*
– Hey, there are more
and more flying animals
around.
– Even money is becoming
more and more volatile.
I came across this cartoon by Argentine author Fernando Rocchia and faced a surprising translation challenge.
A bit of context: “mosquito” is the insect, while “mosca”, besides referring to the fly, can also mean cash, as in this case (hence, the author put the word in quotation marks). So, on the one hand, we have the natural context, and on the other, the financial one.
The translation I chose, while maintaining the reference to these two contexts, set aside the names of the two insects, and opted for a generalisation. In fact, “flying animals” is a hypernym because it includes both mosquitoes and flies. At the same time, market volatility is a financial term, making it suitable to reflect the second meaning of “mosca”.
Therefore, at least in English, this strategy works well as it manages to convey the double meaning of the original words. If the cartoon were to be translated into another language, different challenges might arise, thus requiring alternative solutions.