Spanish Translation of a voice from "El Barrio" - Rituals of survival by Nicholasa Mohr

Abstract

The experience of translating Rituals of Survival by Nicholasa Mohr, a Latina author, started with a process of contextualization that involved obtaining an in-depth knowledge of the “nuyorican” culture, of the latino literature, and of the life in El Bronx and El Barrio – among other things. In the translation special care was taken to respect the tone of the female voices that play a main role in all the text, and to preserve, when possible, the bilingualism of some of the stories. This article discusses this second aspect, as well as some others, that are frequent issues in translating from English to Spanish, such as repeating “ly” adverbs and possessive pronouns, and finding suitable equivalents for vulgarities.