Date of Award

Fall 1999

Document Type


Degree Name



Humanities and Social Sciences

First Advisor

Nancy Steffen-Fluhr

Second Advisor

Robert S. Friedman

Third Advisor

Patricia Castro


This thesis examines the translation of a popular American computer book and its translation into Brazilian Portuguese to determine whether current discourses on computers and technology are being literally translated or culturally adapted for their target audience. The selected text adopts a humorous approach to learning new software applications and replaces complicated technical explanations with culturally-bound examples that are inextricably tied to American attitudes toward technology.

An analysis of the translation reveals that the ideologies and social codes at work in the book threaten to impede the Brazilian reader's understanding due to the translator's failure to adapt the text for the target audience.