Hi, multilingual book club members! I'm writing this post in English, my native language, because I figured I could reach more of you that way. I'm sure it will be read by many more people than all my posts in Galego combined, LOL. But thank you very much to those of you who do read my Galego posts even if you don't speak Galego!
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to compare the translations into different languages of passages from the book that appear to be "untranslatable". I'm a professional translator myself, so I find these things fascinating. So far, I've worked mostly with legal and governmental documents, but my goal is to transition into literary translation this year.
That being the case, I've had translation in the back of my mind while reading La Sombra del Viento, and several times I've come across passages that made me think, "How on Earth would I translate that?!". Carlos Ruiz Zafón's writing is very poetic, and he often plays with the words in a way that just wouldn't carry over into another language. Here's an example:
[Spoiler alert: The quote below is from chapter 6 of part 1 of the book. It introduces a new character, but I don't think the quote in isolation gives away anything about the plot.]
"No seas malicioso, Daniel. Seguro que Adrián te cae divinamente."
Como un piano de cola desde un séptimo piso, pensé.
In Spanish, the verb "caer" means "to fall", but when used in relation to a person it doesn't mean that the person falls on top of you. Rather, it means that you like them, that they make a good impression on you and you get along well with them.
So the meaning of the first line, spoken by Clara is, "Don't be mean, Daniel. You're sure to get along great with Adrián."
And, running with this image of Adrián "falling" on him, Daniel thinks to himself, "Like a grand piano from a seventh-floor apartment".
If I were translating La Sombra del Viento, I really don't know how I would tackle this passage, and I'm very curious to see what other translators have done. If you're reading the book in a language other than Spanish, please leave the translation of this passage in the comments below!
If you find this kind of analysis interesting, maybe this can be the first in a series of posts on "untranslatables". I have a couple more I've collected so far.
Good initiative, Wendy. I'll keep an eye out for future posts.
I think this is very interesting. In Bulgarian the translation is word by word. It is so interesting that "caerse" is "допада ти" in Bulgarian. But "допадам" derives from "падам" (fall) and "допадам" literary means "I am falling last meters before the end". So I really imagine a piano falling last meters before crash on me. Both Bulgarian and Spanish verbs are reflexive. te cae = допада ти
@Nnavi Ah, so the wordplay works in Bulgarian too? That's fascinating!
In Romanian, the translation is awesome. It also uses the word cădea (to fall) and uses an expression "A-i cădea cuiva (cu) tronc (la inimă)", which means word by word: "to fall with a bang to the heart of someone", and would be translated with "to like someone on the spot". "tronc" is an onomatopea which imitates the sound of something crashing after a fall. Here's the text of this passage: "Nu fi maliţios, Daniel. Sigur Adrian are să-ţi cadă cu tronc." Ca un pian cu coadă de la etajul şapte, m-am gândit eu.
In Italian, the translator had to go away from the "falling" and the "piano" imagery. This is a bit sad, as I very much like the piano part given the role of Adrian. It was translated: "Non pensare male, Daniel. Vedrai che ti piacerà." Sì, come il mal di pancia, pensai. (word by word: Don't think bad of him, Daniel. You'll see that you will like him. Yes, like a stomach ache, I thought.) If a native Italian could tell me why the stomach ache was taken here (and not a headache, or anything else), I'd be very interested :)
@eco-erich In Italy we say "simpatico come un mal di pancia” (nice as a stomach ache), I'm not sure why, but maybe because it is where we tend to somatize stress, and an unpleasant person causes stress.
My English translation has: “don’t be wicked, Daniel. I’m sure you’ll fall for Adrián. More likely he’ll fall on me like a grand piano plummeting down from the seventh floor, I thought”
Although I think the translation of this book is generally very good. I don’t like the way this particular phrase is translated. In (British) English, when we “fall for” someone we usually mean liking someone in a romantic way. The idea of a person “falling on” doesn’t work though. I can understand the meaning in relation to “caerse”, but without that context it would be very puzzling.
Wendy, it is such a great idea! I'll be waiting for your new posts! It's really very interesting.
I'm reading the novel in Turkish. It seems to me the Turkish version is not bad. A translator managed to play with different meanings of the word and to keep this image of a falling piano, which is quite funny in the context.
The translator used the verb bayılmak. Its first meaning is "to faint, to lose consciousness". But in informal speech it means "to really like someone or something, to adore, to fall for". There is a causative form of this verb "bayıltmak". It means "to make someone faint, to knock someone unconscious".
If we translate it to English using the first meaning, it will be something like this: "Kötü olma, Daniel. Adrián’a bayılacağına eminim." Don't be mean, Daniel. I'm sure you'll faint when you meet Adrian.
Yedinci kattan üstüme düşen kocaman bir piyano gibi beni bayıltacağı fikri daha uygun olur, diye düşündüm. He'll make me faint like a huge piano falling on me from the 7th floor. That would be a more appropriate description, I thought.
I'll write about this in my next post in Turkish and ask native speakers what they think about this translation.
My native language is Russian. To tell the truth, I don't know how to translate it in Russian. Out of curiosity I've just found an ebook in Russian.
Даниель, не будь злюкой. Уверена, Адриан тебе очень понравится. Daniel, don't be mean. I'm sure you will like Adrian. «Как летом снег», – подумал я. "Like snow in the summer", I thought.
I don't like this translation. A very weak sarcastic remark. Doesn't work at all. Why snow? Why not stomach ache? ))
I love this discussion thread. As there are many texts around, I had a close look at the introductory chapter in 6 languages: Italian, Romanian, French, English, German and the original Spanish. I don't know Spanish, but I can make out the different words. Lo and behold, I found a sentence that obviously knocked out many translators: in Italian and English it has been shortened, while in French it has completely been left apart. Check out my today's entry for more :) -> https://journaly.com/post/5429
Hi Wendy! This is such a cool thing to do, I'd live to see more posts like this. Here's the European Portuguese translation: "Não sejas malicioso, Daniel. Tenho a certeza de que o Adrián te vai cair no goto divinalmente. Como um piano de cauda de um sétimo andar, pensei." Portuguese being so similar to Spanish, uses the same idiomatic expression used like in Spanish. So nothing spectacular here. But to be honest, I didn't understand it back when I was reading this passage. So thank you very much for pointing this out!
Hi Wendy! Such a great idea. Lately, I've been into this "untranslatables". I guess every language has a unique way of describing or saying things, and sometimes no matter how hard we try we can't explain in a few words like the original language. We can try to describe it in other words but I believe it doesn't give the essential impact and feeling in other languages. I'm reading La Sombra Del Viento in my native language, Turkish. And here it says 'Kötü niyetli olma Daniel. Adrian'la çok iyi anlaşacağından eminim.' Ancak yedinci kattan üstüme düşen bir piyanoyla anlaşacağım kadar, diye düşündüm. Eventhough translator used 'to fall' for the piano, she used 'get along great with someone' as 'caerse bien' in Turkish. That's why she failed giving the connection between "caerse" and "caer" because in Turkish we don't use 'to fall' to say "get along with someone". I find the translation quite good, though. Thanks for bringing up this issue. I would love to see your other posts on "untranslatables" :)
This is very interesting. I´d love to see more posts on this topic. Not a translator myself, just interested in the way language works.
Thanks everyone for your interest in this topic and for your great responses! It seems that several translators did attempt to retain the concept of a falling piano, or at least the concept of falling in general, with varying degrees of success. @LindasLinguas I must admit I've never heard the expression cair no goto in Portuguese. I only found one example sentence using the phrase in Linguee, so I'm guessing it's not nearly as common as caerse in Spanish, but it's good that the translator was able to find an expression that worked. @Sevde Have you seen the comment by @olarcher above about the Turkish translation? I think the two of you could have an interesting discussion about it. It seems maybe you are reading two different Turkish translations? @eco-erich What an interesting find! I've just left a comment on your post with my attempt at a translation of the sentence.
Hi Wendy! Yes, I saw @olarcher's comment and I already commented about it in one of her posts. It seems we're reading two different versions of the book. Thanks for your interest!
In Polish it’s translated:
Funny, “przypaść” means to fall, and “przypaść do gostu” is to appeal to (literally: to fall into your liking)
They could’ve made the analogy with the piano falling but in second part, they translated it (loosely for my basic knowledge of Polish): “whoever it falls on, it will be a boom, I think”... I think it’s part of a play on words that I’m missing but it would make sense for native Polish speakers :)
Wonderfull idea. French is my native language, so excuse my clumsy English...In french, this sentence is translated forgetting to play with the words, so the translation gives something quite strange, something like that: "I'm sure that you'll like Adrian very much - certainly as much as a grand piano falling on me from the seventh floor"... It's quite flat, isn't it? the reader thinks it's a strange idea... I'm happy to understand why the author has used this expression, now. Thanks to your post, Wendy!
This is a fantastic idea! I"ve just started reading the book in French (guess I'm a bit behind! - thank you @Berna59 ^^ for the forewarning on the French version!) I really like this idea of seeing how certain imagery and colloquialisms are translated. I will keep an eye out for more posts!
@ale Interesting that the translator chose not to use the seemingly obvious analogy. I wonder if what they did use sounds more natural to native ears? @Berna59 I agree, that translation doesn't really work. I'm glad I could give some background to help you understand the meaning behind it. @Anjelmc I'll post another one soon!
I was researching a bit more, and the replay is part of a pun of words (they use a nursery rhyme and change one word to make it match the previous line and make the second line a funny punch line). Translating literally into English it would be: - I think you'll like him / - Eeny, meeny, miny, moe (the word from the first line they use in the second is: "przypadnie"... when the eeny, meeny should've used "wypadnie" instead). Got a punchline... at least in Polish :)
How fun! As a professional translator, I'd be remiss if I didn't at least attempt to render this. This is all I could come up with - maybe a bit of a stretch. A: "Don't be snarky, Daniel, I'm sure you two get on famously." B: Oh he gets "on" me alright, I thought, like a grand piano falling out of a seventh-floor window! Or, moving away from the piano: A: Don't be catty, Daniel, I'm sure you two get on like a house on fire. B: Fire is too slow and painful, I thought, just shoot me. I can't stand the sight of him!
@ale Ah, it makes a bit more since now! Thanks for that extra info. @CocoPop Thanks for contributions! The second one moves pretty far away from the original but still gives the same effect. You're giving me some good ideas for how to handle tricky passages like this.
@Wendy: My pleasure! This is the funnest part of being a translator. I've worked on a lot of books and cracking seeming untranslatables is the always a hoot. And I love your idea of posting these, if only for the creative banter it makes for in the comments.