THE INTERPRETERS AND THE HISTORICAL FORMATION OF BRAZIL: THE FIRST FOUR CENTURIES OF A FORGOTTEN HISTORY

Abstract Brazil’s historical formation owes very much to the indispensable work of interpreters since the so-called ‘discovery’ until well advanced the 19th century. In this paper, we highlight the necessity of giving more visibility to interpreters and their contribution to Brazil’s cultural and linguistic history, in order to allow us to draw a more trustworthy picture of the complex relations between cultures, peoples and languages that characterized the country’s first four centuries. To do so, we emphasize the role these cultural agents have played for a re-writing of the translation history in Brazil. These agent, left aside or even invisible in general historiography, become here fundamental to the historical formation of Brazil in all its phases.

摘要 巴西的历史形成，离不开自所谓"发现"时代直至19世纪中后期口译员所开展的不可或缺的工作。本文着重强调，提升口译员群体的历史关注度并阐明其对巴西文化与语言史的贡献，乃是必要之举，如此方能更可信地描摹出塑造巴西最初四个世纪风貌的文化、族群与语言之间的复杂关联。为此，我们着重探讨了这类文化行动者在重构巴西翻译史进程中所发挥的关键作用。这些在既往主流史学编纂中被忽视乃至彻底隐身的行动者，如今已然成为巴西各历史发展阶段形成过程中的核心要素。