Spanish Word of the Day

A review from Amazon.com
Excellent book, poor translation, March 30, 2001 (By Maria Elena)

This review is from: Harry Potter y la cámara secreta (Hardcover)
...The translators chose idiomatic expressions particular to certain regions of Spanish-speaking countries, when common words would have been satisfactory. As if that was not bad enough, they also chopped up the narrative. This is not an abridged version, but a truncated one, as if they were in a hurry to finish the book or save pages. If Spanish is your second language, be aware that you may not understand some terms. Just skip them and memorize the names of the translators, so you won't buy another book ruined by them.Yet. . . the story is fascinating and the suspense in the plot is captivating. Even if the Spanish rendition of loses flavor due to poor translation, I was amazed, surprised, thrilled and fascinated all over again, and I was especially overjoyed to share with my daughter the excitement of the conspiracies and the joy of reading. I just hope that when the fourth and fifth books are translated to Spanish, the Spanish-speaking people will get an un-butchered version.

And another review that says that the translation is perfectly adequate for a Castellano speaker.

Aconsejo no prestar demasiada atención a las críticas que se quejan del vocabulario castizo en contraposición al vocabulario americano. No hay prácticamente nada que un lector castellanohablante educado no pueda entender, y el castellano utilizado en el libro es adecuado para la trama. La traducción en sí, exceptuando algún resbalón con el subjuntivo, es gramaticalmente correcta. No conozco el original en inglés. El argumento abunda en lo descriptivo, con un ritmo de la acción lento durante casi toda la obra, concentrando la mayor parte del desenlace en los últimos 3 o 4 capítulos. La sensación de desasosiego que algunas críticas mencionan en este sentido es legítima. En general, la obra es medianamente entretenida y contribuye a adquirir vocabulario.

The reviews ask one question is QUE TE TENGO DICHO correct or is it QUE TE HE DICHO?

Quote: Pacomartin

And another review that says that the translation is perfectly adequate for a Castellano speaker.

Forgive my ignorance, but I still don't understand the difference between Castellano and Spanish. The Bueno Entonces videos used the two terms interchangeably.

Quote: Wizard

Forgive my ignorance, but I still don't understand the difference between Castellano and Spanish. The Bueno Entonces videos used the two terms interchangeably.

Maybe they are interchangeable. I;ve always seen them defined the same in dictionaries.

But in my experience they are more likely to say Castellano in South America and Europe and español in Middle America.

Another reviewer says: The translation is soooo Castillian.

Quote: Pacomartin

Maybe they are interchangeable. I;ve always seen them defined the same in dictionaries.

But in my experience they are more likely to say Castellano in South America and Europe and español in Middle America.

Another reviewer says: The translation is soooo Castillian.

I tend to think that snooty Spanish speakers from Spain and Argentina use the term Castellano. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I interpret that as a snub of Latin American Spanish. My Argentine tutor likes to use the term. I think once I used it with my Peruvian tutor and she looked perplexed, like I was suddenly speaking Greek.

Quote: Wizard

Forgive my ignorance, but I still don't understand the difference between Castellano and Spanish. The Bueno Entonces videos used the two terms interchangeably.

You would do well to take up history.

Historically Europe is a vast colelction of small territories ocuppied by tribes. Now and then some group rises, so to speak, to dominion over large quantities of small groups, like say Macedonia under Alexander, or Rome for a long time, or the Ostrogoths in Italy, or the Visigoths in Spain, etc. Each small group tends to have its own language and customs, and to keep it even when under the dominion of someone else.

Anwyay, by the late XVII Century nations along he lines of those that exist today began to be formed, but that process took some decades. Spain in aprticualr is and was divided into regions with different languages and customs. The dominant ones, eventually were Castilla and Aragon. An alliance between them ruled the Iberian peninsula for several centuries, eventually becoming the nucleus around where Spain grew (The famous "Catholic Kings" who sent Columbus on his merry, underequipped way to our side of the pond, were the Queen of Castilla and the King of Aragon).

Castellano is the language of Castilla. Now we call it Español, but it is the same thing.

Quote: Wizard

Careful, you don't want to make Voldermort angry.

So you missed the reference to buring paper...

All I know about Harry Potter is what they showed in one segment of a Simpsons Halloween Special. I take it then that the whole series is about Bart being a lousy magician jealous of Lisa.

Quote: Wizard

Quote: Pacomartin

Another reviewer says: The translation is soooo Castillian.

I tend to think that snooty Spanish speakers from Spain and Argentina use the term Castellano. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I interpret that as a snub of Latin American Spanish.

By definition Spain was originally a "region". The word, or some variant of it, existed for close to 2000 years before Spain as a kingdom was established in 1492. I know where my grandfather came from in Salamanca, there are still some people who do not speak "Spanish", but still speak some of the older Latin languages like Asturian, Leonese, Mirandese and Catalan. Leonese in particular is considered very important culturally in NW Spain. So in a sense Castellano differs from the other languages of Spain.

And as Nareed pointed out, there were multiple kingdoms, and the one that gave us the language was Castille (or Castle in English).

Argentina, of course, had much heavier immigration from Spain into the 20th century than Mexico.

Technically Spanish language and Castillian are the same thing, but as you can see from the quote that I put in, there are many people who use Castillian as short hand for either European Spanish or Rioplatanese Spanish.

As for "snooty", I don't think that it is exactly a secret that many people regard customs or words from Europe as more elevated than home grown western hemisphere dialects or customs. But people can't be criticized for simply using the word they grew up with. It is not an "affectation".

Thanks for the answer on the Castellano question.

To change the topic, I'd be interested in this translation I just had done.

Original English: The Ten Commandments of Gambling
Spanish Translation: LOS DIEZ MANDAMIENTOS DE LAS APUESTAS

The links at the bottom of the Spanish page I wrote myself, so the translator shouldn't be blamed for any errors there. Otherwise, I welcome all comments on the translation. The main question is whether or not the work is satisfactory to keep paying for?

I will let Nareed answer. But it might be helpful to look at the Spanish 10 Commandments

But if you look at the real 10 commandments of which there are multiple copies on the internet, the final commandment about not coveting your neighbor's goods (house, wife, etc.) is usually translates as: No codiciarás los bienes ajenos .

The RAE definition of codiciar seems straightforward cognate for covet.
English word covet is from Old French word coveitier

The translation of one of your rules seems simplistic:

Thou shalt covet good rules.
Debes desear las buenas reglas.

Why wouldn't you use the Spanish verb for "covet"?

Quote: Pacomartin

Why wouldn't you use the Spanish verb for "covet"?

You would have to ask the translator why she didn't choose codiciar. In the English I was going for the King James effect, using words like covet, thy, and shalt. However, I think she either didn't get the joke or felt it wouldn't translate well, so went with familiar words. I'll await Nareed's opinion on that before changing her translation.

She also translated my page on Rummy. It isn't ready yet, so let me just ask some questions.

Nareed did this translation of blackjack a while ago. You can see I was lazy and kept the same letters in my blackjack basic strategy that I used in English.



My question is what letters should I use in Spanish? In particular, what should I use for "no mas cartas" and I need a different letter other than D for either dividir o doblar.

Also, for my Rummy page, my translator translated "suited exceptions" as excepciones adecuadas. Any thoughts on why should go with adecuadas and do you have a better suggestion? FYI, I see in Nareed's translation of video poker, she uses the word palo for "suit" as in clubs, diamonds, etc..

Thanks in advance.