As we do the English translation of Horacio Kalibang by Eduardo Holmberg, (an amazing robot story written in the 1800's in Argentina), I realize that every translation is a poetic and interpretive act, characterized by struggles with the text and the subjectivity of the translator. So I made this logo "La Luchadora del Texto" to signify our struggles. Anywhere you see it you will see where we are struggling.
And here are some of our struggles.
1) Ana and I took some liberties with the text in the first section. The narrator, Fritz apologizes to the reader directly but in the 3rd person. This type of aside is common for Victorian writing. "Razón tendra el lector, y mucha, para quejarse por la extraña introducción que me he permitido regalarle.." (The readers will be right to complain about the strange introduction I have allowed myself to give them). Technically we should be saying "the strange introduction which I have allowed myself to give him". But for now at least, since there are two women translating, (and working quite hard I might add) we are using the gender neutral "them" in this instance until we can figure this out to our satisfaction.
2) Holmberg uses "pariente" regarding the narrator's relationship with Burgomeister Hipknock. The english translation of "pariente" is "relative" or "kinsman" In section 3, Holmberg uses the word "primo" which means cousin. "Para que el lector pueda apreciar la conducata de mi primo, el burgomaistre Hipknock". We decided to use "cousin" throughout, because "relative" in English is too confusing and general, especially since there are lot of relatives in this story.
3) Is Horacio Kalibang "it" or "he"? I was not sure about this when I first started reading the text. The Spanish prepositions indicated that Horacio could be an "it" or a "he" but not female. However, in Section 2, the people at the dinner party say "El hombre que ha perdido la gravedad" (The man who has lost his gravity). So from there, I decided that Kalibang was a "man" in this story, not an object.
