A Scandal in Bohemia : a contrastive analysis of two spanish retranslations and its translation procedures from the book The adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Abstract

This study shows a contrastive analysis of two Spanish translations of the same tale, titled Escandalo en Bohemia, the older one appears in the book Aventuras de Sherlock Holmes, which was published in 1982 by Circulo de Lectores in Barcelona, and the newer one is from the book Las Aventuras de Sherlock Holmes published by Terramar ediciones in 2009 in Buenos Aires, both based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s tale A Scandal in Bohemia, originally published in 1892 by George Newnes Ltd in London as part of the book The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, with the purpose of examining the differences in translation strategies and translation procedures used while assessing the applicability of Berman’s Retranslation Hypothesis for this case. Drawing on Molina and Hurtado’s taxonomy of translation procedures, the analysis focuses on a qualitative approach to identify, classify, and compare the procedures employed in each version. The quantitative component presents the frequency and distribution of procedures, while the qualitative analysis examines representative segments of the texts to illustrate how specific procedures were chosen and how they are linked to broader translation strategies such as domestication and foreignization. The findings reveal that modulation and transposition are the most frequently used procedures in both translations, whereas literal translation, although present, decreases in relative frequency in the later version. Contrary to the expectations of the Retranslation Hypothesis, the 2009 retranslation does not exhibit a systematic change toward greater source-text orientation or foreignization. These results contribute to descriptive translation studies by providing empirical evidence that supports critical perspectives questioning the universality of the Retranslation Hypothesis.