Spanglish, swearing and slang: Translating Junot Díaz’s “Fiesta 1980”

Abstract

This thesis explores three elements that can cause translation problems when trying to translate the works of Dominican-American author Junot Díaz: Spanglish (the mixture of Spanish and English), swearing and slang. These elements are studied in depth in the theoretical framework, both as phenomena as such and, as far as possible, as translation problems. The theoretical knowledge is then applied in the analysis of one of Díaz’s short stories, “Fiesta 1980”. Several solutions for the translation problems discovered in the analysis are considered in a separate chapter. The insights acquired by the reflective texts are then used to create a Dutch annotated translation of “Fiesta 1980”.