TRANSLATION OF SPANISH THEATRICAL TEXTS INTO HUNGARIAN. EXPERIENCES OF A LITERARY TRANSLATION COURSE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SZEGED (2016-2023)

At the Department of Hispanic Studies of the University of Szeged (Hungary) I have been teaching a seminar on literary translation for several years. In this workshop, we carry out two types of work with the students: on one hand, we compare literary texts in Spanish with their existing Hungarian translations and, on the other hand, we pay particular attention to practice, i.e. we translate theatrical texts in Spanish into Hungarian. For this work we always choose a text that is current both in its subject matter and in its connection with an event organised by our department: from a selection of 23 Spanish short plays, through three Mexican plays on the theme of migration, a drama chosen in connection with the controversies surrounding the exhumation of Franco, and another to pay homage to the octogenarian Sanchis Sinisterra, we reach the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York and the eightieth anniversary of the death of the poet Miguel Hernandez. In my paper I would like to present the reasons for choosing the texts and the specific dramas, the development of the work and the difficulties encountered by the students during the translation process.