On Mirrors and Masks. A Proposal for the Translation of Broken Languages

Abstract

This article deals with the challenge posed in the translation into Spanish by the translator’s choice of a certain linguistic model that could cause misunderstandings or awkwardness in some Spanish-speaking areas. The challenge is twofold when the original makes a more or less extensive use of linguistic variation. In such cases “suspension of disbelief” – upon which the reader’s contract is based – calls for imaginative solutions on the part of the translator. Along with general reflections on translation, some examples from the Spanish translation of Xiaolu Guo’s A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers and Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full (two works that rely on an extensive use of distorted language) are offered in order to show how this kind of difficulty can be addressed in literary terms, avoiding the misleading paradigm of fidelity and equivalence. Some reactions to this approach by ordinary readers and professional reviewers are also offered.