El modesto misterio

Erika Loja

Don Quijote de la Mancha is written by Miguel Cervantes in the 17th century, it has been translated in so many different languages, and one of them is English. However, not all transaltions in English are identical, they all share the same idea and concepts but each author has their own style of writing therefore the translation is different. For example, there are four different translations by Ormsby (1885), Putnam (1949), Rutherford (2003), y Groosman (2003). It is important to notice the difference in time periods of when these translations were published. The reason being is because languages change throughout time, it improves. All these translators have different translations of Don Quijote. To start off the name of Don Quijote changes in all the translations but Putnam´s. One of the key sentences in all these translations is the following ” de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme” all of the translators use the following “ I do not care to remember”, “ I have no desire to call to mind”, “ I have no desire to recall”, “I cannot quite recall”, “ I do not care to remember”. As you can see, all of them use different words to translate the same idea but in my opinion the translation of Groosman of this sentence is more accurate and closer to the original text. The time period when she wrote this plays a big role because as said before the language improves every time and the time affect the translation. Most recent translations can be more appreciated by the readers because it is easier to understand the words and it’s easier to understand. As Eliot Weinsberg once said “It’s true that no translation is identical to the original” In Translation, Translators on their work and what it means, edited by Esther Allen and Susan Bernofsky. All of these different translations share the same concept and ideas but they will never be the same.