I grew up with Mark Twain, and now I'm growing old with Mark Twain. It has been more than half a century since I read my first Twain book. Since then, I have read everything he wrote: novels, travel books, letters to the editor, personal letters—everything.
Three of his books, in particular, have taken up residence in my mind and heart and soul. Over the years and decades, I have read Roughing It, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn too many times to count.
I just finished re-reading the English/Spanish edition of 'Tom Sawyer,' (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: In English and Spanish) I am finding a few omissions and deviations in the Spanish text, as well as just plain interesting decisions made by the translator, some of which take a little sparkle out of the book.
So the rest of this post or article will showcase what those comment-worthy “interesting decisions” are, and provide my brief commentary on them. The entire paragraph is given, as context sometimes helps. It’s also an excuse to get more Twain brain candy in your life, which is never a bad thing.
If you can read both English and Spanish, you might want to guess what the “problem” or “interesting translating decision” is as you read the paired-up paragraphs.
1)
"Well, I know. It's jam -- that's what it is. Forty times I've said if you didn't let that jam alone I'd skin you. Hand me that switch."
— Bueno; pues yo sí lo sé. Es dulce, eso es. Mil veces te he dicho que como no dejes en paz ese dulce te voy a despellejar vivo. Dame esa vara.
In English, Tom was supposedly told “Forty times” to lay off the jam, but in the Spanish translation it is “Mil veces”—a thousand times. The first may have been an exaggeration, the second almost certainly.
2)
"Well, I never! There's no getting round it, you can work when you're a mind to, Tom." And then she diluted the compliment by adding, "But it's powerful seldom you're a mind to, I'm bound to say. Well, go 'long and play; but mind you get back some time in a week, or I'll tan you."
— ¡Alabado sea Dios! —dijo—. ¡Nunca lo creyera! No se puede negar: sabes trabajar cuando te da por ahí. Y después añadió, aguando el elogio — Pero te da por ahí rara vez, la verdad sea dicha. Bueno, anda a jugar; pero acuérdáte y no tardes una semana en volver, porque te voy a dar una zurra.
“Well, I never!” becomes “ ¡Alabado sea Dios!” (praised be God!). This makes sense that the translation was not literal, or word for word, as the English expression really means nothing unless you know that it’s just an expression of shock. It’s apparently the shortened form of “Well, I never would have believed it!” or something similar.
3)
Then Tom girded up his loins, so to speak, and went to work to "get his verses." Sid had learned his lesson days before. Tom bent all his energies to the memorizing of five verses, and he chose part of the Sermon on the Mount, because he could find no verses that were shorter.
Tom se apretó los calzones, por así decirlo, y se puso a trabajar para «aprenderse sus versículos». Sid se los sabía ya desde días antes. Tom reconcentró todas sus energías para grabar en su memoria cinco nada más, y escogió un trozo del Sermón de la Montaña porque no pudo encontrar otros versículos que fueran tan cortos.
Here, “girded up his loins” (which is somewhat funny, because the Mosaic Law had just been mentioned, and ‘girded up his loins’ is a Biblical expression) is translated “straight” as “se apretó los calzones” (he tightened his pants). This matter-of-fact description of what Tom does causes the text to lose a little of its spice.
4)
Mary gave him a tin basin of water and a piece of soap, and he went outside the door and set the basin on a little bench there; then he dipped the soap in the water and laid it down; turned up his sleeves; poured out the water on the ground, gently, and then entered the kitchen and began to wipe his face diligently on the towel behind the door. But Mary removed the towel and said:
Mary le dio una jofaina de estaño y un trozo de jabón, y él salió fuera de la puerta y puso la jofaina en un banquillo que allí había; después mojó el jabón en el agua y lo colocó sobre el banco; se remangó los brazos, vertió suavemente el agua en el suelo, y en seguida entró en la cocina y empezó a restregarse vigorosamente con la toalla que estaba tras de la puerta. Pero Mary se la quitó y le dijo:
Note that here a ‘tin basin of water’ is translated as ‘una jofaina de estaño’ (tin = estaño). Now see how ‘tin’ is translated in the next passage:
5)
The visitors were given the highest seat of honor, and as soon as Mr. Walters' speech was finished, he introduced them to the school. The middle-aged man turned out to be a prodigious personage -- no less a one than the county judge -- altogether the most august creation these children had ever looked upon -- and they wondered what kind of material he was made of -- and they half wanted to hear him roar, and were half afraid he might, too. He was from Constantinople, twelve miles away -- so he had travelled, and seen the world -- these very eyes had looked upon the county court-house -- which was said to have a tin roof.
Se dio a los visitantes el más encumbrado asiento de honor, y tan pronto como Señor Walters terminó su discurso los presentó a la escuela. El caballero del pelo gris resultó ser un prodigioso personaje, nada menos que el juez del condado; sin duda el ser más augusto en que los niños habían puesto nunca sus ojos. Y pensaban de qué sustancia estaría formado, y hubieran deseado oírle rugir y hasta tenían un poco de miedo de que lo hiciera. Había venido desde Constantinopla, a doce millas de distancia, y, por consiguiente, había viajado y había visto mundo; aquellos mismos ojos habían contemplado la Casa de Justicia del condado, de la que se decía que tenía el techo de cinc.
Here ‘a tin roof’ is translated as ‘el techo de cinc’ (tin = cinc). So tin is translated as estaño previously but here as cinc. Why the difference?
6)
Amy Lawrence was proud and glad, and she tried to make Tom see it in her face -- but he wouldn't look. She wondered; then she was just a grain troubled; next a dim suspicion came and went -- came again; she watched; a furtive glance told her worlds -- and then her heart broke, and she was jealous, and angry, and the tears came and she hated everybody. Tom most of all (she thought).
Amy Lawrence estaba orgullosa y contenta, y trató de hacérselo ver a Tom; pero no había modo de que la mirase. No, no adivinaba la causa; después se turbó un poco; en seguida la asaltó una vaga sospecha, y se disipó, y tornó a surgir. Vigiló atenta; una furtiva mirada fue una revelación, y entonces se le encogió el corazón, y experimentó celos y rabia, y brotaron las lágrimas, y sintió aborrecimiento por todos, y más que por nadie, por Tom.
Why is “(she thought)” left untranslated? In the original, it explains that she didn’t really hate Tom, but it was rather anger caused by jealousy and the “woman scorned” factor. But the Spanish translator just left it at that—she hated him. Why?
7)
But all trials bring their compensations. As Tom wended to school after breakfast, he was the envy of every boy he met because the gap in his upper row of teeth enabled him to expectorate in a new and admirable way. He gathered quite a following of lads interested in the exhibition; and one that had cut his finger and had been a centre of fascination and homage up to this time, now found himself suddenly without an adherent, and shorn of his glory. His heart was heavy, and he said with a disdain which he did not feel that it wasn't anything to spit like Tom Sawyer; but another boy said, "Sour grapes!" and he wandered away a dismantled hero.
Pero todas las penas tienen sus compensaciones. Camino de la escuela, después del desayuno, Tom causó la envidia de cuantos chicos le encontraron porque la mella le permitía escupir de un modo nuevo y admirable. Fue reuniendo un cortejo de rapaces interesados en aquella habilidad, y uno de ellos, que se había cortado un dedo y había sido hasta aquel momento un centro de fascinante atracción, se encontró de pronto sin un solo adherente, y desnudo de su gloria. Sintió encogérsele el corazón y dijo, con fingido desdén, que era cosa de nada escupir como Tom; pero otro chico le contestó: «¡Están verdes!», y él se alejó solitario, como un héroe olvidado.
“Sour grapes!” becomes “¡Están verdes!” (they are green)
8)
'Barley-corn, barley-corn, injun-meal shorts,
Spunk-water, spunk-water, swaller these warts,'
and then walk away quick, eleven steps, with your eyes shut, and then turn around three times and walk home without speaking to anybody. Because if you speak the charm's busted."
¡Tomates, tomates, tomates y lechugas;
agua de yesca, quítame las verrugas!
y, en seguida dar once pasos deprisa, y después dar tres vueltas, y marcharse a casa sin hablar con nadie. Porque si uno habla, se rompe el hechizo.
Why does Barley-corn get changed to tomatoes?
9)
"Sir!"
— ¡Servidor!
"Come up here. Now, sir, why are you late again, as usual?"
— Ven aquí. ¿Por qué llega usted tarde, como de costumbre?
The “Now, sir” part of the teacher’s command to Tom is left untranslated. Why?
10)
The harder Tom tried to fasten his mind on his book, the more his ideas wandered. So at last, with a sigh and a yawn, he gave it up. It seemed to him that the noon recess would never come. The air was utterly dead. There was not a breath stirring. It was the sleepiest of sleepy days. The drowsing murmur of the five and twenty studying scholars soothed the soul like the spell that is in the murmur of bees. Away off in the flaming sunshine, Cardiff Hill lifted its soft green sides through a shimmering veil of heat, tinted with the purple of distance; a few birds floated on lazy wing high in the air; no other living thing was visible but some cows, and they were asleep.
Cuanto más ahínco ponía Tom en fijar toda su atención en el libro, más se dispersaban sus ideas. Así es que al fin, con un suspiro y un bostezo, abandonó el empeño. Le parecía que la salida de mediodía no iba a llegar nunca. Había en el aire una calma chicha. No se movía una hoja. Era el más soñoliento de los días aplanadores. El murmullo adormecedor de los veinticinco escolares estudiando a la vez aletargaba el espíritu como con esa virtud mágica que hay en el zumbido de las abejas. A lo lejos, bajo el sol llameante, el monte Cardiff levantaba sus verdes y suaves laderas a través de un tembloroso velo de calina, teñido de púrpura por la distancia; algunos pájaros se cernían perezosamente en la altura, y no se veía otra cosa viviente fuera de unas vacas, y éstas profundamente dormidas.
Why did the simple “and they were asleep” get changed to “y éstas profundamente dormidas”? In other words, why did the sleep become profound when translated?
11)
But the elastic heart of youth cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time.
Pero el elástico corazón juvenil no puede estar mucho tiempo deprimido.
Why did “cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time” get translated as “no puede estar mucho tiempo deprimido”? In other words, in Spanish it is saying, “cannot be depressed for a long time,” whereas the original English is not talking about a specific mood, but that any mood (or ‘shape of a heart’) does not remain for long.
12)
"Brother, go find your brother!"
— Hermana, busca a tu hermana.
Here, “brother” gets changed to sister (“hermana”). This is probably because, in Spanish, the word for ‘marble’ (canica) is feminine. Nouns in Spanish have gender, either mascule (el) or feminine (la, as in ‘la canica’). German is even a little more involved, in that nouns can not only be masculine (der) or feminine (die) but also neuter (das).
13)
"Now the cussed thing's ready, Sawbones, and you'll just out with another five, or here she stays."
— Ya está hecha esta condenada tarea, galeno; y ahora mismo alarga usté otros cinco dólares, o ahí se queda eso.
“Sawbones” is translated, not as “Sierrahuesos,” but as “galeno” (doctor); it definitely loses style points that way, but perhaps there was no corresponding Spanish word in use.
14)
"If anybody tells, let Muff Potter do it, if he's fool enough. He's generally drunk enough."
— Si alguien ha de contarlo, deja que sea Muff Potter, porque es lo bastante tonto para ello. Y, además, siempre está borracho.
The English says, “if he’s fool enough” whereas the Spanish says, “porque es lo bastante tonto para ello” (“because he’s dumb enough for it). It seems it should be “if he’s dumb enough for it” in other words: “sí es lo suficientemente tonto para eso”
15)
Yet notwithstanding all this, the boy grew more and more melancholy and pale and dejected. She added hot baths, sitz baths, shower baths, and plunges. The boy remained as dismal as a hearse. She began to assist the water with a slim oatmeal diet and blister-plasters. She calculated his capacity as she would a jug's, and filled him up every day with quack cure-alls.
Sin embargo, y a pesar de todo, estaba el muchacho cada vez más taciturno y pálido y decaído. La tía añadió baños calientes, baños de asiento, duchas y zambullidas. El muchacho siguió tan triste como un féretro. Comenzó entonces a ayudar al agua con gachas ligeras como alimento, y sinapismos. Calculó la cabida del muchacho como la de un barril, y todos los días lo llenaba hasta el borde con panaceas de curandero.
“melancholy and pale and dejected” is translated as “taciturno y pálido y decaído” The word “Taciturno” in Spanish corresponds to “taciturn” in English, which means reserved, uncommunicative, not melancholy (sad).
16)
Tom had become indifferent to persecution by this time. This phase filled the old lady's heart with consternation. This indifference must be broken up at any cost. Now she heard of Pain-killer for the first time. She ordered a lot at once. She tasted it and was filled with gratitude. It was simply fire in a liquid form. She dropped the water treatment and everything else, and pinned her faith to Pain-killer. She gave Tom a teaspoonful and watched with the deepest anxiety for the result. Her troubles were instantly at rest, her soul at peace again; for the "indifference" was broken up. The boy could not have shown a wilder, heartier interest, if she had built a fire under him.
Tom se había hecho ya para entonces insensible a las persecuciones. Esta fase llenó a la anciana de consternación. Había que acabar con aquella «indiferencia» a toda costa. Oyó hablar entonces por primera vez del «sanalotodo». Encargó en el acto una buena remesa. Lo probó y se quedó extasiada. Era simplemente fuego en forma líquida. Abandonó el tratamiento de agua y todo lo demás y puso toda su fe en el «sanalotodo». Administró a Tom una cucharadita llena y le observó con profunda ansiedad para ver el resultado. Al instante se calmaron todas sus aprensiones y recobró la paz del alma: la «indiferencia» se hizo añicos y desapareció al punto. El chico no podía haber mostrado más intenso y desaforado interés si le hubiera puesto una hoguera debajo.
“Pain-killer” should be translated as “analgésico” not “sanalotodo” which equates to “cure-all.”
17)
"Now you've asked for it, and I'll give it to you, because there ain't anything mean about me; but if you find you don't like it, you mustn't blame anybody but your own self."
— Pues tú lo has pedido, voy a dártelo, para que no creas que es tacañería; pero si luego ves que no te gusta no debes echar la culpa a nadie más que a ti.
“because there ain't anything mean about me” is translated “para que no creas que es tacañería” which means “so you don’t think it’s stingy”
18)
Tom looked up in her face with just a perceptible twinkle peeping through his gravity.
Tom levantó los ojos y la miró a la cara con un imperceptible guiño de malicia asomando a través de su gravedad:
“with just a perceptible twinkle” is translated as “con un imperceptible guiño de malicia” which means just about the opposite of the original, namely: “with an imperceptible wink of malice.”
19)
"Aye-aye, sir!"
[ not translated ]
"Steady, steady-y-y-y!"
[ not translated ]
"Steady it is, sir!"
[ not translated ]
"Let her go off a point!"
[ not translated ]
"Point it is, sir!"
[ not translated ]
I have no idea why these statements were left out of the Spanish translation. Did he not know what “Aye-aye” meant? Did he think this was just “fluff” that could be left out without harm to the book, or perhaps even improved it? After a brief interval, another similar stretch occurs:
20)
"Aye-aye, sir!"
[ not translated ]
"Shake out that maintogalans'l! Sheets and braces! Now my hearties!"
[ not translated ]
"Aye-aye, sir!"
[ not translated ]
"Hellum-a-lee -- hard a port! Stand by to meet her when she comes! Port, port! Now, men! With a will! Stead-y-y-y!"
[ not translated ]
"Steady it is, sir!"
[ not translated ]
See above.
21)
They lay around in the shade, after breakfast, while Huck had a smoke, and then went off through the woods on an exploring expedition. They tramped gayly along, over decaying logs, through tangled underbrush, among solemn monarchs of the forest, hung from their crowns to the ground with a drooping regalia of grape-vines. Now and then they came upon snug nooks carpeted with grass and jeweled with flowers.
Después del desayuno se tendieron a la sombra, mientras Huck se regodeaba con una pipa, y después echaron a andar a través del bosque, en viaje de exploración.
Only the first sentence is translated. From “They tramped” on has been left untranslated. Why?
22) The first sentence of the next paragraph:
They found plenty of things to be delighted with, but nothing to be astonished at.
...was also left untranslated.
23)
"What is it!" exclaimed Joe, under his breath.
— ¿Qué será? — dijo Joe, sin aliento.
"I wonder," said Tom in a whisper.
— ¿Qué será? — repitió Tom en voz baja.
Both “What is it!” and “I wonder” are translated as “¿Qué será?” although “I wonder” would probably be better tranlsated as “Me pregunto.” It doesn’t seem to make sense as it is.
24)
Next they got their marbles and played "knucks" and "ring-taw" and "keeps" till that amusement grew stale.
Más tarde sacaron las canicas y jugaron con ellas a todos los juegos conocidos, hasta que se hastiaron de la diversión.
The Spanish translator opts to translate the names of the various marble games (“knucks,” “ring-taw,” and “keeps” — which apparently did not have their equivalent in the Spanish-speaking culture) as “todos los juegos conocidos” (“all the known games”). This is less specific, but more understandable, to those who wouldn’t know what those specific games were (as English-speakers of the day presumably would have, but not those of today).
25)
"Well, I have too," said Tom; "oh, hundreds of times. Once down by the slaughter-house. Don't you remember, Huck? Bob Tanner was there, and Johnny Miller, and Jeff Thatcher, when I said it. Don't you remember, Huck, 'bout me saying that?"
— Una vez lo dije junto al matadero, cuando estaban todos los chicos delante. ¿Te acuerdas, Huck?
It’s unclear why the translator gives the “Reader’s Digest” version of the paragraph (less than two lines of Spanish to translate five full lines of English). He leaves out the beginning, the end, and telescopes the list of names into “all the boys.” Here is a “boomerang” translation of the English-to-Spanish translation (from the Spanish back to English):
“Once I said it by the slaughter-house, when all the boys were there. Do you remember, Huck?”
By providing only that to Spanish readers, much of the breathless self-aggrandizement of the English text is lost in the spare and sparse translation here provided.
26)
Following this, there are several more parts that are not translated, specifically:
"There -- I told you so," said Tom. "Huck recollects it."
[ not translated ]
. . .
"I bet he would. And Johnny Miller -- I wish could see Johnny Miller tackle it once."
[ not translated ]
"Oh, don't I!" said Joe. "Why, I bet you Johnny Miller couldn't any more do this than nothing. Just one little snifter would fetch him."
[ not translated ]
. . .
"Oh, I reckon not! I'll just bet they will!"
[ not translated ]
Why these parts were left untranslated (or cut out before printing), I have no idea.
27)
And they did. Old Hundred swelled up with a triumphant burst, and while it shook the rafters Tom Sawyer the Pirate looked around upon the envying juveniles about him and confessed in his heart that this was the proudest moment of his life.
Y así lo hicieron. El viejo himno se elevó tonante y triunfal, y mientras el canto hacía trepidar las vigas Tom Sawyer el pirata miró en torno suyo a las envidiosas caras juveniles que le rodeaban, y se confesó a sí mismo que era aquél el momento de mayor orgullo de su vida.
The “Old Hundred” referred to in the paragraph above is the hymn commonly called by that title but more formally named “Old 100th” or “Old Hundredth.”
The origin of the name stems from the source material, or inspiration, for the song: the 100th Psalm in the Bible.
The title of the song is simply translated into Spanish as “the old hymn” (“El viejo himno”), as Spanish sepakers would not normally have been familiar with the song.
Of course, most English speakers today are not familiar with it, either, but those of Twain’s day presumably were. It was a well-known song, and Twain probably heard it in the Presbyterian church he attended as a youth.
28)
"Well, for the land's sake! I never heard the beat of that in all my days! Don't tell me there ain't anything in dreams, any more. Sereny Harper shall know of this before I'm an hour older. I'd like to see her get around this with her rubbage 'bout superstition. Go on, Tom!"
— ¡En el nombre de Dios! ¡No oí cosa igual en mis días! Que me digan ahora que no hay nada en los sueños. No ha de pasar una hora sin que sepa de esto Sereny Harper. Quisiera ver qué razón da de ello con todas sus pamplinas sobre las supersticiones. ¡Sigue, Tom!
Here “for the land’s sake” gets translated as “¡En el nombre de Dios!” In other words, “In the name of God!”
29)
"Tom! The sperrit was upon you! You was a prophesying -- that's what you was doing! Land alive, go on, Tom!"
— ¡Tom! ¡El Espíritu había descendido sobre ti! ¡Estabas profetizando! Eso es lo que hacías. ¡Dios me valga! ¡Sigue, Tom!
This is similar to the last one: “Land alive” gets translated as “¡Dios me valga!” (“God save me!”)
30)
"I lay I did! There must 'a' been an angel there. There was an angel there, somewheres!"
— ¡Asimismo fue! ¡Debió de haber un ángel por aquí! ¡Aquí había un ángel por alguna parte!
“I lay I did!” becomes “¡Asimismo fue!” (“That’s exactly how it was!”)
— to be continued in Part 2.