Translation analysis of academic texts in the human sciences: A case study

Abstract

With the purpose of internationalisation, present-day academic research is being largely published or translated into English. In Brazil, there are several bilingual publications in all academic fields available on SciELO Portal. In areas related to the Human Sciences, the necessity of translating cultural references tends to be more frequent than in the Natural and 'Hard' Sciences. Research in the Human Sciences focuses primarily on cultural issues such as beliefs, rituals, behaviours, habits, etc. This article presents a case study of a bilingually published research article on the History of Brazilian slavery. The analysis is based on how Brazilian cultural references are represented in English and the possible effects this may cause in the target text audience. Considering the specificities of academic texts in the Human Sciences, our theoretical framework is based on, on the one hand, Intercultural Studies and, on the other, German Functionalist Translation Theory. Results show the role of the translator in the case of texts in the Human Sciences as an active contributor concerned with his/her international audience.