Esaay about myths translation

A Comment about Myths Translation

How do you translate “patetarro”? Or, how could you possibly translate “mohan”? Is a translation really possible? If you try enough, in the end, you may find aterm, a word or a combination of words that would give you something like an equivalent; but that wouldn’t be a proper translation (if such a thing exists). It would be a pointless attempt to give thereader an approximate idea about a completely different culture.

Once we are talking about specific cultural traditions that are, as a matter of fact, mutually untranslatable, the best thing todo (or at least according to our theory) is a “conservative translation”.

This means that, when you find a very specific term like those we have mentioned, you should not alter it. Instead, youshould write it down in italics in order to clarify that this word is, precisely, an untranslatable term.
Here, we will propose some conclusions about this topic (similarities between Irish andColombian traditions):

Of course, there are many differences between both traditions; as we said, the Celtic culture is a very ancient one, while the Colombian tradition began its formation process afterthe encounter between European and Aboriginal cultures, five hundred years ago.

However, similarities can be found if we examine the Celtic and Colombian legends.

A lot of things can be foundin common between many different mythical traditions throughout history and the world. Some of these common elements are concerned with themes, topics and characters and they are shared by a largenumber of civilizations.

There are some “superficial” elements in almost all legends, tales or myths; but, in a deeper sense there is a sort of common nature that brings together all mythicaluniverses. After all, myths are creations of the human mind, products of the structure of the human brain, something that all human beings -past and present- share.

Regarding themes, characters and other...