Variation in translations of Huckleberry Finn into Spanish Fernando Romeu – [email protected]

Variation in translations of Huckleberry Finn into Spanish

Fernando Romeu – [email protected]



Different audiences

CLASSIC FOR ADULTS ADVENTURE BOOK FOR CHILDREN


The same problem

•The Missouri negro dialect

•The extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect;

• The ordinary "Pike County" dialect

•Four modified varieties of this last.



The same problem

David Carkeet, believes “Clemens’s recall was imperfect; his attempt at consistency, at least in Huck’s dialect, falls short.” Carkeet attributes this“imperfect recollection” to the fact that Twain wrote three−fifths of the novel after he had put the book aside for two years. This led to several pronunciation changes, particularly in the speech of Huck, in the last three−fifths of the novel.



The same problemMissouri Negro: Jim (and four other minor characters)Southwestern: Arkansas Gossips (Sister Hotchkiss et al.)Ordinary “Pike County”: Huck, Tom, Aunt Polly, Ben Rogers, Pap, Judith LoftusModified “Pike County”: Thieves on the Sir Walter ScottModified “Pike County”: KingModified “Pike County”: Bricksville LoafersModified “Pike County”: Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas Phelps



Facing the challenge

• Explaining translation decisions in introductions.

• Footnotes. •Translating just the note. •Attempting to establish equivalence through TL dialects.




Translated varieties

• Obsession with geographical varieties.

• Social varieties not always translated.

• Age and gender varieties.

• Varieties and power relationships.



What translators sayConviene finalmente añadir que, pese a haberse conservado el tono coloquial y la libertad expresiva de la novela en la versión castellana, se pierden, sin que podamos evitarlo, las varias formas dialectales del habla local a las que Mark Twain hace referencia en la “explicación” inicial del libro.

Doris Rolfe



What translators sayUna vez más las rígidas normas editoriales impiden al traductor reflejar - de suponer que hubiera sido capaz de ello – la riquísima variedad de formas dialectales empleadas por el autor y comentadas por éste en su Nota Explicativa al principio del texto.

Fernando Santos Fontenla



What translators sayMuchos de estos matices se pierden, indefectiblemente, al traducirlos. Tampoco es posible ensayar, lo que algunos a veces ensayan, de trasladar al castellano esas diferencias dialectales y estos matices del original.

Juan José Coy (editor).

The translation is Rolfe’s one!



Are translations really different?

"Hello, Jim! And skipped out. […]He bounced up and stared at me wild. Then he drops down on his knees, and puts his hands

together and says:“Doan’ hurt me –don’t! I hain’t ever done no harm to a ghos’. I awluz liked dead people, en done all I could for ‘em. You go an git in de river agin, whah you b’longs, en doan’ do nuffn to Ole Jim, ‘at ‘uz

awluz yo fren’.”(Twain, 1985:94)




- ¡Hola, Jim! – y salí de un brinco.El se puso de pie de un salto y me miró con ojos de loco. Luego cayó de rodillas y juntó las manos y dijo:-¡No me hagas daño, no! Nunca he hecho daño a un fantasma. Siempre me gustaban los muertos, y les he hecho todo el bien que pude. Vete y métete en el río otra vez, donde debes estar, y no le hagas nada al viejo Jim, que siempre fue amigo.

-(Twain, 1989:54)




- ¡Hola, Jim! – y salí de un brinco.El se levantó de golpe y me miró con ojos desorbitados. Después se dejó caer de rodillas, juntó las manos y dijo:-¡No me hagas daño, ¡por favor! Yo nunca le he hecho daño a un fantasma. Siempre he sido amigo de los muertos, y he hecho lo que podía por ellos. Vuélvete al río otra vez, que es tu sitio, y no le hagas nada al viejo Jim, que siempre fue amigo tuyo.

-(Twain, 1998:72)

Variation in translations of

Huckleberry Finn into Spanish


Research questions

•Role of paratext.

•Are translators consistent and decision-conscious?

•Are translations only used for parody?

•What role does the audience have as far as translation is concerned?

Variation in translations of

Huckleberry Finn into Spanish


Hypotheses …• The explanatory note singles this work out from other works which present the challenge of translated varieties.

• Geographical varieties in the TT do not have a one-to-one correspondence with the ST.

• Some varieties are not translated and / or attempted at all.

• Varieties are used for parody effects.

Documents

Variation in translations of Huckleberry Finn into Spanish Fernando Romeu – [email protected]