This morning during language class we went on a field trip to the bookstore! I was just as excited as I was back in first grade, when we went to the public library on my birthday.
Pretty much all of the bestsellers from the US were there in translation, which led to lots of surprising moments- I'd be studying a book with an interesting cover, and it would take me a few seconds to reconcile the Italian title with the one I'm familiar with in English. Sometimes, titles had to be changed in order to make sense; Roald Dahl's The BFG (The Big Friendly Giant) became Il GGG (Il Grande Gigante Gentile)--same meaning, different initials. Others, like The Catcher in the Rye, seemed to be too difficult to translate without confusing people (although I never really understood the English title, either), so here it's just "The Young Boy Holden." Some of the books seemed to have lost a bit of their magic in traduzione: a title like The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants says a lot more than "Four Friends and a Pair of Jeans."
Aside from that, it was a lot like the Barnes and Noble I worked at--except, this being Italy, here I probably could have used my employee discount on the extensive wine list.
FYI, the original title of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was, Men Who Hate Women.
ReplyDeleteHey Lina, how do you say, "Aunt Steffi is jealous" in Italian?
ReplyDeleteAlso, did you know that David Sedaris attended a screening of "It is Necessary to Save the Soldier Ryan" in France some years ago? Miss you!
Hey Aunt Stef, I was thinking about good ol' Dave when I wrote this (as you guessed) because my friend bought his latest book in Italian. I can only imagine the headache the translator had trying to capture the humor in "When You Are Engulfed in Flames"
ReplyDelete