The Early Days of Interpretation

According to an article published in the Diário de Notícias,* William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, was performed on a ship anchored at Sierra Leone in 1607 – the first time it was staged outside of Europe.

 

This performance by a group of English sailors was for the benefit of an audience of African chiefs, but the novelty was that Lucas Fernandez, from the Temne people, provided a consecutive interpretation of the entire play to make sure the audience understood the plot.

 

The presence of interpreters during the Age of Discoveries was essential to ensure the successful establishment of contact and trade between peoples. Many of these interpreters were prisoners.

 

Nowadays, translation and interpretation agencies perform this important function to help with the translation and understanding of several languages. At Traductanet we take this obligation very seriously since we know that everything makes sense with our help.

 

Source: https://www.dn.pt/artes/interior/hamlet-traduzido-ha-400-anos-para-portugues-por-um-africano-5138351.html

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