Revisiting the translation of a corpus of fictional sociolects and geolects in literature in English: The case of Spain

This paper aims to contribute to describing the translation of literary dialects. In an unpublished previous work (Tello Fons, 2011), translation trends were searched in a corpus made up of ten novels written in English and their translations into Spain’s standard Spanish. After an analysis of source texts and translation strategies, the results showed a tendency to neutralise literary dialects, although other strategies were detected as well. According to our corpus, the translation norm leaned towards acceptability (Toury, 1995). This study’s aims are based on that analysis: (i) to classify the techniques for literary dialect translation; (ii) to present the techniques found in search of trends in our culture; and (iii) to reflect on the motivations and consequences that resulted from them. Inevitably, the trends observed in 2011 are time-sensitive, so it is likely that they have now changed. The most recent translations of these works were used to find out. The conclusions will address how the norm has evolved to our days.