Translation Analysis – what is required?
• You have a text written originally in Spanish and then translated into English. What features of the original
present particular challenges to the translator? Why are they challenges?
• How has the translator attempted to address these challenges? Have they been successful? If so, in what
way? If it is, for example, a specific cultural reference, such as the names of food or dishes, or units of
measurement like KM or KG, how has the translator approached it? Has a new cultural reference been
chosen? If so, was it necessary and is it appropriate? Could it be improved, or are you impressed with the
particular strategies employed by the translator?
• Are there stylistic, syntactical or grammatical features that have been altered? Does this matter? Is
something altered or lost?
Is there an aspect of the translation where meaning has been radically altered? Is this a problem? i.e. is
the reader of the translation presented with a radically altered text where something important has been
lost? Are there any outright errors in translation? (You’ll recall the appalling translation of Borges’ brief
essay on nightmares. Both texts are on the Moodle page under week 1. In this translation the meaning of
the text is greatly altered, and Borges is presented in an entirely wrong light.)
• Has the translator acted as editor, and helped the reader in deciphering a particularly difficult part of the
text?
• Has the translator overstepped the mark in this editorial role, and offered an explanation of the text that
has now reduced the full scope of meaning afforded by the text?
• Has the translator departed drastically from the original text? Is this necessary, so as to conserve
musicality or rhyme or rhythm? Is it successful? Is it problematic? Is something altered or lost? Does it
matter?
Try to work from both close textual scrutiny, observing the particulars of the texts, and from a wider
perspective, observing how meaning is conveyed, maintained, modified, distorted, etc. What are the fault-
lines between the two texts?
Saludos,
William
