Beware all those who suffer from heart-problems and love either English or Spanish, for the phrases you shall behold on reading further, may damage your health badly.

Extracted from "Cuadernos Cervantes Nº 40 Año VIII":[Quote]

[center]DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA
Miguel de Cervantes[/center]

First Parte, Chapter uno -Transladado al Spanglish por Ilán Stavans.

In un placete de la Mancha of which nombre no quiero remembrarme, vivía, not so long ago, uno de esos gentlemen who always tienen una lanza in the rack, una buckler antigua, a skinny caballo y un grayhound para el chase. A cazuela with más beef than mutón , carne choppeada para la dinner, un omelet pa’ los Sábados, lentil pa’ los Viernes, y algún pigeon como delicacy especial pa’ los Domingos, consumían las tres cuarers de su income. El resto lo employaba en un coat the braodcloth y en soketes de velvetín pa’ los holidays, with sus slippers pa’ combinar, while los otros días de la semana él cut a su figura los más finos cloths. Livin with él eran una housekeeper en sus forties, una sobrina not yet twenty y un ladino del field y la marketa que le addleaba el caballo al gentleman y wieldeaba un hookete pa’ podear. El gentleman andaba por allí por los fifty. Era de complexión robusta, pero un poco fresco en los bones y una cara leaneada y gaunteada. La gente sabía de él que era un early riser y que le gustaba mucho huntear. La gente say que su apellido was Quijada o Quesada -hay diferencia de opinión entre aquellos que han escrito sobre el sujeto- but acordando con las muchas conjeturas se entiende que era really Quejada. But all this no tiene mucha importancia pa’ nuestro cuento, providiendo que al contarlo no nos separemos pa’ nada de las verdá.

Ilán Stavans, tiene la Cátedra Lewis-Sebring en Amherst College

I admit I have laughed for a while on reading it. However, this rubbish makes me sick when somebody pretends to take seriously such a bunch of incongruences and chaotic scripture, like this Stavans guy. Which rules has he followed to translate it? Does he think it worthwhile to deprive both languages from their essence and mix them in an unholy allay? Now, I guess this shall become the stupid game for some linguists too bored to worry about real tongues.

Regards,

      WS.

Wait—I recognize this form!

Cuando a student está aprendiendo a language nueva y doesn’t have mucho vocabulario, él may substituir familiar palabras from la lengua materna y keep going.

gailr
Who would never do such a thing. Unless she was desperate. :D

[quote author=gailr link=board=translate;num=1094219605;start=0#1 date=09/03/04 at 10:09:40]Wait—I recognize this form!

Cuando a student está aprendiendo a language nueva y doesn’t have mucho vocabulario, él may substituir familiar palabras from la lengua materna y keep going.

gailr
Who would never do such a thing. Unless she was desperate. :D

Mark Twain, one of my favorite authors, did something similar.  In one of his notebooks he translates an Italian newspaper, literally.  In another, longer, piece, He presents his famous short story, The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, first in English, then in French, then in Twain’s literal translation back into English. Or, as he puts it in his preface to Sketches Old and New:  " . . . the "Jumping Frog restored to the English tongue after martyrdom in the French . . . "  And you thought Babelfish was funny?

THE JUMPING FROG [written about 1865]

IN ENGLISH.  THEN IN FRENCH.  THEN CLAWED BACK INTO A CIVILIZED LANGUAGE
ONCE MORE BY PATIENT, UNREMUNERATED TOIL.

. . .

THE NOTORIOUS JUMPING FROG OF CALAVERAS COUNTY [Pronounced Cal-e-va-ras]

"Rev. Leonidas W.  H’m, Reverend Le—well, there was a feller here, once by the name of Jim Smiley, in the winter of ‘49—or maybe it was the spring of ‘50—I don’t recollect exactly, somehow, though what makes me think it was one or the other is because I remember the big flume warn’t finished when he first come to the camp; but anyway, he was the curiousest man about always betting on anything that turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the other side; and if he couldn’t he’d change sides.

. . .

[From the Revue des Deux Mondes, of July 15th, 1872.]

THE JUMPING FROG

"—Il y avait, une fois ici un individu connu sous le nom de Jim Smiley:  c’etait dans l’hiver de 49, peut-etre bien au printemps de 50, je ne me reappelle pas exactement.  Ce qui me fait croire que c’etait l’un ou l’autre, c’est que je me souviens que le grand bief n’etait pas acheve lorsqu’il arriva au camp pour la premiere fois, mais de toutes facons il etait l’homme le plus friand de paris qui se put voir, pariant sur tout
ce qui se presentaat, quand il pouvait trouver un adversaire, et, quand n’en trouvait pas il passait du cote oppose.

. . .

THE FROG JUMPING OF THE COUNTY OF CALAVERAS

It there was one time here an individual known under the name of Jim Smiley; it was in the winter of ‘89, possibly well at the spring of ‘50, I no me recollect not exactly.  This which me makes to believe that it was the one or the other, it is that I shall remember that the grand flume is not achieved when he arrives at the camp for the first time, but of all sides he was the man the most fond of to bet which one have seen, betting upon all that which is presented, when he could find an adversary; and when he not of it could not, he passed to the side opposed.

Here is a copy of it at Project Gutenberg—scroll down or search for "frog" to find it.  The link is to a 125KB text file, but it is only part one of Sketches Old and New.  Go here and scroll down to or search for "Twain" to find all of his works that Gutenberg has.

¿Podemos afordarlo? is normal part of my vocabulary. As a native Spanish speaker living in an English speaking country for the last nine years, I have witnessed the (almost) complete disappearance of my sense of linguistic shame.

Thanks for your opinion on the matter, uncronopio!

We all tend to do such things when shut from our normal acquaintances and enviroment. However, each one, every single person, has its own way of doing it and I doubt the Spanglish you may speak in Australia be equal to the one spoken in the States.

To freely and individually, like this fellow and many others, pick up the words that must be borrowed from English/Spanish to form Spanglish and suggest that it is a new tongue with enough foundation makes me sick.

This is a very recent phenomenon and I would prefer to wait until it really turns out in one or other way.

Regards,

          WS.

I don’t know Mr. Twain’s intention nor that of the forger’s above cited "translation", but I remember that for some decades ago the so called "Natural method" of learning a language would be to read books—first with a few central foreign words and then more and more of them and finally only a few in the reader’s mother tounge.  The method is not so popular nowadays I suppose since I haven’t seen any advertising in a long while.  I’ve never tried it myself, but it looks pretty logical to me.

There are at least two problems with that method: The one copy that I have seen of such a book introduced new words in a rather random fashion, so you for example learn ‘badger’ before knowing what ‘walks’ mean. Also, I wonder how the transition is carried out for grammar.  That process must have been rather weird, and creating of lot of confusion. I remember the badger thing, but this was some 55 years ago, so I probably didn’t even know what ‘grammar’ was.

This was in the days when door to door salesmen still were allowed to operate. My mother has no higher education, but she spotted the silliness of it anyway, and after discussing it with me (yes!), she sent the man away.