Friday, July 16, 2004

La Sombra del Viento (The Shadow of the Wind)

I've been trying to get hold of this book in the public library all over Barcelona but to no avail. The librarians informed me that they have a long list of reservation for this latest bestseller novel in the Spanish language. At least I have to wait until the month of November or December to be able to borrow it. Thinking that it costs 20 euros in hard bound copy, I am a bit reluctant to spend the money since I can in fact just buy a pocket book for less and even better borrow it in a library.  
 
My interest in this book is to translate it into Tagalog, maybe a hard task but for the benefit of the Filipinos who can't understand Spanish (although I have seen already a version in English) I'll do it. The easy and yet hard part is the title. Of course, from the first glance it's easy to render it as "Ang Anino ng Hangin." Very metaphorical isn't it? On second thought if we analyze profoundly the title itself and its meaning, it seems unnatural and illogical. Unnatural because we can not see wind and it has no shape nor form. Likewise in a logical sense we can ask the question, how can it cast a shadow in the first place? So the title as simple as that can play a major and crucial role in the "interpretation" of the entire novel. Does the translation "Ang Anino ng Hangin" retain the original metaphorical meaning? Well, that remains to be seen. I have the duty first to read whole book.
 
I am also surprised with the versions Spanish translators of movie titles render famous films like "Some like it Hot" (Con faldas y a lo loco - In skirts and crazy?) , "Waking Ned" (Despertando a Ned - Waking up Ned [isn't Ned supposed to be dead in the film?]),  "Unbreakable" (El protegido - The protegé), etc. Great imagination some translators have!
 
 

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