WHEN I WAS PUERTO RICAN / CUANDO ERA PUERTORRIQUEÑA
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When I Was Puerto Rican is a 1993 autobiography written by Puerto Rican native Esmeralda Santiago. In a childhood full of tropical beauty and domestic strife, poverty and tenderness, Esmeralda Santiago learned the proper way to eat a guava, the sound of tree frogs, the taste of morcilla, and the formula for ushering a dead baby's soul to heaven. But when her mother, Mami, a force of nature, takes off to New York with her seven, soon to be eleven children, Esmeralda, the oldest, must learn new rules, a new language, and eventually a new identity. In the first of her three acclaimed memoirs, Esmeralda brilliantly recreates her tremendous journey from the idyllic landscape and tumultuous family life of her earliest years, to translating for her mother at the welfare office, and to high honors at Harvard.
Author: Esmeralda Santiago
Genre: Book
Publication Date: 1993
FIRST PARAGRAPH
SOURCE LANGUAGE
"FIGHTING NAKED"
Pg.36 But school was also where I compared my family to others in the barrio. I learned there were children whose fathers were drunks, whose mothers were "bad," whose sisters had run away with traveling salesmen, whose brothers had landed in prison. I met children whose mothers walked the distance from their house to church on their knees in gratitude for prayer answered. Children whose father came home every day and played catch in the dusty front yard. Girls who sisters taught them to embroider flowers on linen handkerchiefs. Boys whose brothers took them by the hand and helped them climb a tree.
PUSBLISHED VERSION
"PELEANDO DESNUDA"
Pg. 33 Pero la escuela era también donde podía comparar a mi familia con otras en el barrio. Aprendí que había niños cuyos papás eran unos borrachones, cuyas mamás eran "malas", cuyas hermanas se fugaban con vendedores ambulantes, cuyos hermanos estaban en la cárcel. Conocí a niños cuyas madres caminaban a la distancia de su casa a la iglesia de rodillas porque habían hecho una promesa. Niños con padres que llegaban todos los días del trabajo y jugaban a la pelota con ellos. Niñas con hermanas que le enseñaban a bordar flores en pañuelos de lienzo. Niños con hermanos que les llevaban por la mano y les ayudaban a trepar un palo.
CLOSING PARAGRAPH
SOURCE LANGUAGE
My parents probably argued before Hector was born. Mami was not one to hold her tongue when she was treated unfairly. And while Papi was easygoing and cheerful most of the time, his voice had been known to rise every so often, sending my sisters and me scurrying for cover behind the annatto bushes or under the bed. But the year that Hector was born their fights grew more frequent and sputtered into our lives like water on a hot skillet.
PUBLISHED VERSION
Mami y Papi seguramente se llevaban peleando desde antes de que naciera mi hermano Héctor. Mami no era una para aguantar la lengua cuando se creía maltratada. Y, mientras Papi casi siempre era jovial y conciliador, su voz subía de vez en cuando, haciéndome a mi y a mis hermanas correr a escondernos detrás del palo de achiote o debajo de la cama. Pero el año que Héctor nació, las riñas entre Mami y Papi aumentaron en número y ferocidad, chisporroteando sobre nuestras vidas como agua en una sartén caliente.
Literary Procedures:
First paragraph
Borrowing: The word "barrio" was transferred from the SL to the TL. In addition, this word in English is well known as neighborhood, and in Spanish means vecindad or vecindario
Functional Equivalence: The word "drunks" was translated in the published version as "borrachones" which is a very common cultural expression used in Spanish . Masculine plural of borrachón. Acceptions of Borrachones as plural of the augmentative of borracho (drunkard)
Explicitation: This frase called my attention: "in gratitude for prayer answered", because in Spanish we know it as "pagar una manda". but the published translation is kind of different, however it was explained to be better understood for the reader as: "porque habían hecho una promesa"
Transposition: This translated procedure was used for "linen handkerchiefs" in the SL, and in the TL "pañuelos de lienzo", which it means the there was a change in the sequence of words
Closing paragraph
Expansion: At the beginning of the paragraph we have "my parents", and it was translated: "mami y papi" which is an amplification of the word parents. This occurs when the TL has more words than the SL
Transposition: In the SL we have this expression "most of the time" at the end of the frase. On the other hand, we have in the TL this expression at the beggining, which it meas the sequence of the word changed
Literal: The entire frase was translated from SL to TL "But the year that Hector was born". It meas the translation was word by word.
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