¿Es Carmen la misma persona cuando habla inglés? La traducción de unidades fraseológicas en "Cinco horas con Mario"

Abstract

Miguel Delibes stands out, mainly, for his particular ability to characterize in his novels. This is evident from the importance of his characters, who come alive thanks to his particular use of language and especially his ability to depict people through phraseological units (PU). In this study we intend to analyze whether the idiosyncratic features of the main character, in the novel Five hours with Mario, are preserved in the English translation of the novel, or if, on the other hand, nuances have been lost to the detriment of the author’s intention. To do this we have carried out an exhaustive analysis of the PU in the novel and, after examining whether, indeed, the character was depicted effectively thanks to the use of PU; those PU were contrasted with their English translation in order to establish whether the main features of Carmen’s character had been preserved. The results of the study reflect that the translator does not seem to have been aware of the fact that Carmen was actually characterized through language. This means that said features have indeed been lost, almost entirely, in translation.