TRANSLATING VALONGO: TRANSLATION OF THE NOMINATION OF VALONGO WHARF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE FOR INSCRIPTION ON THE UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST

Abstract

This text analyses the translation of a passage from the nomination dossier of Valongo Wharf Archaeological Site for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List through the lens of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The wharf, discovered in 2011 during the redevelopment of the centre of Rio de Janeiro, was built in 1811 to receive enslaved Africans in the country. The analysis focuses on a passage from the dossier that describes the arrival and processing of the newly arrived Africans in Rio de Janeiro and the translations produced by students of translation. Parts of the text where the students’ translations diverge from the original are analysed, bringing to light some key aspects of the text, such as the use of nominalization and passive verb forms, erasing the agency of the historical actors and distancing the authors from the events they are narrating. Subtle shifts identified in some of the translations, such as the exchange of passive constructions for verbs in the active voice or vice-versa, reveal the agency or interference of the translator in the representation of the source text.