Lost in Translation

Every time I finish up a blog post I think to myself "I feel like I won't have anything left to write about next week". But luckily, when you're an American fumbling their way through a foreign country these things just seem to write themselves. This past weekend we took a class trip to Madrid and it was wonderful. I have always been a lover of big cities and Madrid truly is the ultimate city. We took advantage of our being in the big city to visit some theaters, one to see a movie and the other to see a play. It was kind of funny because we expected the movie we saw (Beauty and the Beast) to be dubbed in Spanish and the play (Mamma Mia) to be in English. Welp it wasn't the first time our expectations were incorrect.

On Friday night we went to the movie theater expecting to see our beloved Emma Watson be voiced by a Spaniard in the dubbed version of Beauty and the Beast. As it turned out, we ended up seeing the regular English film with Spanish subtitles. It was quite an experience. This was my first time seeing a movie in Spain and it was very different than the US movie theater. First of all, I have noticed in my daily rides on the city bus that in Spain large groups of people when waiting for something tend to form mobs instead of lines. This was no different in the movie theater. Instead of slowly filing in and sitting down as we got our tickets like in the US, the entire crowd stood in the lobby waiting for the theater to open and then mobbed the poor ticket ripper in a giant mass as soon as we were allowed to pass. Once in the theater, the previews began. It seemed louder to me than I am used to hearing and I quickly realized that anytime there was a silence between commercials, almost everyone was in the place was talking. Although this chatty enthusiasm seemed a bit annoying at first, I grew to really love it because anytime a recognizable song would play everyone would sing and dance in their seats. And anytime anything emotional happened in the movie everyone would loudly cheer or cry or laugh or gasp.

Once the movie began, I watched the subtitles a little to see how they were translating the film and I was reminded of just how much language reflects culture. Spanish in Spain is very direct and to the point, people will tell you exactly what they mean. And these translations definitely reflected that. For example, in the famous line "tale as old as time", it was translated to "cuento viejo" (old story). Or if the Beast would say something like "I love you more than words will can describe my beautiful Belle" then it would appear in the subtitles as "te quiero" (I love you). In English we are always trying to find the nicest most roundabout way of saying what we want without actually saying it but it Spanish they just say it. This showed through in the translation of the movie. Side note: Beauty and the Beast was amazing 10/10 would recommend to a friend.

On Saturday we found out that tickets to see the Mamma Mia performance were only 25 euros so we figured what the heck! I was initially thinking that this would be the English broadway play but quickly found out the entire play was in Spanish including the songs. It was absolutely incredible!! After seeing the Spanish version I have decided that Donna's friends were meant to Spanish. Here's a list of some fun characteristics that were different in the Spanish version for those of you who have seen the Mamma Mia movie with Meryl Streep:

1. Harry Headbanger= Javier Heavy

(J is pronounced like H in Spanish)

2. The song SOS was translated to No lo ves (but you don't see it)

3. The song Take a chance on me translated to Chico ven aquí (boy come here)

4. The song Dancing Queen (aka my theme song since the age of 4) remained Dancing queen. They didn't translate the chorus much

5. Money money money song was referred to as what you "gastan para ser feliz" (spend to be happy). I definitely like the English version better that says "must be funny in a rich man's world"

6. Waterloo was not translated at all. Not sure if you could say it was ever really English though haha

In summary, language remains super cool and complex. I love watching Spanish and English interact in this country.

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