Some aspects of the 15th‑18th century native American texts translation Cover Image

Problematyka przekładu dawnej literatury ustnej Mexików i Majów
Some aspects of the 15th‑18th century native American texts translation

Author(s): Katarzyna Szoblik
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Translation Studies
Published by: KSIĘGARNIA AKADEMICKA Sp. z o.o.
Keywords: Nahuatl; orality; literacy; translation

Summary/Abstract: The artistic verbal expression of the native inhabitants of the pre‑H ispanic Mesoamerica presented great variety of forms, among which there could be distinguished, for example, solemn speeches, ritual songs and even very complex performances, that could be compared to some forms of the European theatre. Most of these pieces were destroyed with the conquest and colonization of America. Some of them, however, survived, mainly thanks to the effort that some missionaries and their indigenous students made to register parts of the native oral tradition in the alphabetic writing. The present article presents chosen problems related with the translation of this kind of texts, one of the most important difficulties being a huge distance in time and space that separates the source and the target cultures.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 28
  • Page Range: 123-138
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish