últimas corrientes teóricas en los estudios de traducción - Gredos ...

M. CRISTINA SOUSA–MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL SHOULD WE TRUST THE TRANSLATOR AT ALL?
implying a higher degree of ignorance on his part. But as he is a secondary character no
further implications should be expected.
The next example also illustrates some cultural loss,
He took a bite and chewed it with a look of tremendous relish, then sang, with his
mouth full:
“High up in the trees
we picnic at our ease
we wouldn’t change a banquet for
our lunch of bread and cheese…”
All Arun’s tunes were as simple as “Baa baa Black Sheep”. This one was too, and
yet Is was sure that she had never heard it before, that it had never existed before.
802
(ibid., 1996[1995]: 143)
We may assume that the title Baa baa Black Sheep will be obscure to the TL reader.
Therefore, by replacing it in the TL text with the defining expression canção de embalar the
translation allows readers to use the music of any lullaby known to them in order to sing
the verses in this passage.
Deu uma dentada e mastigou com um ar de grande deleite, depois cantou, com a
boca cheia:
No alto das árvores
fazemos piquenique a nosso desejo
não trocaríamos um banquete
pelo nosso almoço de pão e queijo…
Todas as canções de Arun eram melodias simples de canções de embalar. Esta
também. Contudo, Is estava certa de que nunca a ouvira antes, de que nunca existira antes.
Here, what the TL reader loses is the possibility of acquiring further knowledge
about the SL culture, i.e. about the existence of the song in question. Unless the original
title is supplied in a footnote, this appears to be an inevitable loss. But this would create a
precedent for the rest of the book, and it would mean an interruption of the TL reader’s
reading experience in order to supply what could amount to uninteresting information.
Should this occur more than once or twice, it could result in the reader’s loosing interest in
the book.
Some cultural references do not belong to the SL culture. They arise out of the
heroine’s adventures abroad. Three examples are used here to illustrate this. The first
describes Dido’s first sighting of Aratu, an island marked by Portuguese cultural references.
What had been a pale speck at the waterline now resolved itself into houses like
tiny white dice climbing above each other up a steep hill with some feathery vegetation
among them; as the Siwara drew closer little black figures could be seen, darting to and fro
on the dockside.
“The houses ain’t really white, though, they’re blue,” said Dido, puzzled, as the
ship slid near and nearer to the quay. “Blue and shiny. How’s that, Doc?”