Project 5
Spanish to English
Book Samples
Title in Spanish: Travesías Mágicas
Title in English: Magical Journeys
Spanish to English
Book Samples
Title in Spanish: Travesías Mágicas
Title in English: Magical Journeys
Color Guide: Differences between the translations are shown as brown while mistakes are marked as red
Rose Marie Tapia is a recognized Panamanian author who started her literary journey in the year 2000. She won an honorary mention in the prestigious contest of Ricardo Miró and has published an impressive amount of 27 novels.
Travesía Mágicas is a heartfelt and emotional story of an aunt and his nephew published in 2002. The story carries a narrative style with a very emotional diction, making this story an impactful one. It is a fictional story of emotional adventures between a boy, his imagination, and his lovely aunt.
The reason why I chose this novel is because of the impact it had on my childhood. I remember receiving this book in 5th grade and not wanting to read it. As a child, I only saw the book as boring words on paper. After reading it, and still remembering it 12 years later, I can say that it has been one of the most impactful books I have ever read.
Esa mañana, como todos los sábados, Rosa Elena se vestía apresurada para visitar a su querido sobrino. Se esmeraba en su arreglo y buscó un atuendo elegante, pues Raulito era un niño muy observador y le gustaba que ella se vistiera muy bonita. Él siempre la esperaba con los brazos abiertos, era su tía preferida y jugaba con él como si fuera de su misma edad. No cometía el error de explicarle las cosas varias veces. La gente adulta lo aburría con las repeticiones. Podía comprender con facilidad desde un comienzo muchas cosas. Esa mañana en especial Rosa Elena observó que Raulito estaba triste. Se acercó a él, lo besó tiernamente y le preguntó.
That morning, like every Saturday, Rosa Elena dressed in a hurry to visit her beloved nephew. She took great care in her grooming and looked for an elegant outfit, because Raulito was a very observant child and liked her to dress very pretty. He always waited for her with open arms, she was his favorite aunt and played with him as if she were his own age. He did not make the mistake of explaining things to her several times. Adult people bored him with repetition. He could easily understand many things from the beginning. That special morning Rosa Elena observed that Raulito was sad. She approached him, kissed him tenderly and asked him.
That morning, like every Saturday, Rosa Elena was in a hurry to visit her beloved nephew. He took great care in his arrangement and looked for an elegant outfit, because Raulito was a very observant boy and liked that she dressed very pretty. He always waited for her with open arms, she was his favorite aunt and he played with her as if she were his own age. He didn't make the mistake of explaining things to her several times. Adult people bored him with repetitions. He could easily understand many things from the beginning. That morning in particular Rosa Elena observed that Raulito was sad. She approached him, kissed him tenderly and asked him.
Elsie permanecía de pie recostada sobre el escritorio. Era una mujer que proyectaba mucha seguridad, con una inteligencia fuera de lo común, de mediana edad y muy bella, de piel blanca, cabellos negros y unos expresivos ojos negros. Vestía con sencillez y elegancia. Rosa Elena se despidió prometiéndole reunirse con ella todas las semanas para tenerla al tanto de la situación.
Elsie stood leaning on the desk. She was a very confident woman, with uncommon intelligence, middle-aged and very beautiful, with white skin, black hair and expressive black eyes. She dressed with simplicity and elegance. Rosa Elena said goodbye promising to meet with her every week to keep her updated on the situation.
Elsie was lying flat on the desk. She was a woman who projected a lot of confidence, with an unusual intelligence, middle-aged and very beautiful, with white skin, black hair and expressive black eyes. He dressed simply and elegantly. Rosa Elena said goodbye promising to meet with her every week to keep her informed of the situation.
Comments:
After taking two samples from Travesías Mágicas and translating them to English using MateCat and DeepL, I came to different conclusions:
I saw many mistakes in the translations, especially in MateCat. Its mistakes ranged from mistaking the gender of characters to translating a sentence literally and changing the context and meaning of it.
I believe that the reason why DeepL kept the correct gender and MateCat didn't, is because MateCat translates sentence by sentence, losing the noun-pronoun relationship.
I also noticed something done by both tools which is the omission of a comma when listing three or more things. The comma before the conjunction "and" is always omitted.
They also kept a comma used in the original text (Spanish) that is not correct in English. See, when a sentence begins with a dependent class we add commas before the independent one, but if they have the dependent clause as the second clause of the sentence, no comma is added.
Not many differences in general, just a few different word choices.