Il traduttore senza cuore (Un piccolo esercizio di traduzione)
When Tiziana Raffa volunteered to translate The heartless translator, a short story, into Italian and Chiara Bartolozzi agreed to edit/proofread her translation, I was far from imagining how fulfilling and joyful the experience would be. They are both the nicest people to work with, and I think these two lovely translators enjoyed working together and exchanging views and opinions.
You can see the Italian team’s work below (in green font), following the English source (in Italics), and the Spanish translation (in blue font).
I hope you enjoy the reading and look forward to seeing this piece translated into other languages as well!
The Heartless Translator | El traductor sin corazón | Il traduttore senza cuore
Once upon a time, there was this poor translator with a worn-out heart.
Había una vez un pobre traductor con el corazón maltrecho.
C’era una volta un povero traduttore dal cuore malconcio.
After living a thousand loaned lives and riding the frantic roller coaster of getting into and out of the skin of a myriad of characters penned and fleshed out by others, after spending a thousand sleepless nights and dreaming of unsolvable ambiguities and impossible deadlines when he did get some sleep, the fibers of his heart had gotten threadbare.
Después de vivir mil vidas ajenas y de subirse innumerables veces a la frenética montaña rusa que supone meterse debajo de la piel de incontables personajes creados y narrados por otros, después de pasar mil y una noches en vela y de soñar con ambigüedades insalvables y plazos de entrega imposibles cuando —por fin— conseguía dormir un poco, las fibras de su corazón estaban deshechas.
Dopo aver vissuto migliaia di vite prese in prestito e aver più volte montato sulle frenetiche montagne russe indossando e togliendo i panni di una miriade di personaggi creati e illustrati da altri, dopo aver trascorso migliaia di notti insonni e aver avuto gli incubi a causa di irrisolvibili ambiguità e impossibili scadenze, quando finalmente riusciva a prendere un po’ di sonno, le fibre del suo cuore erano ridotte allo stremo.
Doctors were helpless at fixing such a life-threatening problem, until one of them came up with the idea of the clockwork machine.
Los médicos no habían podido remediar esta afección que estaba poniendo fin a su vida hasta que a uno de ellos se le ocurrió la idea de recurrir a un mecanismo de relojería.
Nessun medico era in grado di risolvere questo problema che stava mettendo a repentaglio la sua vita, finché uno di loro ebbe l’idea di ricorrere a un meccanismo di orologeria.
It was implanted right inside the hollow space that used to hold his heart, and it started working right away—tick, tack; tick, tack.
Se lo implantaron directamente en el hueco que solía ocupar el corazón, y el aparato comenzó a funcionar de inmediato con su rítmico tic-tac, tic-tac.
Glielo impiantò direttamente nello spazio vuoto dove un tempo era situato il cuore e il meccanismo iniziò immediatamente a funzionare: tic, tac; tic, tac.
The translator soon recovered his health, but never got his magic back.
El traductor pronto recuperó la salud, pero sus palabras nunca recuperaron la magia.
Il traduttore riacquistò subito la salute, ma non recuperò più la magia delle sue parole.
He was still able to translate to the best of his mind, but he was missing a heart.
Seguía poniendo toda su inteligencia al servicio de su trabajo… pero, ahora, le faltaba corazón.
Era ancora in grado di tradurre dando il meglio di sé con la mente, ma si ritrovava senza più un cuore.
And a heart is not something a translator can do without.
Y corazón es algo que a un traductor no puede faltarle.
E il cuore è qualcosa di cui un traduttore non può fare a meno.
Meet the Italian Translator: Tiziana Raffa
Tiziana has worked as a freelance translator and interpreter EN/ES>IT since 2012. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Translation and Interpreting and a Master’s Degree in Modern Languages for International Communication. She has also earned a 1st Level Master’s Degree in Translation and Interpreting at the SSML “Gregorio VII” (Advanced School of Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators) in Rome and a Master’s Degree in Audiovisual Translation: Localisation, Subtitling and Dubbing at the Instituto Superior de Estudios Lingüísticos y Traducción in Seville. As an interpreter, she has taken part in various conferences in Rome. She is currently working as a freelance audiovisual translator and proofreader for Studio Asci in Crema, a small town in the north of Italy, and for Grupo Mediapro and P4 Traducciones, two audiovisual translation agencies in Seville. You can find her on Twitter and LinkedIn.
And the Italian Proofreader: Chiara Bartolozzi
Chiara is a freelance professional translator, interpreter and a copywriter-to-be owner of One Sec Translations. She translates from English, Spanish and (Simplified) Chinese into Italian. Although her specialisations are fashion, journalism, tourism and advertising, she also currently translates technical and legal documents from English and Spanish. Cinema and TV series addict, music lover, she deeply loves the English language and its culture as much as the Eastern one.
You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Her Website: www.onesec-translations.com
a translator thinking outside the box 