BEDA #10 Book Translations.

Hello blog!

Last night I was talking with Ariel about books, and how I might have to buy some books that I want to read in Spanish, because getting them in English is difficult in Mexico, sending books from the US to Mexico via interwebz is expensive and I don't think my parents would agree on paying 30 USD more for a second luggage full of books. I told her that I wasn't too happy about getting translations and this is why.

First of all, books are RARELY translated in Mexico, they are translated in Spain* or Argentina, I've seen some that are translated in Chile and Colombia, and so far just one of all the translated books I've bought or read has been translated in Mexico, and that one book is Looking for Alaska. Thanks John!!

Why don't I like translations?

Well, most of the books I read are fantasy or YA, this means it sometimes have slang, and this changes from country to country, but it is not just the slang that changes the name of things like cellphones or cake also changes from country to country, in the same way it changes in English, though in English you've got things like color and colour or mom and mum or bloody hell instead of ... I can't think of something for that one.

In Spanish changes can sometimes change little things in the canon or plot if you don't check first where the books was translated and if you don't know a bit of the vocabulary of that place.

For example, if you say in Mexico torta you'll get this mental image (image 1) but if you are in Spain or Argentina you'd get this mental image (image 2), this is one of many words that change, we don't call the computer and cellphones the same all over Latin America.

image 1 image 2

I know in English you don't have a different word for speaking to ¨you¨ in a polite way and to ¨you¨ in an informal way. In Spanish we do, we use ¨tu¨ for informal and ¨usted¨ for formal, and obviously the way we use the verbs change, well in Argentina and Colombia people talk to each other in a formal way, even between friends, so in the books it is the same.

Another thing that I don't like about translations, is that some times the words the person or people translating it change the mood of that part of the book, it doesn't happen a lot, but with some books that I've read in Spanish and English there are parts of the books that gave you a completely different idea than what the author was trying to get there, and I really don't like that.

Now, I've been reading translated books for a really long time, and I've had amazing Spanish teachers that have been there to explain to me the slang and words that didn't made sense, so now I could read any translated book easily, but usually it is just too distracting the way the book is translated for me to really enjoy it.

But, if you were someone like my sister or most of my cousins that doesn't like to read, and they for some miraculous reason find a book they are interested in and start reading it, they start finding words they have never even heard before if they haven't seen a Spanish or Argentinian show, so they stop reading, they want the book to be engaging and entertaining, and they don't want to learn, they associate the books to learning or homework so they don't like them, if they find words that they don't understand that means looking up words which means work which means they'd preferred playing a video game. All of this has been expressed to me by some of my cousins, my sis says she gets tired of shouting at me from her room so I can explain to her what the hell is supposed to be happening or what are they saying.

This is my problem with books, if there is a UK and a US edition and so on, why can't they be a Mexico edition and an Argentina edition and a Spain edition, usually in Latin America, and I think all around the globe too, the slang is similar between countries that are neighbors, well people translating the book, in case you haven't realized Argentina is way south from Mexico, our slang is influenced by the US and a tinny bit by Cuba and Guatemala and El Salvador. Not by Argentina or Chile and not by Spain.

So that is my problem with translations, up to this day I haven't been able to read Eragon because the translation is just too distracting, and I haven't found it in English here.

In the past few days I've been told to read Lord of the Rings, Percy Jackson series, The Mortal Instruments series, Uglies series and Leviathan series. I've seen most of this series in Spanish, the LotR I read a bit of it from different editions and didn't like any of them the rest I'll have to check out to see if they are worth buying them now and not getting them next time I'm in the US.

Days until LeakyCon: 93

Quote: Las personas mas locas del mundo son las que se atreven a tildar a otras de locas.

           The craziest people in the world are the ones that dare call others crazy.

* Most books translated in Spain are translated in the city of Barcelona.