El paisaje lingüístico del Quijote: español, italiano y ‘el traducir de lenguas fáciles'

In this article we intend to propose a general reflection on the representation of languages and of translation in Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes, the masterpiece of Spanish literature from the early 17th century that has become part of the universal cultural heritage. By applying the modern sociolinguistic notion of linguistic landscape we try, firstly, to characterize, in a perspective we hope to be different from the ones offered in the extensive literature dedicated to the famous work of Cervantes, the richness of the linguistic and metalinguistic dimension displayed in the Quixote, as well as the centrality of the “language and translation” concepts in the creative process of the author. A second and more specific objective concerns a perhaps less explored aspect in the studies tackling the theme of language and languages in Don Quixote, namely, the reflection on the representation in this text of two Romance languages, Spanish and Italian, on the way of conceiving the relationship between these two sister languages, as well as on the process of “translating from easy languages”.