An approach to the teaching of neutral Spanish in literary translation

Abstract

Several studies have suggested that the use of neutral Spanish is one of the norms in the field of literary translation in the Spanish-speaking publishing market. The demand for translators to use a neutralising variant of Spanish is a reality on the labour market, and it might be advisable for students to reflect on the use of this variant in literary translation classes. It is possible to develop students' critical thinking with respect to the neutralisation of Spanish, as well as the necessary skills to carry out translations that are less dialectally marked. To this end, this article provides, on the one hand, a series of guidelines, sources and tools to familiarise students with this phenomenon through the identification of the different diatopic varieties of Spanish and the selection of the most widespread linguistic uses in the Spanish language. On the other hand, it offers a set of didactic applications to work with students on the use of neutral Spanish when translating literature.