definition of the interaction being a cita, and the collocation to make + appointment is the same in Spanish. I realise that I incurred loss in the fact that appointment has no connotations with the world of crime in English. However, I wonder how many ST readers would have heard of an apuntamiento in this context. In fact, the translation might have an equivalent effect on the TT audience as the original had on the ST one; this particular use of the word apuntamiento in the Source Language (SL) also seems unusual and exotic.

2.2. Connotative meanings

Another issue when translating cultural references are connotative meanings: associations which ‘over and above the literal meaning of an expression, form part of its overall meaning’ (Haywood, et al., 2009, p. 171). One example is the word Patria [60] in the short story ‘Bzzz’. The Spanish word is ideologically charged since it played a key role in the rhetoric of the Pinochet regime. The word is etymologically linked to ‘padre’ and thus Pinochet often used the term ‘patria’ (as opposed to nation) to evoke the image of him as father of the nation (McClennen, 2004). I simply could not evoke the historical context associated with Patria, however I translated it as fatherland to evoke this sense of parentage and emotional tie. Furthermore, by using a literal translation of the word, I remained faithful to the ST culture.

2.3. Historical context

I departed from my foreignizing strategy when I considered it necessary to provide the reader with more contextual information. ‘Bzzz’ is set in the period of Pinochet’s military dictatorship and the protagonist refers to el General [58] on several occasions. I decided to opt for an exegetic approach by specifying General Pinochet the first time that he is mentioned so that the reader can associate the protagonist’s behaviour with a specific time and location. In this instance, I believe that ‘there has been no actual adding to the semantic content of the message’, because my addition consists ‘in making explicit what is implicit in the [ST]’ (Nida, 1964, p. 231).

2.4. Names and forms of address