Traducción de textos generales y literarios inglés-español

UNIT 1: An Introduction to Translation Theory

Optional task 1. Read the following text thoroughly first, then translate it noting
down every single difficulty you may encounter, so that you can provide an
account of these problems afterwards, trying to explain the corresponding
translation solutions reached with the knowledge you have acquired so far.

Woman Hollering Creek - Sandra Cisneros

Was Cleófilas just exaggerating as her husband always said? It seemed the newspapers
were full of such stories. This woman found on the side of the interstate. This one
pushed from a moving car. This one’s cadaver, this one unconscious, this one beaten
blue. Her ex-husband, her husband, her lover, her father, her brother, her uncle, her
friend, her co-worker. Always. The same grisly news in the pages of the dailies. She
dunked a glass under the soapy water for a moment—shivered. He had thrown a book.
Hers. From across the room. A hot welt across the cheek. She could forgive that. But
what stung more was the fact it was her book, a love story by Corin Tellado, what she
loved most now that she lived in the U.S., without a television set, without the
telenovelas. Except now and again when her husband was away and she could manage
it, the few episodes glimpsed at the neighbor lady Soledad’s house because Dolores
didn’t care for that sort –of thing, though Soledad was often kind enough to retell what
had happened on what episode of Maria de Nadie, the poor Argentine country girl who
had the ill fortune of falling in love with the beautiful son of the Arrocha family, the
very family she worked for, whose roof she slept under and whose floors she vacuumed,
while in that same house, with the dust brooms and floor cleaners as witnesses, the
square-jawed Juan Carlos Arrocha had uttered words of love, I love you, Maria, listen to
me, mi querida, but it was she who had to say no, no, we are not of the same class, and
remind him it was not his place nor hers to fall in love, while all the while her heart was
breaking, can you imagine. Cleófilas thought her life would have to be like that, like a
telenovela, only now the episodes got sadder and sadder. And there were no
commercials in between for comic relief. And no happy ending in sight. She thought
this when she sat with the baby out by the creek behind the house. Cleófilas de ...? But
somehow, she would have to change her name to Topazio, or Yesenia, Cristal, Adriana,
Stefania, Andrea, something more poetic than Cleófilas. Everything happened to
women with names like jewels. But what happened to a Cleófilas? Nothing. But a crack
in the face.
 Traducción de textos generales y literarios inglés-español

TRANSLATION
El arroyo de la llorona de Sandra Cisneros
¿Puede que Cleófilas exagerara, como siempre decía su marido? Los periódicos
parecían estar repletos de ese tipo de historias. Se ha encontrado una mujer en un arcén
de la autovía. A esta otra la tiraron desde un coche en marcha. Una asesinada, otra
hallada inconsciente y otra llena de moratones. Su exmarido, su marido, su amante, su
padre, su hermano, su tío, su amigo o su compañero de trabajo. Siempre las mismas
noticias trágicas en las páginas de los diarios. Estaba fregando un vaso y, de repente, se
estremeció. Él le había tirado un libro. Su libro. Desde el otro lado de la habitación. Le
magulló la mejilla. Eso podía perdonárselo. Pero lo que más le dolía era que se trataba
de su libro, una historia de amor escrita por Corín Tellado, lo que más le apasionaba
ahora que al vivir en los EE. UU., no tenía televisión y no podía ver sus telenovelas.
Solo de vez en cuando, si su marido no estaba en casa, podía ver algunos episodios en
casa de su vecina la Sra. Soledad, porque a Dolores no le gustaban ese tipo de cosas,
aunque Soledad solía ser amable y contarle lo que había pasado en los episodios de
María de Nadie, una pobre campesina argentina que tuvo la mala fortuna de enamorarse
del hijo guapo de la familia Arrocha, para quienes ella trabajaba, y en cuya casa dormía
y limpiaba los suelos. Allí, las escobas y las mopas habían sido testigos de las palabras
de amor que Juan Carlos Arrocha le prodigaba con virilidad: «Te amo, María,
escúchame, mi amada». Pero ella lo rechazaba: «No, no pertenecemos al mismo
mundo». También le recordaba que no tenían derecho a enamorarse, al tiempo que se le
partía el corazón, como te puedes imaginar. Cleófilas creyó que su vida sería así, como
la de una telenovela. Sin embargo, los episodios cada vez eran más tristes. Y no había
anuncios entre medias que la ayudaran a desconectar. Tampoco se vislumbraba un final
feliz. En todo esto pensaba cuando se sentó con su bebé en el arroyo que había detrás de
su casa. ¿Cleófilas de...? Debería encontrar el modo de cambiar su nombre por algo más
poético, como Topacio, Yesenia, Cristal, Adriana, Estefanía o Andrea. A las mujeres
con nombres de joyas les pasaba de todo. Pero si te llamas Cleófilas, ¿qué te pasa?
Nada. Salvo una magulladura en la cara.
Traducción de textos generales y literarios inglés-español
 Traducción de textos generales y literarios inglés-español

Samples of problem/solution
"It seemed the newspapers were full of such stories".
Problem: The expletive-it is not natural in Spanish, and we may struggle to
translate it. In this case, rephrasing is a good option to keep the original sense.
Solution: A possible solution might be: “los perió dicos parecían estar repletos de
este tipo de historias".
"She dunked a glass under the soapy water".
Problem: The literal translation seems to be unnatural in Spanish: "sumergió un
vaso en agua con jabó n".
Solution: I opted out for a more natural expression “estaba fregando".
"The square-jawed Juan Carlos Arrocha had uttered words of love".
Problem: There is not an equivalent term for "square-jawed", but it emphasises a
physical feature that usually makes a man attractive.
Solution: The solution consisted of rephrasing the original sentence and translating
"square-jawed" as "con virilidad" by making use of cognitive metonymic strategies.
The proposed solution is: "Las palabras de amor que Juan Carlos Arrocha le
prodigaba con virilidad".
"But a crack in the face".
Problem: The original sentence cannot be translated literally because it loses its
sense, so a rephrasing has been proposed.
Solution: The proposed solution is: "Salvo una magulladura en la cara".
"It was not his place nor hers to fall in love".
Problem: Grammar equivalence. It is difficult to carry out a literal translation
because of the lack of equivalence between the linguistic systems at the grammar
level. The expletive-it and the idiomatic burden of the ST make literal translation
challenging that is why I have opted out for reformulating the ST in the Target
Language.
Solution: A possible solution might be: "No tenían derecho a enamorarse". It
preserves the meaning even though some translation loss is unavoidable in this
case.
"Everything happened to women with names like jewels".
Problem: Word order. The ST puts the focus on the fact that women with names
like jewels are the ones to whom everything happened. Nonetheless, keeping the
original word order in the TL would put the focus on "everything" rather than on
"women". To keep the stress, it is thus necessary to rephrase.
 Traducción de textos generales y literarios inglés-español

Solution: The proposed solution is: "A las mujeres con nombres de joyas les pasaba
de todo". On that way, by altering the original order, the focus is put on "women".