Table of Contents
Literary Translation Spanish English
We have enjoyed providing Literary translation Spanish English for more than 30 years.
Although this page provides information about our experience and qualifications, we will approach your project as unique.
Much of what we express here will not be very well written.
You would write it better.
The purpose is to show you just how much we love translating creative writing.
As such, we will spend as much time as is necessary listening to you before going ahead.
The author of literary texts writes with absolute dedication to their work.
Likewise, we are dedicated to translating your work.
We always value your comments and feedback.
Working with you is the best way for us to help you.
Literary Translation Experience
When we say literary translation, the tendency is to think of great works of literature.
Actually, our work includes Poetry for Children, Creative writing for publications such as e books, Personal memoirs.
Our translators have lived and worked in Britain and Spain and South America.
They have absorbed the cultures of both countries.
Consequently, they are familiar with real life language evolution in both countries.
This means our translators have an authentic understanding of Spain and Britain.
Consequently, our literature translations read as though they were written in the target language.
Equally, the translated literary text will maintain the original literary style.
As such the author is still recognisable in the target language translation.
Literary Skills
Our specialist literary translators have valuable experience of translating literature.
Additionally, they are Spanish or English language graduates specialising in Spanish or English literature.
Furthermore, they have obtained post graduate degrees in Spanish or English language and literature.
We delight in understanding the humour and cultural references intrinsic in the original language.
Thus, we reflect these culture specific characteristics by creating culturally meaningful equivalents in the target language.
Literary translation Spanish English examples
We hope that you might enjoy a few examples of our literary translation.
In the following paragraphs we discuss some considerations.
Translating environmental descriptions.
One of our clients describes what she sees in a very visual way.
For example, the action in one of her books takes place in the desert.
Who would think that there can be so many different kinds of sand?
In fact, there are and she expertly describes these differences.
Another of our clients is fascinated by sounds that occur in nature and industry.
Hence, she writes about the sounds of rivers and wind.
That is perhaps to be expected.
But in another of her pieces she writes about the sounds in a factory.
In yet another she describes the sound of a city heard at night from a hill.
Translating human emotions
One of our clients has a special ability to portray human emotions.
In her fiction she creates situations and characters that mirror real life.
Her energy is focused on understanding people.
She narrates deeply emotional life experiences.
Translating English Fiction to Spanish: An Example
Author: Stan Barstow
I have always very much enjoyed translating literature.
Stan Barstow was an English author best known for his trilogy A Kind of Loving, The Watchers on the Shore and The Right True End.
His other works such as The Desperados, Joby and B Movie have often been studied at secondary school and university.
Barstow, the son of a miner set several of his books in his native Yorkshire.
There are several challenges or as I would say delights in trying to translate his work into Spanish.
Barstow used the Yorkshire dialect in almost all of his fiction.
I believed that looking for a Spanish equivalent dialect was probably not a good idea.
There are several reasons for this:
Firstly, there is no comparable Spanish dialect.
Secondly as many Yorkshire folk may well tell us there is no comparable culture.
Thirdly although the works are usually set in Yorkshire or follow Yorkshire people to other locations, nonetheless the stories are universally meaningful.
That is to say the story enchants anyone from any country.
Literary Translations Spanish English Poetry
Translating poetry brings its own particular challenges.
Sometimes everything seems to work perfectly.
That is to say, it is perfectly possible to capture the feeling of the original poem and to keep that in translation.
One of the obvious difficulties, however, is finding equivalent rhymes.
Some poems rely very heavily on the rhyme.
This often is the case in humorous or children’s verse.
In such cases I have to decide if I feel I can produce a faithful translation.
It may be that there has to be a trade- off.
Perhaps the rhymes themselves have to be sacrificed so as to tell the story.
Other times it all works smoothly as if by magic.
Get in touch to discuss your literary translation
Hence if you require Spanish to English or English to Spanish translation of a work of literature, please contact us and we will be delighted to discuss your requirements.