Lucia Cinato

Tradurre un corpus di memoria storico-biografica. Strategie di semplificazione e adattamento per il pubblico italiano

Introduction

Tradurre un corpus di memoria storico-biografica. Strategie di semplificazione e adattamento per il pubblico italiano. Analisi della traduzione tedesco-italiano del corpus FGOP (storie di fuga dalla Prussia orientale). Esplora strategie di adattamento e semplificazione per la memoria storico-biografica, rendendola accessibile al pubblico italiano.

Abstract

This article presents the German-Italian translation of the FGOP corpus Fluchtgeschichten aus Ostpreußen (refugee stories from Eastern Prussia), which consists of autobiographical narrative interviews conducted between 2015 and 2017 with Germans from Eastern Prussia and related to stories of flight and expulsion (Flucht- und Vertreibung) that occurred at the end of World War II (Cinato 2020). The approximately ten-hour interviews with three siblings who survived the war with very different experiences are available in the Datenbank für Gesprochenes Deutsch (DGD) of the Leibniz Institut für Deutsche Sprache (IDS) in Mannheim (corpus FGOP, escape stories from Eastern Prussia), and are part of a project at the University of Turin involving their transcription using the GAT2 system (Selting 2009), as well as their translation into Italian, the latter for the purpose of scientific research dissemination (activities of Public Engagement). The analysis offered herein aims, on one hand, to highlight the most important linguistic aspects of the autobiographical narrative interview text type and, on the other hand, to show the translation strategies and difficulties that one encounters when translating. Particular attention is paid to the adaptation strategies that need to be adopted for the Italian public who does not know these facts at all or knows very little about them. The translator thus needs to provide explanations and clarifications linked both to the family and the historical-institutional spheres. Very often, adaptation also means a simplification of the translated text, due to the many characteristics of spoken language, the tendency towards standardization and the mitigation of the stylistic and/or sociolinguistic variations inherent in the translations (Toury 1995). Selected examples are thus used to check what type of adaptation is necessary for this type of text and what simplification strategies can result from this process.

Review

This article addresses a highly relevant and timely topic in both translation studies and public history: the translation of historical-biographical memory, specifically focusing on the sensitive narratives of flight and expulsion from Eastern Prussia at the end of World War II. The paper introduces the German-Italian translation project of the FGOP corpus, comprising extensive autobiographical narrative interviews. Its primary aims are twofold: to delineate the distinctive linguistic features inherent in such oral history accounts and, crucially, to examine the complex translation strategies employed, particularly adaptation and simplification, when rendering these narratives accessible to an Italian public largely unfamiliar with this specific historical context. The project's emphasis on scientific research dissemination and Public Engagement underscores its commitment to broadening historical understanding. The methodology centers on a rich corpus of approximately ten hours of interviews with three siblings, transcribed using the GAT2 system, thereby grounding the analysis in authentic spoken language data. A key strength lies in its explicit focus on the specific challenges of translating for a target audience with a significant knowledge gap. The article promises to detail how translators provide essential explanations and clarifications spanning both personal-familial and broader historical-institutional spheres. Furthermore, it explicitly links adaptation to simplification, acknowledging the inherent characteristics of spoken language and the potential for standardization and mitigation of stylistic variations, drawing on theoretical insights such as those proposed by Toury. The use of selected examples to illustrate these adaptation and simplification strategies will be critical in demonstrating the practical application of the theoretical framework. This study is poised to offer valuable insights into the practicalities of translating oral history and the ethical considerations involved in mediating historical memory across cultural and linguistic divides. While the abstract effectively outlines the challenges and proposed solutions, a deeper exploration of the *criteria* for simplification and the potential impact of such strategies on the nuances of the original narratives would be beneficial. Specifically, understanding how the balance between ensuring accessibility for the Italian public and maintaining fidelity to the speakers' original register and emotional tenor is struck will be key. The findings will undoubtedly contribute significantly to discussions around corpus translation, oral history dissemination, and the role of translation in shaping collective memory, making it a compelling read for scholars in translation studies, history, and sociolinguistics.

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