingir”. Moreover, the verb

“mermada” was a challenging one to translate, but I looked for its definition on the Real

Academia Española, and then I managed to find a similar word in English.

f. Feedback response

I have taken into consideration all my professor’s suggestions and I got more deeply into the

translation strategy, I added the resources that I had used for the translation and I also added

more difficulties that I had faced during the translation process. I have changed the

inconsistencies that were found in my translation, such as the usage of the adjective ‘lazy’ as a

noun, I have put instead ‘sloth’ and I replaced the second ‘procrastinate’ in the last paragraph for

‘procrastination’.

Homework 2

Imagine that you have been asked to translate the following letter to the
editor of El país to a special issue of The Guardian.

a) Read the text carefully and look up and learn any vocabulary you do not know.
b) Write an overview of the issues you will need to take into account when translating
this text for the target audience.
c) Translate the first paragraph into English (From ‘La siguiente situación’ to ‘en un
tosco inglés’).
d) Choose 3 examples from the translated paragraph which posed a problem to you as
a translator. Explain what the problem was in each case and how you resolved it.

La siguiente situación se produjo en una cala de Murcia. Eran las 12.30. La playa
estaba abarrotada de bañistas de diferentes edades, sexos y nacionalidades. De
repente, el grito de una mujer hace levantar las miradas: su hijo ha desaparecido.
Rápidamente, varios de los presentes se abalanzan sobre la señora que no para
de gritar: “¡Mi niño se ha perdido!”. Los portugueses son los primeros en acercarse y en
preguntar: “¿O qué acontece?”; inmediatamente unos italianos preguntan: “¿Che cosa
accade?”. La mujer repite una y otra vez que su niño se ha perdido. Los jóvenes
franceses lo han entendido todo sin preguntar.
A una distancia prudente, unos ingleses no paran de dirigirse a
varias parejas españolas con la frase: “What happens?”. En principio, nadie les
responde [...] pero un joven alemán logra decir: “Children lost”, en un tosco inglés.

Los ingleses se quedan inmóviles al ver que son incapaces de

conectar con el entramado de lenguas que van oyendo y que sorprendentemente todos
entienden. Portugueses, franceses, italianos, españoles –entre ellos, varios catalanes y
valencianos- continúan la búsqueda de la criatura mientras hablan entre sí de los
posibles lugares donde puede estar. Un qui en italiano, que
todos, menos los ingleses, entienden, da por finalizada la búsqueda. El niño está
sentado junto a [...] una sombrilla que no era la suya.

Esta pequeña y verídica historia no acaba aquí. En los días sucesivos, todos los
participantes se saludan, hablan e incluso quedan en el chiringuito de la playa. Cada
uno habla su lengua, pero todos se entienden. [...] Desgraciadamente, los ingleses
siguen solos bajo su sombrilla. Me viene a la mente aquel chiste que preguntaba:
“¿Cómo se llama el que habla tres lenguas? Trilingüe. ¿Y el que habla dos? Bilingüe.
¿Y el que habla una? Monolingüe. Pues no, se llama inglés.”’

b) Overview issues
One issue would be to choose between a domestication strategy or a foreignization strategy

because, for instance, the British readers would not know where Murcia is, or they would not
know what the questions that were made in Portuguese and Italian mean. Another issue will be

the register, the ST itself uses a formal register but also has informal sentences like ‘¡Mi niño se

ha perdido!’. Also in Spanish there is a tendency to construct relatively long sentences (and

complex too, but this is not the case). The word order is very flexible and is influenced by

context and rhythm. Moreover, another difficulty will be to identify the target audience, because

the source text does not give us too many clues about who it could be.

c) TT

The following story occurred in a cove of Murcia. It was twelve-thirty. The beach was crowded

with sunbathers from different ages, genders, and nationalities. Suddenly, the scream of a woman

made everyone stop in their trucks: her son had disappeared. Quickly, some of the people that

were present rushed to the lady who did not stop screaming: “My boy got lost! The Portuguese

people were the first ones to get closer and ask: “¿O qué acontece?”; immediately the Italian

people ask: “¿Che cosa accade?”. The woman repeats over and over again that her child has got

lost. The woman repeats over and over again that her child has got lost. The young French

people have understood everything without asking. At a cautious distance, some Englishmen

kept heading towards several Spanish couples with the question: “What happens?”. In the

beginning, nobody answered them [...] but a young German managed to say: “Children lost” in a

clumsy English.

d) Commentary

Every difficulty that I had faced during the translation process was related to vocabulary. There

were several words that could have been translated by more than one word, and the difficulty

was trying to decide which one is the more suitable or proper.

I had difficulties when I had to translate the adjective ‘tosco’ because I think that in English it

has not the same connotations as in Spanish. However, I looked into different online dictionaries

until I found the proper equivalent. Also, there is the word ‘sexos’ which in Spain is usually used

to refer to gender, but it is a false friend. Another difficulty was trying to translate the expression

‘hacer levantar las miradas’, as I mentioned before, there are more than one way of translating

some words and expressions of the source, and chose the perfect one. And as the expression is

quite literary in Spanish I have chosen another in English which is also literary which is ‘made

everyone stop in their tracks’.

f.Feedback response

I have taken into account all my professor’s suggestions. First, I have added another 2 examples

in part d that were lacking. Also, I got more deeply in the overview of the issues that will need to

be taken into consideration when translating this text. There was no repetition gloss in the lines 9

and 10 of the TT, the sentence was repeated by mistake, it was due to my lack of proofreading.

We can adopt different scenarios for the translation of this source text. We can adopt a

domestication translation and translate the questions that are in Portuguese and Italian, or decide

not to translate them, use textual gloss and put them in brackets. Moreover, we could follow

Venuti and have a foreignization translation and not to translate those questions at all. However,

I have decided to follow a foreignization translation and leave those questions in Portuguese and

Italian. If we read the whole article we notice that the questions are there for a reason, they are

trying to convey a message and the message is to highlight the ignorance of the English people,

the newspaper article criticises English people who only speak one language.
Homework 3

Please carefully read the ‘Writing the Translation Strategy and Translator’s Commentary’ document (see
Moodle), and then:

1. Write a translation strategy for the text (200-250 words).

2. Translate the whole preface of Fariña into English.
3. Write a commentary on your translation (200-250 words).

Fariña, by Nacho Carretero (2015)

Todavía cuentan la historia los viejos de a raia.

Un vecino mayor cruzaba a diario la frontera entre Galicia y Portugal en bicicleta, cargando
siempre un saco al hombro. Cada vez que atravesaba a raia, la Guardia Civil le daba el alto y le
preguntaba qué llevaba en el saco. El hombre, paciente y educado, mostraba siempre el
contenido: “es solo carbón”, explicaba. Y los agentes, mosqueados, lo dejaban pasar. En el otro
lado se repetía la escena: la Guardia de Finanzas portuguesa (conocidos por los vecinos como
guardinhas) también registraba el saco del hombre y lo dejaban seguir pedaleando. La misma
escena se repitió durante años ante el malestar creciente de los guardias fronterizos. No solo
eran incapaces de encontrarle material de contrabando, sino que en cada nueva pesquisa se
manchaban el uniforme de carbón. Como en el cuento de Poe, en el que la Policía registra
minuciosamente una casa en busca de una carta que ha estado todo ese tiempo en primer
plano, el secreto del hombre de a raia estuvo todos esos años a la vista.

Era un contrabandista de bicicletas.

1. Translation Strategy

This ST belongs to Fariña a book written by Nacho Carretero and published by Libros del KO,

which is an editorial specialised in publishing journalistic chronicles, sports page,

autobiographies, and death registers. Libros del KO publishes books about controversial topics

such as corruption, smuggling and prostitution. This gives us a clue that the target audience
could be from teenagers of 16 years old to adults of 40 years old that are interested in. This also

could be intended to an academic audience, such as A-levels or university students.

The resources I have used to do this translation strategy are online dictionaries such as Collins

Dictionary, Wordreference, Linguee, and the Real Academia Española (RAE).

The ST is a narrative and its language function according to Newmark’s text type is expressive

because it is narrating us an history, in this case, an anecdote. The ST also has an ironic and

humorous tone, an example will be “No solo eran incapaces de encontrarle material de

contrabando, sino que en cada nueva pesquisa se manchaban el uniforme de carbón”.Regarding

the style, we could say that is simple, easy to understand, is not complex nor posh.

According to Martin Joos’ five different styles of register, the register of the ST is casual, we can

find slang vocabulary such as the word “mosqueados”, which is a word that we will use in a

casual setting.

The approach of the translation will be on a TL emphasis, a communicative translation in order

to give priority to the readers and make their reading more understanding.

2. TT

The elders of the stripe [it is the Portugal-Spanish border] still keep telling this amusing

anecdote. An old man crossed the border between Galicia and Portugal by bike every day,

always carrying a sack on his shoulder. Every time he travelled across the stripe the Civil Guard

stopped him and asked him what he was holding in the sack. The man always with patience and

politeness showed the contents of the sack: “It’s just coal” he said. The police agents were

suspicious because they had a sixth sense about him smuggling. But, in the end, they let him
cross the border. On the other side of the border, the scene was repeated. The Portuguese

coastguard patrol, known by the people as guardinhas [plodders], also searched the man’s sack

and let him keep pedalling. The same scene was repeated for years in the face of the growing

upset of the border guards. They were not only just incapable of finding him with smuggled

goods but also in every search, their uniforms got dirty with coal. Just like in Poe’s story, where

the police search minutely a house looking for a letter that has been all this time in the

foreground, the stripe’s man secret had been in sight all these years. He was a bike smuggler.

3. Commentary

I had difficulties deciding if I should translate the Portuguese and Galician words, like a raia or

guardinhas, because I believe for the audience who does not speak romance languages it would

be really difficult to understand those words. Therefore, I decided to domesticate a raia but I did

not domesticate guardinhas because if it is domesticated it will lose its meaning and the part of

the message that the preface is trying to convey. Instead I have used a textual gloss and put its

translation in brackets.

I also did not know the gender of the “los agentes”, because in Spanish we have the generic

masculine, in which both genders are included, but in English, the generic masculine does is not

used as in Spanish, so that is why I used a gender-neutral noun as police agents.

I had difficulties trying to find an equivalent in English for “Guardia de Finanzas”, because in

England this law enforcement which deals with financial crimes and smuggling does not exist, it

only exists in some countries as Portugal or Italy. However, I believe that a proper equivalent

could be Customs and Excise.

Regarding the form of the TT, I have decided to include in the same passage the first and the last

sentence of the preface, I included them in the same passage for the aesthetic.

4. Feedback response

I have taken into consideration all my professor’s suggestions. I have corrected all my grammar

mistakes and proofread my target text. I have also rephrased the sentence “The police agents

were getting annoyed because they had a feeling that he was smuggling something” in order to

make it more literary I have used the idiomatic expression ‘sixth sense’. I have checked the term

‘coastguard’ and according to Cambridge Dictionary, its definition is: to an official who is

employed to watch the sea near to a coast for ships that are in danger or involved with illegal

activities. So it is true that it is only used when the border is next to the sea. Therefore, I have

searched for a more suitable equivalent in English for the term ‘Guardia de Finanzas’ which is

Customs and Excise. Regarding the noun guardinhas, it is true that it has a deeper meaning. After

searching in several dictionaries I have found some translations from Portugese to Spanish in

Reverso Context, and its translations for guardinhas had negative connotations towards police

agents, for instance those translations were ‘multador’, ‘polizonte’ or ‘policía alquilado’.

Moreover, I have found an English translation too which was ‘plodder’ or ‘bobby’.