TRANSLATION STRATEGIES USED IN ALÁ E AS CRIANÇAS-SOLDADOS, BY AHMADOU KOUROUMA

Abstract

This article proposes a case study of the Brazilian translation of the novel Alá e as crianças-soldados (2003) written by Ivorian writer Ahmadou Kourouma. Initially, we will make a few considerations on the writer's literary production, the publication of his works in Brazil, and the insertion of the Malinke language in this narrative. As for translation analysis, we will study the role of footnotes left by translator Flávia Nascimento and, then, given the linguistic and cultural hybridity characteristic of the novel, we will analyze whether words and expressions from the Malinke language/culture were maintained or erased by the strategies used by the translator. In this context, we will use the theoretical support of concepts of translation foreignization and domestication (Venuti, 2002), as well as translation deforming tendencies (Berman, 2007) to guide the reflections on translational negotiations carried out in the target text. The research showed that by subverting Portuguese to the norm and logic of the Malinke language/culture, Brazilian translation distanced itself from a domesticating perspective, in which the cultural and linguistic traits of the source language are adapted to the target language/culture.