Writing
Trends
Translation
January 10, 2025
The challenge of translating neologisms in fantastic literature
The translation of literary works is an essential practice for the dissemination of cultures and ideas, allowing readers from different parts of the world to access fundamental texts of universal literature. However, when it comes to high fantasy books – those that feature entirely fictional worlds – such as those created by Brandon Sanderson in his The Stormlight Archive series (Os Relatos da Guerra das Tempestades, in Portuguese), the translation takes on an even more complex and challenging role. This is because, in addition to the conventional translation of the text, the translator must deal with the creation of fictional worlds, characters with their own cultures and names, and many instances of neologism, resulting in a rich invented terminology that has no direct equivalents in other languages.
When translating a text of this genre, the translator is faced with unique issues, such as the need to maintain the internal coherence of that world and, at the same time, adapt its terms to the culture of the target audience, after all, as Reiss and Vermeer (1984, 1991) say, all translation is guided by a scope.
When the author creates a term, they have a clear intention with it, which may make sense at that point in the story or only much later, making the translator’s job even more complicated. After all, how will they know which term will have a detailed etymological explanation in the future and how will they fit that into their translation? The answer is that there is no way to know, so every decision comes with a certain risk of not being entirely in accordance with some future element of the world-building. This article will analyze how this happened with some terms in the translation of Sanderson’s series.
The translation of Stormlight Archive
Stormlight Archive is one of the most acclaimed fantasy literary series today, with five volumes published in English and three in Portuguese by Editora Trama. It has a completely alien fantastic world, with its own fauna and flora – totally different from other fantasies, which normally use a medieval setting and in which the fantastic part is limited to the existence of magic and/or magical beings – which allowed the author to create many terms with multiple meanings and nuances that, when translated, needed to have their symbolic and conceptual loads maintained so that the reader could understand the impact of these words on the story.
The author, like many fantasy writers, created a unique vocabulary, in which each word, each name, is loaded with history. With this, the translation of a single term can affect the entire interpretation of a character or concept within their universe. Let’s start with the translation of “Shardplate” to “Fractal Armor”. The “Shardplate” is a magical armor that grants abilities and protection to its wearer. The term “fractal”, when inserted into the translation, not only captures the complexity of the armor, which is composed of complex layers and patterns, but also communicates the multifaceted and intricate nature of the piece, which is a central element in the culture and power of warriors in Roshar, in addition to referencing the “Shards”, which are essentially pieces of an ancient god that was fragmented long ago, considering the period in which the story takes place.
Another relevant example with a similar term is the translation of “Shardblade“, which became “Espada Fractal”. This translation choice likely intends to capture the idea that the sword is both a powerful weapon and a mystical artifact, whose effects go beyond simple battle. Thus, the use of “fractal” as a translation makes sense not only to reflect the complexity of the armor and the sword, but also to connect the concept with the thematic use of the word.
The translation of “Spren” to “Espreno” is also an interesting point. In the English text, “spren” is a term that has no direct equivalents in other languages. They are spiritual entities that exist on Roshar, linked to emotions, elements, and natural phenomena. The choice of “espreno” as a translation preserves the sound of the original term and maintains the idea of an ethereal and mysterious being. Although the word “espreno” does not have a pre-existing meaning, it helps to create the same sense of strangeness and mystery that the author sought to evoke.
Emotional effect
It is important to emphasize that, in the case of Stormlight Archive, the translation of the names of beings such as the “spren” should not be done merely literally, but rather by considering the emotional effect and the impact these entities have on the reader. The translator, therefore, needs not only to translate the literal meaning of the word, but also to convey the essence of the idea that the author sought to construct.
The translation of “Parshendi” to “Parshendianos” follows a similar logic. The name “Parshendi” is associated with a race of native beings from Roshar, and its translation to “Parshendianos” creates an identity closer to the phonetics and the feeling of a distinct people, without losing the idea of a foreign and complex culture. The choice of the suffix “-ianos” is not just a phonetic adaptation, but also reflects the attempt to maintain the sonority and the idea of a different people, with their own language and culture, in an effort to preserve the term’s identity in the context of the Portuguese language.
“Voidbringers” is another curious example to be analyzed. Translated as “Esvaziadores” (Voiders/Emptyers), the term refers to creatures that bring destruction and chaos to the world, being seen as evil entities. The word “Void” refers to emptiness, absence, the abyss, and “Esvaziadores” captures this idea of entities that bring destruction. The translation preserves the semantic load of the term, reflecting the threat posed by these creatures that try to corrupt and destroy the world. Although “Voidbringers” has a direct meaning related to the lack of something, the translator chose a word that, in the context of the Portuguese language, also carries a sense of negation, of something that erases and destroys, which aligns perfectly with the role of these creatures in the plot.
Translational choices
Within the universe of the series, there are the Radiant Knights, an organization of people with diverse powers; each “category” of power has a specific name that describes its main function — its Order. In the official translation, however, we have some rather misguided choices for the names of these classes, as throughout the story the author makes clear the importance of parallelism in various aspects of the world, especially in the terms.
To analyze the choice of translating “Windrunners” to “Corredores dos Ventos”, it is important to know that this term refers to characters capable of manipulating wind and flying using “Flow Manipulation”. The translation to “Corredores dos Ventos” conveys the idea of agile and fluid movement, essential characteristics of these characters. The word “corredores” also evokes a sense of speed and freedom, central elements for the Windrunners, who are described as fast and free in their ability to control the wind. So far, so good. The problem arises when we analyze the translation of “Skybreakers”, which became “Rompe-Céus”. As mentioned earlier, parallelism is extremely important, but it was lost here, since the first translation chose a subject + possessive + adjective structure, and the second changed to an amalgamation structure, using a hyphen. Aiming to maintain parallelism, all translations should follow the same pattern, which did not happen. The table below shows the translation choices made for the orders of the Knights Radiant.
| SOURCE LANGUAGE | OFFICIAL TRANSLATION |
|---|---|
| Windrunners | Wind Corridors |
| Skybreakers | Skybreaker |
| Dustbringers | Sprayers |
| Edgedancers | Cliff Dancers |
| Truthwatchers | Sentinels of Truth |
| Lightweavers | Teceluzes |
| Elsecallers | Alternauts |
| Willshapers | Plasmids |
| Stonewards | Guardians of the Stones |
| Bondsmiths | Binders |
Essentially, the translations are not incorrect, as each Portuguese term corresponds to a possible English equivalent. The problem is that each translation seems to have followed a different structure, perhaps due to the translator’s, editor’s, or even a consultant’s lack of knowledge of the need for parallelism in the work. This is an uncommon role in editorial teams for books of other genres, but very common in translation teams for fantasy books, precisely because of the specific rules of each fictional world, which must be followed to keep the translated text as close as possible to the original.
This shows that, besides understanding the source text’s language, it is also necessary to have knowledge about the fictional culture, since in this case parallelism is something that will be demonstrated throughout the series, not necessarily in a first or second volume. Thus, the problem in this case is not the translation choices, but rather the structure of the translation itself.
In summary: it is necessary to study the fictional universe a lot to make a good translation to the real universe.
This content was produced by:
Luan Henrique Lopes Ramalho
Graduated in English Language – Translation and Interpretation from Unimep and in Systems Analysis and Development from Anhanguera, he holds postgraduate degrees in Project Management and People Management from MBA USP/Esalq and works as the Projects team coordinator and project manager at Skylar, where he has been employed since 2018.
Who wrote this column
Skylar
