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Article published In: Babel
Vol. 65:3 (2019) ► pp.337–354

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Intercultural pragmatics and the translation of English interjections and expletives into Spanish and Chinese

 | Huazhong University of Science and Technology
 | Huazhong University of Science and Technology | University of Oviedo | University of the Free State
Published online: 12 July 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00098.qin
Abstract
This article aims to discuss the importance of pragmatics in translation, paying particular attention to the difficulties posed by two non-clausal units or inserts (Biber, Douglas; Stig Johansson; Geoffrey Leech; Susan Conrad; and Edward Finegan. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). These elements have been classified into nine categories, namely interjections, greetings and farewells, discourse markers, attention signals, response elicitors, response forms, hesitators, polite formulae and expletives. In this article we will discuss two of them, interjections and expletives, both of which express stance. We will consider the possible renderings of these elements in Spanish and Chinese and the difficulties they pose in the translation of fictional dialogue in connection with previous research into this issue in order to identify future lines of enquiry. As regards the translation of expletives, it seems that recent publications point towards a greater presence of swearwords in Spanish dubbed versions than in the past, referred to in this article as a “vulgarization hypothesis”.
Résumé
Cet article a pour objectif de traiter de l’importance du pragmatisme dans la traduction en accordant une attention particulière aux difficultés posées par deux unités non propositionnelles ou inserts (Biber, Douglas; Stig Johansson; Geoffrey Leech; Susan Conrad; and Edward Finegan. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Ces éléments ont été classés en neuf catégories, à savoir les interjections, les salutations et les adieux, les marqueurs de discours, les signaux d’attention, les élicitations, les formes de réponse, les marques d’hésitation, les formules de politesse et les jurons. Dans cet article, nous parlerons de deux de ces catégories, les interjections et les jurons, qui expriment toutes deux un point de vue. Nous examinerons leurs interprétations possibles en espagnol et en chinois, les difficultés qu’elles posent dans la traduction de dialogues fictifs en lien avec des recherches antérieures sur cette question pour identifier de futures pistes de recherche. En ce qui concerne la traduction de jurons, il semble que les publications récentes soulignent une plus grande présence de jurons dans les versions doublées en espagnol que dans le passé, ce que nous désignons dans cet article par les termes « hypothèse de vulgarisation ».
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Aims of the article
  • 3.Translating English inserts into Spanish and Chinese
    • 3.1Interjections
    • 3.2Expletives and taboo language
  • 4.Concluding discussion
  • References
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Díaz Pérez, Francisco Javier
2023. Translation of interjections and subtitling: a study based on the BETA corpus of TV series and film subtitles. TRANS: Revista de Traductología :27 ► pp. 151 ff. DOI logo

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