Handbook for translators of Spanish historical ... - University Library

INTRODUCTION
The need for a guide in the translation of Spanish historical
documents is not new. Ten years ago this need was
"brought forcefully to my attention when the task of translating
a series of such documents was thrust upon me. Although
of bilingual aptitude, and familiar, through specialized
study of both English and Spanish, with the intricacies
of these languages, I was terrified hy the apparently
\inintelligi'ble aspect of the ancient manuscripts set
"before me. To "begin with, the handwriting was utterly unfamiliar,
"barely visi"ble, and altogether vminviting. The
length of the sentences, the a'bsence of punctuation, and
the involved nature of the thought made it almost impossible
for me to grasp the idea in the mind of the writer. A
New Chaucerian manuscript would have been as welcome. In
an effort to find some tangible aid to this type of work,
I searched library catalogues thoroughly. To my dismay,
not one title was to be foxind on the subject of translating
Spanish historical documents; in fact, I found nothing on
the translation of any kind of historical document. It is
true there were dictionaries of technical terms, provincialisms,
and idioms; but nothing specific to meet my need. A
search for aids to the reading of manuscripts was slightly
more successful. A few items on Spanish and French paleography
were available. Even these works, however, proved
too indefinite to be of any practical value. From them I
learned that one can easily learn to read manuscripts by
reading more of them.
Books on translating now on the market make no distinction
between literary and historical documents. Tolman in
The Art of Translating deals with translating in general
briefly and thoroughly. He fails, however, to give any
definite recognition to historical documents. This and
other excellent works on translating have taken the attitude
that euay discussion on the topic nat\irally includes
all forms; and, consequently, they have ignored the specific
subject of translating historical documents. It is
true that certain general principles may be applied to any
type of tra!nslation; but there are certain differences
that must be taken into account. The failure to recognize
the existence of these differences is the principal cause
for the lack of any guide to this important phase of archival
work. I have tried to make clear in this work that
translating historical documents is a definite subject in
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