The translation of foreign language elements in Arnon Grunberg’s The Jewish Messiah
In this article the author examines the cases of code-switching in Arnon Grunberg’s De joodse messias, focusing on German and particularly Hebrew/Yiddish elements. The various ways in which the Portuguese, Spanish and Italian translators cope with these foreign elements are exemplified and discussed. Essentially, the three translations show three different approaches. The first translation makes an overall use of explanatory footnotes. The second adopts a slightly mixed approach, but basically uses a glossary, at the end of the book, for the Hebrew/Yiddish elements. The third shows a mix of strategies, using footnotes or small glosses in the text and omitting other elements. These different translation approaches show alternative ways of foregrounding or backgrounding the translator’s voice.
