Interesting+stuff!!


 * Use this page to write down anything you consider interesting in the translation of your project or in general**

Respecto al uso de guines o comillas, es indistinto. Hay una gran cantidad de autores que los utilizan simultáneamente (Juan Marsé, Julio Cortázar, Camilo J. Cela, etc). Por lo general, parece siempre haber algún motivo para elegir uno u otro, como puede ser la separación de un diálogo en tiempo presente o en pasado, la transmisión de un pensamiento o, simplemente, el deseo de crear un determinado efecto estético literario. Pero no hay ninguna regla en contra de su utilización simultánea 

Hi guys! I would like to know how translate **Wild Boar**, I don’t know if it is a proper noun or what? If any of you have this noun, please tell me how do you translate it?

--> Hello, I also had to translate that word, and literally, as you will know, it means jabalí salvaje" but you don't really need to write salvaje, so I put it as jabalí.

The use of "would" instead of "used to" The writer does a great use of "would". At first, I translated it as condicional but I realize that I was dealing with the other use of "would" which can be translated as " solía"

Hey classmates! could anybody help with the translation of "Not even of his caste or background?" page. 203 BY THE WAY! No entiendo por qué estaís poniendo los diálogos entre comillas, porque en español se pone con guiones ¿no? -> Totalmente de acuerdo, he alucinado con el uso exagerado (e incorrecto, sólo hace falta abrir cualquier novela en español para darse cuenta) de las comillas.

La frase "Not even of his caste or background?" yo creo que se podría traducir como "no siquiera de su casta o sus origenes" pero deberias poner la frase entera para ponerla en contexto.

--> Hello, I've checked that sentence and I'd translate it as: "Ni siquiera de su raza o clase social". I hope it helps!!!!!!!!!!!! -Ok!! muchas gracias!!!! ya lo he cambiado!! =D

Could anybody help me with the translation of "She cracked the egg open? page. 160

--> I think it depends on the context and I'd need to read a bit more of that part in which this expression appears just to check if my translation is correct. I'd say: "cascó el huevo que estaba abierto ( o roto), since this verb is the correct one when we talk about eggs.

-Has anybody to translate the dogs' names "Cuddles and Puddles"? --> In my opinion, if its a name, look for an interesting one which could be related to those words, although its not a literal translation, because it will be very difficult to look for a translation which fits that. look for something funny, or that even rhymes. Look, puddles mean "charcos" and cuddles "abrazos". as you can see, there is no relationship between both of them, the only link i find bteween these words is the rhyme as I told you, so try something like that and at the same time, with some meaning !

---> I think you should leave the original names in English, like the names of the people.

- About the term “Great Socialist” in page 49 I found two possible explanations searching in the web. The first one makes reference simply to a political group but I also found some comments saying that the author can be talking about Ghandi’s figure. If someone can support any of these ideas or give a new one for clarifying the meaning of this, please write it down. Thanks. -I think that it is referring to Gandhi. Actually, I don't know the reasons but I can tell you this because in one of my pages (I think it is page 18 or 19) the narrator speaks about him. - I don't know which is the correct translation of "Great Socialist" because in my part the author doesn't speak about Gandhi and so, I have translated as "El Gran Socialista" - Some important aspects in my translation process that I want to emphasize are the use of Indian words, such as, //rupees// (Indian coin) and name of characters (Vijay, Balram, Ashok…). This technique helps us to be closer to context and place where the story is narrated. In my part, there are some difficult expressions to translate them, for example: -  //What a fucking joke//. I know the meaning of all these words but I don’t know the correct manner of translating it. -  //Paan//. I don’t know what this word means because I think it is not an English word but I think it refers “pan” in Spanish (Answer: Paan is a very typical food from India, you are right, but I do not think it is really bread. It is made with the leaf of a tree and species. Since we do not have this kind of food in Spain, I think it would be best to translate it.) I also have the word //paan// and I think that it does not have translation. It is an Indian word, so in the same way that it was not translate into English, it should not be translate into Spanish.

---> the word rupees is rupias in Spanish so i think is better to write this word than the original in English.

-  //A fallen human//. In a specific word, rickshaw-puller, I have had problems because I haven’t found the meaning in any dictionary and I have looked for in a book where there is an article which speaks about India and there is an explanation of this word, but I don’t know how to translate it in the text. Can you help me? I have doubts about two terms: - The first one is “the Stork” because it could be a kind of bird, but I’m not sure that it refers to an animal in this text. For example, in the sentence “…the same fake servant’s grin he showed to the Stork all day long”. - And the second one is the term “the Mongoose” because it is the “alias” that the author gives Mr Ashok, but I don’t know to what he refers with this term and why he says it. If somebody knows this information, write it here. Thanks. - ​I think that names which appear in capital letters are proper nouns and so, I haven't translato into Spanish, I have put the same name: El Stork, but I'm not sure.

---> Perhaps the expression ``what a fucking joke´´ is better to be tranlated as `` no tiene ni puta gracia´´ because they use a very strong colloquial expressions. -"No tiene ni puta gracia" me parece buena, pero a mí lo primero que se me pasó por la cabeza al leerlo fue "¡Vaya puta broma!" No creo que debamos andarnos con muchos remilgos al traducir la palabra "fucking"... Pages 138-141 Hi, I want to ask if anybody knows how can I translate the word "namasted". If you can help me it could be very helpful for me because it is like a nightmare!!Thank you! PAGES 142-145 ---> I think you can say namasted! in spanish because it's like say hello but in India.
 * I would translate -what a fucking joke- as "jodida broma!". I think it depends on the context, but I suposse that it is a part of a dialogue so I would translate it this way.
 * You could also translate "what a fucking joke" as "no tiene ni puñetera gracia", if you think that the character says that in an ironical way.

I have some doubts about how translate those terms:

-Are we going to translate the “Mr” of “Mr Ashok”, “ Mr Premier”,etc...? ((1))

--> Of course the name stays the same, but obviously you have to translate Mr. (el señor Ashok) --->Y "Mr. Premier" es el Primer Ministro.

-How can I traduce the term “First-gear types”? (p.142)

--> I know that first gear means "primera" (en las marchas del coche), but still don't find a very clear translation; I'd have to take a look at the whole paragraph to find a translation, sorry. ---> it's ``la primera´´ (n)

//Thank you very much, here is the context maybe you or someone can help me more.First-gear means "primera marcha" in a car, but here it refers to a kind of person, the kind of person that when he starts doing something is so excited but finally he gets boring. I don't know which is the correct word in spanish with that meaning and at the same time sounds like something in relation with motor, cars ,etc... The context: Drivers like to say that some men are first-gear types. Mr Ashock was a classic first-gear man. He liked to start things, but nothing held his attention for long.

Thanks you for helping myself.--//

--> Hello, having a look at the context, I think it's still referring to the gears of the car (a las marchas del coche), since he is comparing drivers with them. I don't really think there is a word to describe a person who likes to start things but gets bored at the end. Anyway, I'd translate: "A los taxistas les gusta decir que algunos hombres son como la primera (marcha). Mr Ashock era el típico hombre de primera (or something like that, always referring to the gear, sure). le gustaba empezar cosas, pero nada captaba su atención por mucho tiempo". Good luck!

((1))I have translated these names writing: Señor X, Señora X...

Pages 248 – 252. - Aravind Adiga uses hyphens very frequently in the part of the novel I have to translate. However, I think that I should change them for other punctuation marks sometimes. As I see it, hyphens are not so commonly used in Spanish. - I think it is important to be aware that verbal tenses have to be changed at times and that by changing them, we have to make sure that there is harmony among the rest of verbs that sorround the one we are translating.

This example illustrates the previous two points that I found important in the process of translation: ST: “She had no luggage. That was all she had in the world. One rupee. And yet look at her – snoring blissfully, without a care in the world.” TT: “No llevaba equipaje. Eso era lo único que tenía en el mundo. Una rupia. Y entonces la miré: roncaba tranquilamente, sin preocuparse del resto del mundo.”

- Some onomatopoeic sounds are a bit difficult to translate. For instance, I could neither think of, nor find a proper equivalent for “flip” in the following example: “...reading them like this, flip, flip, flip...”. What I consider to be the closest translation is: “pim-pam, pim-pam, pim-pam”. - It was a bit tricky to translate a word which, at first sight, is thought to be quite easy to translate: now (ahora). However, there would be no harmony among the word “now” and the verbal tense in “Now, I have been to these streets before” if the translator chose “ahora”. One translation I found accurate is “Bueno, he estado en estas calles antes.” Thus, I consider it is important to look carefully at the contexts in which the words are written.

In some occasions, there are words that have more than a meaning and I doubt which of them is the most correct. -  //Fine: //this word means bien, perfecto, multa and I don’t know what meaning is in the following sentence: Being called a murderer: fine

About the glossary: I cannot find out why everyone has just written (in English) the meaning of the words they simply did not understand. Instead, I have translated them into Spanish, which I think is the main purpose of this subject, and I have narrowed my glossary to the terms which, in my opinion, could present a number of different interpretations. Being focused in writing the meaning of the words in English is not exactly what we should be doing here. Though I am probably wrong, for everyone has done just this. May I ask you your opinion about it? Thanks.

Me,like Miriam, firstly I was thinking that we should translate all the words into Spanish because it was what I understood and of course the proper name of the object is dealing with the translation of English words into Spanish but when I saw that all my classmates wrote the meaning of words only in English then I made the same.Now, I don't know if what we have done it's correct or not.

Cristina, I haven't said that definitions should put in Spanish because I asked Carmen and she told me that all definitions had to write in English, although it is true, I thought the same than you (to write them in Spanish) so I asked her.

To lydia Arteta: (Paan consists on a kind of gum. It's chewing betel leaf with areca nut. I think that a country-mouse is a mouse that lives in the countryside. They're not the same as those who live in the big cities...__)__

The word paan is in italics in the original text, so you can leave it in the same way because it is a typical food. Put it in italics too.

To Daniel Palomino: then, how do you translate the word "paan" into Spanish? because I don't know how to put it.

Page150: I don't know how translate "key chains". I've looking it in dictionaries and I wasn't able to found it...

I have some problems with the translation of these two sentences...can anyone help me? Thanks!
 * //For this Land. India, has never been free//. It is somewhat strange because there is a dot between Land and India. If it wasn't there, I could think that land is referring to India, so I'm confused.
 * //squeezing the ticks of death between her fingers//. I've translated this as "estrujando las marcas de la muerte entre sus dedos"

-I do not know how to translate the words ‘Hero bicycle’, what kind of bicycle is it? How can I translate this into Spanish? I have not found anything in the dictionary or in the internet. Is it just the brand?

--> I think that in the case it's talking about a person in the text, it means "el héroe de la bici", but you have to decide, depending on if it's talking about someone or something, as you just said, a kind of bicycle or a brand.

-I think that it is interesting the translation of the word ‘rickshaw’ in this sentence: “I’ve seen it before in rickshaw-pullers.” We do not have this word in Spanish, so I have translated it like that: "Lo he visto antes en los hombres que tiran de esos pequeños carros para transportar personas.”

- How can I translate this sentence?: “we screwed the girl’s family hard”, Can you help me? Could it be translated like that: “Presionamos mucho a la familia de la chica.”?

--> Yes, that translation is correct.
 * I agree!

Page 138: Does anybody can help me to translate the term //namasted?// The whole sentence is He cringed and //namasted// me in apology. Thank you!!

**Námaste** is an expression that is used in India which means hello and goodbye. It is also used to beg, to thank soembody, show respect and veneration and to pray. It is usually accompained by body gestures. Perhaps you could translate it as : avergonzado, me suplicó que le disculpase

Thank you very very much!!!

---> I think in this book ``to be in the light´´ means not to be in very poor conditions, that you have power because you have money.
 * I don't know how to translate the following sentence: "I am in the light now". Can anyone help me? I've been looking for this expression on the Internet but I didn't find it's exact translation, they translate it literally, but that doesn't help me. I just know it's something realted to God and faith, and I think it could be "I am a believer", but I'm not sure.


 * there is another sentence I need help with: "She brought me a cup of coffe in a cup set in a metal tumbler" (being tumbler a stemless drinking glass having a flat, often thick bottom). Could anyone translate it, please? it's very confusing because it gives too many details.
 * I think you can translate "metal tumbler" like " vaso de metal" or "pote" that is an argot that means "vaso de metal".
 * THANKS!!!!!!!!!

Hello!I believe the sentece 'country-mouse' is a typical expression in the english countries,because I have never heared "rata de campo" en España.What dou you think? --> If you think this is an expression and therefore you don't find an equivalent in Spanish, why don't you just translate it as "rata" or "ratón"?

Pages 138-141 Hello!! How do you think that I must translate "dark egg". It could be "la parte oscura", como la parte oscura de la ciudad? If anybody has a better idea of what can I do, a little bit of help would be very grateful. Thank you! --> could you write the whole sentence in which this expression appears? it will be much easier to guess its meaning

The whole sentence is: We were like two separate cities- inside and outside the dark egg. Thank you!! --> Well, I clearly understand egg = city, so it's like "we were like two separate cities - inside and outside the dark city"; they use egg not to repeat the word city, so translate it as you said or look for another expression.

Page 268 --->Hi! How do you translate `driver´ ``chófer´´ or ``conductor´´ ?it is referening to the white tiger, so maybe is ´``chófer´´ because it's his job, what do you think? Thanks

Hi ! I think that " conductor" sounds better, but is an opinion , because I think that both are good translations. --> I ALSO HAD TO TRANSLATE THIS WORD, AND I WROTE "TAXISTA", because in one fragment I had to translate, it gives some information that let me know they work as taxi drivers.

--I think that you must ttranslate it as "chofer", but it is only my opinion. - I have used 'chófer' because it's his job and it's a usual word in Spain. -Chófer is the one which fits better with the job described in this literary work, in my opinion. In Spanish a "chófer" is just a "chófer" but "conductor" is anyone who drives a car, which is not necessarily a job. PAGE 143

How I should translate master and mistress?? (¿"Dueño y Dueña", " amo y ama", "patrón y patrona", "señor y señora" o"maestro y maestra"?)

--> I'd say señor y señora, its the most usual and I'd only use dueño/dueña in the cases it gave specific information to make you think you should use these words.

--> Hello, could anyone suggest any translation for "ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER"???? I've thought of "ayudante del comisario" but I want to check with you in case I'm wrong. thanks!

--> Yes, put it in cm. --> What's the context?
 * Should I convert __//two-inch horror stories//__ (page 314) to cm?
 * Had I better __//keep Electronics City Phase 1//__ (317) in English or translate it to Spanish?