Yes, once again I've tried to find out how translators deal with all those odd expressions, idioms and weird ways of putting things that we English use when they try to turn them into Spanish. So far I've done Catch 22/Trampa 22..
lost-in-translation.html
Then I did Guillermo el Superhombre ...
the-spanish-version-of-william-brown.html
and then ...... the Spanish version of the first Harry Potter book ...
lost-in-translation-88-harry-potter.html
Crumbs ... how busy I have been .... anyway, as I said, it's time for Roald Dahl to come under the microscope ....... we're going to look at The Twits/Los Cretinos this time .... let's see how the translator dealt with all this stuff ....
You can have a wonky nose ....
... Puedes tener una nariz deforme ....
You can bet your life Mrs Twit knew all the tricks ...
Puedes apostar tu vida a que la señora Cretino se conocía todos estos trucos ...
You'd better be careful ... when I see you starting a plot, I watch you like a wombat...
..Ten cuidado - dijo la señora Cretino - porque cuando veo que empiezas a tramar algo te vigilo como un búho ...
I've got eyes everywhere, so you'd better be careful ...
... Tengo ojos por todas partes, así que ándate con cuidado.
To pay her back for the glass eye in his beer ...
... Par vengarse por lo del ojo de cristal en la jarra ....
I'll bet it's that giant Skillywiggler ...
... Apostaría a que es ese Gigante Saltarín ...
It's not as good as the ordinary kind ... it's too squishy...
.. no son tan buenos como los normales ... son demasiado escuridizos ...
You grizzly old grunion !You rotten old turnip !You filthy old frumpet ! ...
.... ¡ Viejo gruñon! ¡ Viejo cebollino podrido ! ¡ Asquerosa antigualla mugrienta !
I'll swish you to a swazzle ! I'll swash you to a swizzle ! I'll gnash you to a gnozzle !
... ¡ Te sacudiré hasta hacerte cachitos ! ¡ Te trituraré hasta hacerte picadillo ! Te machacaré hasta hacerte una pulpa !
The glue he used was something called HUGTIGHT....
.... La cola que usaba era algo llamado PEGAMÍN .
.. they keep out all the nosey children ..
....... ellos mantienen alejados a los cochinos niños fisgones.
The Roly-poly Bird to the Rescue
El Pájaro Gordinflón viene al rescate.
Muggle-Wump and his family longed to escape ...
.... Chimpa y su familia ansiaban escapar ...
Two fearsome frumptious freaks !
... dos monstruos vejestorios y cobardes ...
It gives me the shudders ..
......... me da escalofríos .
Obviously, the translator has done a good job ... and you can see that he/she has been flexible in the way each of these has been approached ... sometimes being very literal and straightforward, sometimes being more colloquial . And I think the owl is better than the wombat. I say he/she because, remarkably, the translator is not given a mention ! Not that I can find anyway. Also , it's rather odd that the original title of the book is given as " The Twist" !!
Anyhow, it's a brilliant book to read, full of insults, arguments, random acts of violence and lots of silliness and ingenuity.
And now, music ... now, is it called "minus N = 1", or "N = 1", or is it saying that Miss Caffeina minus one equals zero ?
Misterioso, no ?
Deberia de aprender
A ir aterrizando
Y desenvolver
Todas esas noches que no vamos a tener
Vete preparando
Sé lo que nos va a pasar
Vamos a evitarnos
Vamos a desarropar
Todos los abrazos
Vamos a jugar
A esperar a ver quién deja antes de llamar
Cuando todo vaya mal
Y sé lo que nos va a pasar
Sé lo que nos va a pasar
Sigues esperando que suceda algo que nos acabe separando
Tramo y solución
De nuestra batalla de cabeza y corazón
Sigo peleando
Es lo que nos va a pasar
Vamos a perdernos
Vamos a desaprender
Todos los secretos
Vamos a esperar
A que el tiempo haga su trabajo
Y olvidar
No debemos arriesgar
Es lo que nos va a pasar
Es lo que nos va a pasar