Spain. 18th century

Abstract

Prior to describing the translation situation in the 18th century, it should be noted that several factors led to its development, including the expansion of modern languages teaching, and the increasing presence of grammars, vocabularies and anthologies for both language learning and translation. French, because of historical and political reasons, becomes the first foreign language in Spain, and also the most translated; on many occasions, it also appears as an intermediary language for other less practiced languages (such as English and German). On the other hand, Latin continues to hold a predominant place in areas such as religion or medicine. The existence of a debate about translation and the figure of the translator is also observed, which sometimes gave rise to heated controversies. Regarding the translation reality, we start from non-literary texts (religious, humanistic, scientific and technical), since they represent the largest volume of translations, surpassing those of a literary type. When approaching the translation of literary texts, attention is drawn in the first place to the continuity of the classical Greco-Latin literature, even though that the presence of modern literatures is increasing, like French, which has been strengthening its position as the century progresses. There is also evidence of the permanence, especially in the theater, of Italian literature, which lost its presence in the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as the emergence (towards the end of the century) of English literature (especially Shakespeare and the novel). The place of other literatures (German, Portuguese) remains in the minority.