Newsletter - Global Translations.BR - Agosto

Questions of heritage, identity, and universal humanity come to the fore in Arthur Miller’s tragic play. The audience bears witness to protagonist Eddie’s internal struggle as he tries to reconcile his desire for his niece with his marriage, and his sense of honour with his selfishness.

A View from the Bridge depicts a predominantly Sicilian immigrant society in post-war New York. The symbolism of the Bridge is crystallised in lawyer Alfieri, who serves as the intermediary between Italian and American culture, as well as that between play and audience as the voice of reason in his ominous soliloquies. He watches with the viewers as two very different relatives of Eddie’s family arrive from Italy. One, Rodolpho, flirts with and later intends to marry Eddie’s cherished niece Catherine, while his brother, Marco, works hard at the docks to send money home to his children.

The play borrows heavily from the Classical Greek tradition. The themes of incest and tragic inevitability find their formal equivalent in the strict linearity of the scenes, punctuated by the Chorus-like presence of Alfieri. Passion rules Eddie throughout, despite the pleas of his wife Beatrice and morality itself.

First written as a single-act verse work in the early 50s, the American author adapted it into a two-act prose performance for its first showing in 1955. Miller’s sympathetic tone is evident in each line, transgressing gangland cliché in the industrial dialect typical of time and place alike, which serves to make A View from the Bridge a pleasure to both read and watch. An instant success, the play has since taken its worthy place as a seminal work in the American tradition, one that examines the country’s cultural history and restructures its literary conventions.


A View from the Bridge (Book)
Author: Arthur Miller
Publisher: Penguin UK
Price: R$24,61

By Jason Yu
 
In the domain of translations, accuracy is the objective but an integral element to attaining this is knowledge of linguistic variation. As it is such a large topic, it can be a nightmare for a translator and can make it almost impossible to have a completely precise piece of work. However, what can be done is that steps can be taken to ensure the problem manifests itself as little as possible.

Firstly, it is imperative to clarify what is meant by the phrase “linguistic variation”. A variety of accents can exist within one country; furthermore, levels of register, differences between spoken and written language, and trans-national differences of the same language are also prevalent in the world. Such difficulties are endless.

For translation companies, enough emphasis cannot be placed upon these problems. Their solutions are all essential components to building accurate translations. The fact that Global is a Brazilian company that works with multiple different languages makes knowledge of linguistic variety paramount to their work.

There are copious amounts of variations of French, for example, Canadian, Belgian or any of the numerous African countries that speak the language. The difference between Latin American Spanish and continental Spanish is noteworthy. You already know differences between Portuguese from Brazil and Portugal. However, a difference that isn’t mentioned all too often is the difference between English and American English.

Difficulties can range from the obvious, such as the way in which dates are written, “26th December 1988” and “December 26, 1988”, to the more obscure, the spelling of words such as “colour” and “color”, or even to the use of words like “pavement” and “sidewalk” (I will let you decide which corresponds to which country!).

Technical differences with regards to grammar also exist but not to the same degree as those in the lusophone world. The most important word is consistency, which must be adhered to during the whole translation process. From the administrative staff, who must understand what is specifically demanded by the client. This enables them to find the apt translator for the job. The translator must then have clearly in mind what is asked of him. The proofreaders must be communicated with all the previous information and in doing so, it’s likely that consistency has been maintained throughout.

Without doubt, the importance of recognising this linguistic variation is vital and is also fundamental for the production of quality translations. 

To deal with this, Global has a wide range of professionals. Within this roster, to name a few, American, British, Spanish, Colombian and Argentine translators are available to be chosen for specific translations. Furthermore, specialist translators in legal, medical and engineering documents, among others, are at Global’s disposal to unite the right translator with the right text.