The Translation of Multilingual Chicano Poetry into French: A Case Study

Our critical analysis of the translation of some of Alurista’s multilingual poems included in Vous avez dit Chicano (1993), the first anthology of Chicano poetry published in France, identified ethnocentric translation tendencies, particularly with respect to the problem of the linguistic hybridization of the original text. Our conclusion is that the translator, conditioned by parameters of intelligibility and acceptability, as well as by a reluctance toward language mixing, an attitude typical of French linguistic protectionism, opted for a monolingual, standardized translation that distorts the text and prevents the reader from discovering the hybrid dimension that is so important for Alurista and the Chicano population.