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<\/a><\/p>\nTranslations are hardly ever word for word or exactly literal.\u00a0 Languages are too idiomatic for most literal translations to flow well.\u00a0 We might expect this especially in songs, poetry and the Classics.\u00a0 But I thought it would interesting to look at a fairly simple text, and one that’s a lot of fun for learners, that is, any of the Irish translations of Eric Hill’s Spot the Puppy books.\u00a0 The translations are all great–but there are some noticeable differences between the two texts, even at this basic level.<\/p>\n
First, let’s look at Spot’s name in the two texts, and then at some select phrases.\u00a0 Spot is called “Spot” in English for obvious reasons, as we see in the artwork — his brown spots on his tawny fur.\u00a0 The Irish versions, however, name him after one of the most famous dogs in Irish legend, Bran, the hound of Fionn Mac Cumhaill.\u00a0 Intriguingly, the Manx and Scottish Gaelic versions keep the connection to the spots.\u00a0 The Manx books call him “Breck” (related to the Irish “breac,<\/strong>” speckled) and the Gaelic ones simply call him “Spot.”\u00a0 At any rate, he’s “Bran” in Irish, which means we get treated to the vocative and genitive forms of his name, in various texts: (A Bhrain!<\/strong>, for direct address, and Bosca Br\u00e9ag\u00e1n Bhrain<\/strong><\/em>, to show possession).\u00a0\u00a0 “Spot” wouldn’t have given us so much cleachtadh gramada\u00ed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Agus anois, roinnt sampla\u00ed \u00f3n t\u00e9acs \u00e9 f\u00e9in<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Starting with the title, as explained in the graphic above — they’re actually quite different. \u00a0The English makes a point of saying this is Spot’s “first” solo walk but the Irish simply indicates that the walk is outside (Spot’s First Walk <\/em>vs. Bran amuigh ag si\u00fal<\/strong><\/em>)<\/p>\n “Off you go” is translated as “As go br\u00e1ch leat<\/strong>,” which is great, but simply doesn’t need or contain the verb “go.”\u00a0 “As go br\u00e1ch leat<\/strong>” is more literally, “Off with you,” here in the sense of “Out you go”.\u00a0 The English is very idiomatic in using “get” for\u00a0 “Don’t get lost,” where the Irish is more straightforward with “N\u00e1 t\u00e9igh ar strae<\/strong>.” (Don’t go astray).\u00a0 Some day I’ll check out some other language versions, but my hunch is that the English “get” here is so idiomatic that probably most other languages don’t use their word for “get” (i.e. obtain, acquire) for this phrase either.<\/p>\n On page two, the Irish is more verb-oriented, with “N\u00e1 t\u00e9igh ansin<\/strong> …” and the English simply says “Not in there ….” \u00a0Of course, starting any sentence in Irish with the word “not” requires some manipulating because there’s no single word directly equivalent to this usage, but there are various choices, here using “n\u00e1<\/strong>” but in other cases using “gan<\/strong>” or “n\u00ed<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n I love the page for the woodpecker (cnagaire<\/strong>), but it’s interesting to note that the English states, “That’s a funny noise” where the Irish asks<\/em> “C\u00e9n cnagadh \u00e9 sin?<\/strong>” So the Irish uses a question instead of a statement.\u00a0 Irish also uses a negative interrogative structure with “Nach deas an boladh \u00e9 sin!<\/strong>” where the English states “… and that’s a nice smell.”<\/p>\n Does English, in general, use prepositions more than Irish (which does have plenty of them, of course)?\u00a0 Well, it’s too big a question to answer here but one slice of the pie is that the English text, quite smoothly, says “Now for a drink,” whereas the Irish doesn’t use any of the words than can mean “for” (including\u00a0ar, chun, do, i gcomhair, le haghaidh, faoi choinne<\/strong>, and in somewhat more specialized phrases, as ucht, mar, ina,<\/strong> or ar feadh<\/strong>, just to name some).\u00a0 The Irish just says, “Deoch anois<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n Finally, a dripping wet Spot answers his mother’s question about what he’s been doing by saying “Nothing” in English, but “Seo is si\u00fad<\/strong>” in Irish, which is more literally “This and that.”\u00a0 Among the typical Irish words for “nothing” are: tada, dada, faic, rud ar bith<\/strong> and a little more philosophically, neamhn\u00ed<\/strong>.\u00a0 So, it’s interesting what the translator chose.<\/p>\n Hope you found this interesting and useful.\u00a0 As somebody once sang, more or less, the beginning is “a very good place to start.”\u00a0 – SGF\u00a0 — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n Mionruda\u00ed foilseach\u00e1in:<\/strong><\/p>\n Spot’s First Walk<\/em> (NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons; London: originally Ventura Publishing, now Ladybird), 1981<\/p>\n Bran amuigh ag si\u00fal<\/em> (Baile \u00c1tha Cliath, An G\u00fam), 1982<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Translations are hardly ever word for word or exactly literal.\u00a0 Languages are too idiomatic for most literal translations to flow well.\u00a0 We might expect this especially in songs, poetry and the Classics.\u00a0 But I thought it would interesting to look at a fairly simple text, and one that’s a lot of fun for…<\/p>\n