found wanting

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been reviewing the translation of a novel with the author. Time and again, we’ve come up against what she sees as limitations in the English language.

One of the biggest problem has been with words that are gender non-specific. With a word like “saint”, “patient” or “teacher” it’s unclear whether it refers to male or female, whereas in Spanish you have the pairs santa/santo, profesor/profesora, and with words like paciente it’s simply a question of changing the gender of the article: el paciente/la paciente.

Another great failing is the lack of diminutive forms. In Spanish you can play with a variety of endings to make a whole host of words that all mean essentially the same as the root, but with a twist of emphasis. In English, “a kiss is just a kiss”, but in Spanish the basic beso can be transformed into un besazo, un besote, un besito, un besín, and probably a lot more besides.

I don’t notice these failings when I’m speaking English, of course; then, I instinctively know whether I mean “crony”, “mate”, “chum”, etc., but when you’re faced with a word like amiguete or amigote, it’s not always easy to know the difference – and less than easy to explain why one translation is more appropriate than the other. Similarly when you need to find a specific translation for a word like escritora – I don’t think the term “lady-author” is in use any more! – and you have to completely rephrase things and make sure there’s a female pronoun nearby to clarify. This is why I prefer not to do on-the-spot translations.

As for the photo, it’s a poster I spotted in the Madrid metro, which presumably is playing off the slogan “Yes, we can” and the Spanish wedding vow where the “I do” equivalent is “Sí, quiero” . (In reality, I’m not sure the novios say more than “Sí” at the actual ceremony, but “Sí, quiero” is the popular phrase.)

The verb “querer” is problematic: it may be want or love. “Lo quiero” – “I love him”, conflicts with “lo quiero matar” – “I want to kill him”.

It’s true that the answer to, “¿Quieres casarte conmigo?” would be, “Sí, quiero”, but even if I admit the slightly twisted English of, “Do you want to marry me?” I can’t feel happy with the answer, “Yes, I want.” I feel it really needs to be, “Yes, I want to.”

The small print on the poster talks of studying at one of the bilingual state schools and colleges in the Comunidad de Madrid. I have no idea what the standard of English is among the teachers at these schools, but I hope they’re at least good enough to get across the idea that word-for-word translation is impossible and that you need to think in the other language in order to be fluent.