RV: Vineland transaltion

[Saurio]

-----Mensaje original-----
De: Jedrzej Polak <jedpolak at mac.com>
Para: pynchon-l at waste.org <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Fecha: Jueves 25 de Mayo de 2000 11:37 AM
Asunto: Re: Vineland transaltion


>As a professional translator, I'm in the position to tell you that any
>translation sucks
Well, I translated for profit for several years, so maybe I also qualify as
a professional translator.
And yes, any translation sucks, that´s why the italians say traduttore
tradittore (my italian is not so good, maybe there´s an extra t), or, in
plain english, translator traitor.
I critiziced Vineland translation not because it is not 1:1 correct, but
because the guy who did it, in the event of chosing two or more valid words
to translate one, he (it seems) always decided for the most difficult,
uncommon, unfamilar one.
Two examples, maybe the most "striking":
- The Jimi Hendrix´s classic Purple Haze is translated as Calima Púrpura.
Well, purple=púrpura, right, and calina (not "caliMa") is a word for haze,
but also are the more familiar, common ones "niebla" or "bruma". A "calima"
(with "m") is a string of corks used as buoys (at least is what my
dictionary - not a very trustful one, sorry - says), so not only uses the
most "difficult" word for haze but also does it wrong.
- Bigfoot is mentioned. If you see tv you surely heard it translated as Pie
Grande, that is, the most straight forward way, since Foot=Pie and
Big=Grande. Well, in Vineland you read it translated as "Patagón". A Patagón
is an indian native of Patagonia (or, to be accurate, the region Patagonia
is called that way because Patagones lived there). The Patagones were called
that way because they had big feets (the truth=they used big leather
sock-like boots that made their feets look bigger), so, yes, Big Foot could
be a "Patagon" but, was it necessary?

The thing is that spanish (from Spain) translators from major editorials are
(sometimes) awfully "professional", almost "language bureaucrats", a slighty
better device than Altavista´s Babel Fish. They (it seems) "just don´t
care", they don´t read (interpret) the text, just make the passage from one
tongue to another. And, beware!, if they have to use slang. They and the
gang from their neighbourhood only get the meaning. (i´m exagerating, maybe
in the near neighbourhoods also get it, je je)

It is a long discussion, very complex, maybe soon I continue it.

>equivalents of a given term in a target language. To put you to test:
please
>find a 1:1 Spanish, or any other at that,  equivalent of a "Tupperware
>party". Gotcha!


"Reunión Tupper", gotcha twice, pido gancho, el que me toca es un chancho!

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