Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Definitely lost in translation...

At night, EVERY NIGHT, I read to my children.
EVERY NIGHT--they enforce this rule. :)

One of the books we read is a book of spanish nursery rhymes.
Spanish in language--not, for sure, in origen.

Under the spanish rhyme is the attempt to translate the rhyme
into english.

Here is a super funny one that cracks us up EVERY TIME WE READ IT!
Something is lost here....

Chiquita Bonita

Soy chiquita, soy bonita
Soy la perla de mi mama
Si me ensucio el vestido,
Garrotazos me dara.

Pretty little Girl
I am small, I am pretty.
I am my mother's pearl.
If I soil my dress,
She will beat me.

I cannot even type that out without laughing aloud!
Some bit of humor/gentleness from the spanish version was
totally lost in the english version.

HA! HA! HA!

1 comment:

Bethany said...

HA! - too funny, & a little surprising that was even printed that way! I'm happy to find out that my girls are learning some espanol! The teacher is from CA & is fluent, and the asst. is a native speaker. I wish the schools would keep it up, it is so easy at that age...

Spot on!

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