Mona Baker & Gabriela Saldanha. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (2nd edition)

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Braziliantradition

The180millioninhabitantsofBrazil,thelargestcountryinLatinAmerica,areof

mixeddescent:BrazilianIndian,African,AsianandEuropean.Buttheysharea

commonlanguage,Portuguese,whichistheofficiallanguageofBrazil.Brazilis

thereforepartoftheLusophone,orPortuguesespeakingcommunity,which

includesPortugalanditsformerAfricancolonies:Angola,Mozambique,

GuineaBissauandtheislandsofSãoTomé,CapeVerdeandPríncipe.

Earlyhistory:sixteenthtoeighteenthcentury

ThehistoryofBrazilisahistoryoftranslationsandoflinguisticchange.Its

documentationstartswiththelandingonBrazilianshoresofthePortuguesefleet

commandedbyAdmiralPedroÁlvaresCabral(1467–c.1520)on21April

1500,thefirstundisputedvisitbyEuropeanstoBrazil.Havingclaimedthese

westernlandsforthePortugueseCrown,Cabral,thinkingthattheywerean

island,initiallycalledthemIlhadeSantaCruz,orthe‘IslandoftheHoly

Cross’.Withinafewyears,thelandhadcometobeknownasBrazil,because

ofthepaubrasil,or‘brazilwood’,thatwasfoundthereinabundance.Since

thiswoodproducedareddyethatwasdifficulttoobtaininEurope,the

Portuguesesoonstartedsendingexpeditionsouttothenewcontinenttofind

waysofexploitingit.

WhenthePortuguesearrivedinBrazil,theyfoundapopulation,accordingto

varioushistorians,ofbetweenoneandfivemillionnatives,leadinganeolithic,

seminomadiclife.LiketherestoftheindigenouspopulationoftheNewWorld,

thenativesofBrazilwerecalledíndiosbyChristopherColumbus,whoapplied

thismisnomertothembecausehe‘thoughthehadsailedsofarwestthathehad

reachedIndia’(Partridge1966:308–9).TheBrazilianIndiansspokethousands

ofdifferentlanguagesanddialects,whichhavenowbeenclassifiedbylinguists

andanthropologistsinto102languagegroupsandthreelargelinguisticfamilies:

Tupy,MacroGeandArawak.Thislinguisticvariety,whichwasaccompanied

byequallyvariedcultures,religions,cosmogoniesandoraltraditions,ledtothe

developmentofatleasttwolinguaefrancae:Abanheenga,spokenonthecoast,

andKariri,spokeninthenortheasternhinterland.Giventhatthelanguagesin

questionlackedwritingsystems,anylinguisticexchangeswhichtookplace

betweenIndiantribesarelikelytohaveincludedoraltranslation.

Thefirstinterpreters

ThefirstrecordeddocumentaboutBrazilisaletterwrittenbyPeroVazde

Caminha,thescribeinCabral’sfleet,tothePortugueseking,ManuelI(1475–

1521),on1May1500torelatethefindingofnewlands(Caminha1966;

Cortesão1967).Thesamedocumentalsorecordsatranslationact:itdescribes

howthePortugueseandIndiansattemptedtocommunicatewitheachotherby

meansofgestures,andhowadeportee,AfonsoRibeiro,wasleftonshorewith

theIndianstolearntheirlanguage.Italsoreportsthatanotherdeporteeandtwo

sailorsdesertedtheexpeditioninordertoremainwiththeIndians.Fromthen

on,everyexpeditionthatwenttoBrazilleftbehindadventurersanddeportees

wholearnedtheIndianlanguagesandwhothenactedasinterpretersbetween

IndiansandEuropeans.Thesemenwerecalledlínguas,or‘tongues’,andtheir

numberscontinuedtogrowduringearlycolonialtimes.

ForemostamongsttheselínguaswereJoãoRamalhoandDiogoÁlvares.

Ramalho(d.1580)

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wasaPortugueselawyerwhowasshipwreckedoffthecoastofBrazil.Helived

atPiratininga,inthehighlands,nearthemoderndaySãoPaulo,wherehe

formedahalfPortuguese,halfIndianvillage.HethenmetMartimAfonsode

Souza(c.1500–64),whohadbeensenttoestablishthefirstPortuguese

settlementinBrazil,andthetwomenjoinedforcesinfoundingSãoVicentein

1532onthecoastoftheSãoPauloprovince.DiogoÁlvares(1450–1557),

anothershipwreckedPortuguese,wasnicknamedCaramurú,or‘firemaker’,

bytheIndiansafterhesupposedlysavedhisownlifebyanimpressivedisplay

ofmusketry.HereturnedtoPortugalbrieflywithhisIndianwifebuteventually

settledinBrazil,wherehehelpedThomédeSouza(c.151573)establishthe

newcityofBahiain1549.Hisexploitsarecommemoratedin‘OCaramurú’,an

epicpoemwrittenbytheBrazilianpoetJosédeSantaRitaDurão(1721–84)in

1781.

Thefirsttranslators

AnewlinguisticphasebeganinBrazilwiththearrivaloftheJesuitfathersin

1549.TheJesuitssetouttoconverttheIndianstoChristianityandturnthem

intoobedientsubjectsofthePortugueseCrown.TheIndianswhoinhabitedthe

BraziliancoastbetweenthepresentdaystatesofAmazonasinthenorthand

SantaCatarinainthesouthspokeavarietyoflanguageswhichbelongedtothe

Tupyfamilyandusedalinguafranca,whichtheycalledAbanheengaor

Abanhéem,forintertribalcommunication.TheJesuitssawtheadvantagesto

begainedfromadoptingthislanguageintheirmissionaryeffortsanddid

everythingintheirpowertolearnit;theyalsowrotegrammarsforit,basedon

theLatinmodel.ThissimplifiedformofthelanguagewasnamedNheengatu,or

‘beautifullanguage’,andwasusedforcommunicationbetweenIndiansand

Europeans,and,eventually,amongstEuropeansinBrazil.

Translationsofreligioustextssoonbegantoappear,withtheJesuitsthus

becomingBrazil’sfirsttranslators.FatherAzpicueltaNavarro(d.1557)

translatedtheSummadadoutrinacristã,‘SummaryofChristianDoctrine’,

fromPortugueseintoNheengatu.UponNavarro’sdeath,FatherJoséde

Anchieta(c.1533–97)tookoverastheexpertinnativetongues.Hewrotethe

ArtedagramáticanalínguamaisusadanacostadoBrasil(‘Artofthe

grammarofthemostusedlanguageonthecoastofBrazil’),initiallyreproduced

inmanuscriptformandlaterprintedinCoimbra,Portugal,in1595.In1618,

FatherAntôniodeAraújo(1566–1632)translatedthecatechisminto

Nheengatu;itwaspublishedinLisbonasCatecismonalínguabrasílica,or

‘CatechismintheBrazilianlanguage’.

Linguaefrancae

Indianlanguageswerenotusedforreligiouspurposesonly;theywereusedto

conqueranddominatethenativesofBrazil.Startingin1531,whenthefirst

foraysintotheinteriorofwhatwastobecometheBrazilianterritorytookplace,

interpreterswhospokeNheengatuandotherIndianlanguagesweresentalong

withtheexpeditionsthatsetouttocaptureIndianslavesandfindprecious

stones.MémdeSá(c.1500–72),GeneralGovernorofBrazilbetween1557

and1572,senttheCastilianinterpreterFranciscoBruzodeEspiñosowithone

suchexpeditionin1564.DiogodeCastroactedasinterpreterforanothersuch

expeditionin1578.

EvenasthePortugueseandBrazilianexplorerstriedtoconquertheBrazilian

interior,BrazilfacedincursionsandinvasionsbyFrance,HollandandEngland

fromasearlyas1503anduntil1887.ThereforeFrench,Dutch,Englishand

Spanish,whichwaswidelyusedinPortugalbytheeducatedclassesfor300

years(GonçalvesRodrigues1992:27),alsohelpedtostrengthenatraditionof

multilingualismandtranslationthroughoutcolonialtimes(Houaiss1985:94).

Educationduringthatperiod,anduntil1759,wasbilingual.AttheJesuit

colleges,childrenweretaughtPortugueseandNheengatu,butthelanguageof

hearthandhomewasNheengatu.Florence(1941:174)notesthat‘in1780,the

ladiesfromSãoPaulotalkednaturallyinthelinguafrancaofBrazil,whichwas

thelanguageoffriendshipanddomesticlife’(translated).Suchwasthe

widespreaduseofNheengatuthatinterpretersbetweenitandPortuguesewere

neededincourtsoflaw.However,SebastiãoJoséCarvalhoeMeloPombal,

theMarquisofPombal(1712–82),Portugal’sWarandForeignAffairs

MinisterduringthereignofJoséIandvirtualdictatorofPortugalandits

coloniesfrom1750to1777,fearedthegrowingpower