Practical 7 | Consumer-Oriented Text: Recipes

14 Abril 2026, 14:00 • Rui Vitorino Azevedo

Practical 7 focuses on translating two recipes from Mary Berry’s cookbook (Lemon Sole Florentine and Best-Ever Brownies) into European Portuguese for a cookbook aimed at Portuguese home cooks. The exercise is divided into three tasks.

In Task 1, students define their overall translation strategy, justifying choices around domestication versus foreignization (Venuti) and explaining how the target audience (non-professional home cooks) shapes those decisions. Since recipes are operative texts (Reiss), the translation must function as a usable instruction, which generally favors a domesticating approach: metric measurements, idiomatic Portuguese, and adherence to local recipe conventions (infinitive or imperative mood; headers like Ingredientes and Modo de preparação).

In Task 2, students produce full translations of both recipes, converting all imperial and cup measurements to metric, adapting oven temperatures to Celsius, and finding natural Portuguese equivalents for culturally specific ingredients such as double cream or lemon sole.

In Task 3, students select at least three translation decisions and analyse them using Vinay and Darbelnet's procedures (borrowing, transposition, equivalence, adaptation, and so on) explaining how each choice supports the overall strategy and serves the target reader. Good commentary decisions might include measurement conversion (adaptation), the handling of the term Florentine (borrowing or equivalence), the restructuring of complex English participial constructions into clean Portuguese imperatives (transposition), or the treatment of untranslatable texture descriptors like “fudgy.”

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Test #1

10 Abril 2026, 15:30 • Rui Vitorino Azevedo

Students completed the first continuous assessment test, which required them to perform a brief source text analysis, select an appropriate general translation approach using Newmark’s framework, translate an assigned excerpt, and provide a commentary demonstrating the application of at least five translation procedures, choosing from Newmark or Vinay and Dalbernet. This assessment evaluated students’ ability to analyze, strategize, execute, and critically reflect on their translation choices.

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Test #1

10 Abril 2026, 14:00 • Rui Vitorino Azevedo

Students completed the first continuous assessment test, which required them to perform a brief source text analysis, select an appropriate general translation approach using Newmark’s framework, translate an assigned excerpt, and provide a commentary demonstrating the application of at least five translation procedures, choosing from Newmark or Vinay and Dalbernet. This assessment evaluated students’ ability to analyze, strategize, execute, and critically reflect on their translation choices.

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Cultural Adaptation in Consumer Texts and Introduction to Translating the Boston Travel Guide

7 Abril 2026, 15:30 • Rui Vitorino Azevedo

I introduced Practical 6, a consumer-oriented travel guide to Boston, where students are required to outline and justify their chosen general translation method (direct or oblique approach). They must discuss potential translation challenges, considering cultural adaptation, stylistic differences, and genre-specific features, while identifying key aspects requiring special attention—such as idiomatic expressions, persuasive techniques, and descriptive language. As part of their translation, students will apply at least six procedures from Vinay and Darbelnet (1958/1995), justifying each choice with reference to genre conventions, cultural considerations, and impact on the target audience.

Students’ translations of the Boston travel guide were reviewed with emphasis on the text’s key nuances including cultural adaptation, idiomatic and figurative language, historical and local references, register and tone, and proper names. The primary translation procedure expected was oblique translation, specifically employing modulation, equivalence, and adaptation. Throughout our revision, attention was given to ensuring students maintained the promotional effectiveness of the original text while making it accessible and engaging for Portuguese-speaking readers.

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Cultural Adaptation in Consumer Texts and Introduction to Translating the Boston Travel Guide

7 Abril 2026, 14:00 • Rui Vitorino Azevedo

I introduced Practical 6, a consumer-oriented travel guide to Boston, where students are required to outline and justify their chosen general translation method (direct or oblique approach). They must discuss potential translation challenges, considering cultural adaptation, stylistic differences, and genre-specific features, while identifying key aspects requiring special attention—such as idiomatic expressions, persuasive techniques, and descriptive language. As part of their translation, students will apply at least six procedures from Vinay and Darbelnet (1958/1995), justifying each choice with reference to genre conventions, cultural considerations, and impact on the target audience.

Students’ translations of the Boston travel guide were reviewed with emphasis on the text’s key nuances including cultural adaptation, idiomatic and figurative language, historical and local references, register and tone, and proper names. The primary translation procedure expected was oblique translation, specifically employing modulation, equivalence, and adaptation. Throughout our revision, attention was given to ensuring students maintained the promotional effectiveness of the original text while making it accessible and engaging for Portuguese-speaking readers.

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