64 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Buy the English version only!, August 20, 2005
This review is from: Buenas noches a todos / The Going to Bed Book (Spanish edition) (Board book)
"The Going to Bed Book" is a favorite of my little nephew. I've read it to him since he was an infant ... but he doesn't know almost any English. So you can imagine I looked forward to the Spanish version, so that I could read both to him for some bilingual cuddle time. BIG MISTAKE! This translation is one of the worst I've ever seen in terms of capturing the spirit of the original.
Sure, in literal terms, the following express the same dictionary meaning:
(English) "They hang their towels on the wall / and find pajamas, big and small."
(Spanish, back-translated) "They hang their towels on the wall / and look for pajamas, big and little, as you can see."
(Cuelgan las toallas en la pared / y buscan piyamas grandes y pequeñas, como se ve.)
Gone is the rhyme. Gone is the use of small, familiar words so the child can pretend to "read" along. There's an occasional rhyme ("resquicio" / "ejercicio"), but for the most part it's a charmless and clumsy butchering of the text we loved so much.
You may think it's asking too much to expect a translated version to be as good as the original. It's not. Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham is delightful in Spanish. Sandra Boynton's own Moo, Baa, La, La, La has a Spanish translation that's as precious and easy to read as you could ever want (see my review of Muú, Beee, Así Fue). It's tricky work and requires careful substitution, but it can be done if a company does what is necessary to secure a good translation. This time they didn't -- maybe next time they will.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty Pictures, Poor Translation, April 12, 2011
This review is from: Buenas noches a todos / The Going to Bed Book (Spanish edition) (Board book)
I did read the previous reviews on the book's poor translations, yet I never imagined they would be so bad! How can publishing houses do this?? The pictures and the characters are fun, yet if you are a native Spanish Speaker, this book will hurt your eyes, and you will end up making up better translations as you go along. The pictures are fun, and the story is relevant for children as they prepared to go to bed, but other than that...I agree, you are better off buying the English language version!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Buenas noches a todos, August 29, 2011
This review is from: Buenas noches a todos / The Going to Bed Book (Spanish edition) (Board book)
The book arrived on time, as the vendor promised and it was in good shape also. Thank you for being honest.
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