As is well known, the typical non-marked choice of theme varies
between Spanish and English; in Spanish, the verb is often in thematic
position, whereas English typically thematises a subject noun or pronoun.
The present paper discusses some of the main issues that arise
from this systemic difference between the two languages. Using an electronic
corpus of mainly journalistic texts, the paper looks at the different
thematic development of similar passages and looks at how far the
translator can maintain the ST thematic development in the TT and,
indeed, how desirable a goal that is.
