In light of the theoretical approaches to translating seen in this

course, discuss the importance or not, that the cultural dimension

and milieu of the source text has when deciding how to best
render your chosen text into the target language.
Listening to music is an activity that most people do in today´s
society. It's easier than anyone could have imagined to get
familiar with new musicians and their compositions.
Technological advances have taken a turn in the way we approach
listening to music; streaming platforms such as Spotify have
enabled us to listen to music in a more dynamic way. Thanks to
this, new bands and artists are emerging rapidly and with them
their lyrics too.
When analyzing a song there are two main aspects to take into
consideration: the music and the lyrics. Some musicians place
more value on the melodic aspect of a song, while others pay
more attention to the lyrics. Moreover, every artist has its own
style and way of approaching a song. Regarding lyrics, it is
inevitable not to think of cultural context and how influential it is
for song writers. Musicians tend to express their feelings about a
certain topic by writing down what they feel, and how they do it
is highly linked to the cultural context. Listening to the songs of a
musician who was born and raised in Europe is totally different
than listening the works of a musician who has lived most of his
life in South America.
There are songs that contain a great number of idiomatic
expressions or vocabulary typical of a specific region of the world
and it is extremely difficult for a non-native speaker to fully
comprehend such phrases. When facing the task of translating
such pieces of work, a wide range of difficulties will arise due to
the differences between cultures.
In this essay I will study the song "Anthem" by Argentinian
rapper "Lego Skillz" in order to show the challenges of translating
such culturally influenced work. In addition, I will take into
consideration the ideas of Lawrence Venuti to make comments.
This song presents a wide variety of typical expressions from
Argentina. Nevertheless, this artist employs several words from
the English world to provide a mixture between culture,
musicality and rhyming. Because of this, I believe that when
translating such work, it is pertinent to have in mind which
approach to use. Venuti states “Admitting (with qualifications
like “as much as possible”) that translation can never be
completely adequate to the foreign text, Schleiermacher allowed
the translator to choose between a domesticating method, an
ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to target-language
cultural values, bringing the author back home, and a foreignizing
method, an ethnocentric deviant pressure on those values to
register the linguistic difference of the foreign text, sending the
reader abroad.” (Venuti in Translation: Theory and Practice, a
Historical Reader, 2006, p.548). In this instance, I consider that it
is impossible to “domesticate” the text due to the vast number of
cultural expressions; there are certain words that do not have an
equivalent expression in the English language and trying to
domesticate them will end in
The following verses provide a good example of the usage of
typical expressions from the Argentinian cultural context:
Vengo del mate cocido y del mántenlo vivo
Si consigo escape en arte es pa' que rappers salten conmigo
Y se manden la parte
Yo sigo del under amante, pa' los más demandantes

The expression that needs to be explained in these verses is “mate

cocido”. The definition states that “El mate cocido es una
variación de la bebida tradicional similar al té conocida como
mate que es popular en América del Sur, particularmente en
Argentina” (Spiegato, nd). In other words, is a typical beverage
that is particularly drunk in Argentina. I strongly believe that it
would be impossible to find an equivalent expression to replace
this cultural drink because there is no such thing as “mate cocido”
in the English-speaking world.
Another expression that is pertinent to highlight and clarify its
meaning appears in the following verses:
Letras te traen imágenes y no son isologotipos
Te veo con la cabeza al piso condorito
Con esto te saco el bajón, pizza con Doritos
The author uses the words “condorito” and “bajón” which are
highly known in the region of South America. According to
Wikipedia “Condorito es el protagonista de la historieta chilena
homónima. El personaje es representado como un cóndor
antropomorfo (en alusión al escudo nacional de Chile). Condorito
es un cóndor antropomorfo que personifica y caricaturiza la
imagen del chileno de clase humilde que es alegre, siempre
dispuesto a celebrar con sus amigos y sacar partido trabajando lo
menos posible, pero a su vez honesto y de buenas intenciones.”
This means that “Condorito” (which is portrayed as a condor)
pays homage to Chile’s working-class individuals. In addition, the
implementation of the condor as the main character is because of
the national emblem (which contains such bird in it) and serves as
a way of representing the cultural influence of the character. I
believe that domesticating a character that contains such amount
of cultural influence would be, as Venuti mentions, “violence”
(Venuti in Translation: Theory and Practice, a Historical Reader,
2006, p.547). He mentions that “The violence of translation
resides in its very purpose and activity: the reconstitution of the
foreign text in accordance with values, beliefs and representations
that pre-exist it in the target language, always configured in
hierarchies of dominance and marginality, always determining the
production, circulation, and reception of texts” (547).
Regarding the definition of “bajón”, the “Diccionario Argentino”
provides several explanations. Nevertheless, the most accurate
one for this instance states “Sensacion insaciable del hambre
luego de noche agitada de alcohol y marihuana”. In this occasion
this term has an equivalent expression in English because it is
related to smoking marihuana which is an activity done all over
the world. The slang word which I consider portrays a correct
meaning for “bajón” is “munchies”. According to the urban
dictionary this means “The compelling and intense feeling of
hunger after smoking weed”. To sum up, this term has gone
beyond the barriers of the cultural context, providing a specific
explanation for it in both the Spanish-speaking culture and the
English-speaking culture.

In conclusion, the cultural context derives in the creation of

specific words for the specific activities that take place in a
region; South America promotes its own kind of activities and
vocabulary that differentiates and characterizes its own historical
background. In terms of translation, the difficulties arise when
facing the task of translating works that contain the influence of a
specific culture.
In 1823, the anonymous reviewer of William Stewart Rose’s
Orlando Furioso (as cited in Venuti in Translation: Theory and
Practice, a Historical Reader, 2006, p.551) stated that “The two
characteristics of a good translation are, that it should be faithful,
and that it should be unconstrained. Faithful, as well in rendering
correctly the meaning of the original, as in exhibiting the general
spirit which pervades it: unconstrained, so as not to betray by its
phraseology, by the collocation of its words, or construction of its
sentences that it is only a copy.” Considering these characteristics,
it would be completely inadequate to domesticate a work which
contains such specific cultural attributes; it would completely lose
its essence and the most important part: the cultural context. I
strongly believe that the best thing to do in these cases is to
provide a foreignized translation that contains a reference which
explains the meaning of the different words that belong to the
cultural vocabulary employed. Moreover, I believe that it would
be a great challenge translating this text and at the same time
preserving the musicality already given. As we have already seen
in class, Montezanti has done an outstanding job by translating
Shakespeare’s sonnets. In an interview he states that “toda poesía
es música, y si no es música, no es poesía” (Montezanti, M.
(2022, June 2). Sonetos amorosos del Renacimiento Inglés [Video
file]). In addition to this observation, I firmly believe that
maintaining musicality and rhyme when translating lyrics is not
just challenging but nearly impossible. If you are hoping to do
this, I wish you luck.

References
Venuti, L. (1993). ‘Translation as Cultural Politics: Regimes of
Domestication in English’ in Weissbort and Eysteinsson (Eds)
Translation: Theory and practice: a Historical Reader/ Oxford,
OUP 2006. (p. 546-557).
Musixmatch. (n.d.). Letra de Anthem de Lego Skillz. Retrieved
from https://www.musixmatch.com/es/letras/Lego-Skillz-Tomy-
Loops/Anthem
Spiegato. (n.d.). Mate cocido. Retrieved from
https://spiegato.com/es/que-es-el-mate-cocido
Wikipedia, La Enciclopedia Libre. (n.d.). Condorito (personaje).
Retrieved from
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condorito_(personaje)
Diccionario Argentino. (n.d.). Bajón. Retrieved from
https://www.diccionarioargentino.com/term/Baj
%c3%b3n#:~:text=Diccionario%20Argentino%20Revisa%20el
%20significado%20de%3A%201.%20Baj%C3%B3n,
%22%C2%A1Tuve%20un%20baj%C3%B3n%20y%20he
%20estado%20muy%20triste%21
Urban Dictionary. (n.d.). Munchies. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Munchies
 LOL especial FILBA 2022-Miguel Angel Montezanti. (2022,
June 2). Sonetos amoroso del Renacimiento Ingles. [video file].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKnnF5VW7aE