this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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Do you have a cat? (lemmy.world)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
45 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

English Translation:

Cat: Do you have a cat?

Girl: No.

Cat: Now you have one!

Girl: And that's how I got a cat.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (7 children)

The translation is precise, but for some reason it doesn't carry the same degree of humor. I think it may have to do with the way Spanish handles the indefinite article "a cat."

Edit: ok, that might be part of it, but there's also the way he tells her that she now has a cat. The word-for-word translation differs slightly in meaning from the figurative translation. There's something that's lost, maybe a degree of finality?

[–] [email protected] 67 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think "You do now." probably works better than "Now you have one!" It feels more threatening.

(Disclaimer: I'm a native speaker or neither English nor Spanish.)

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago

And the first panel: "Got a cat?"

Or even "Got cat?"

[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago

To your point, maybe a better translation for the third panel would be “you do now.”

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago

I would have translated better without the "a" to make it wrong and same level of absurd.

  • Do you have cat?
  • No
  • Now you do
  • And that's how I got cat
[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

one of my friends loves to say "oh my gatos!" instead of "oh my god"

and when you hear that coming from this 6'2 tatoo'd and dreadlocked brute, it always makes me giggle

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

one of my friends loves to say “oh my gatos!” instead of “oh my god”

Recently learned that this is called a minced oath.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I'm Spaniard and it sounds weird in Spanish, so much that I thought it was some auto translation bot. The humor is still there and it's easy to get eve it is sounds weird.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Alright, now I'm curious. I was responding from the perspective of an English speaker who reads and understands Spanish.

What do you find strange in the Spanish version? How would you express these lines more naturally?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

"un gato", it's missing the word "a" in "a cat", which makes it sound wrong and funnier in spanish than if it'd be written well

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Like I said, I'm not a native speaker. However, I was taught that the indefinite article is often omitted in this type of sentence to avoid confusion between an and one.

In other words "¿Tienes carro?" and "Tiene novio." still mean "do you have a car?" and "she has a boyfriend" even without the articles.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

you're right of course, and for me the first panel the sentence sounds correct, but not the last one, where she's already refering to her cat which is a cat like "gato" only. Maybe not the same asking if you have any car, any boyfriend or any cat as opposed to saying that now you have a cat, which should go with the "a" before. Unless the cat is called "Cat" 😅

I'm not a linguistic and cannot argue the why properly, but the sentence in last panel is definitely off

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Yo visito Barcelona en 2008 y (como se dice "stayed") en Hostel Urbany.

Yo me gusto mucho y amo gelato!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

I know just enough Spanish to read the whole joke before reading the translation. I agree, going for fewer shorter words makes it concise and funnier.

I make the same point to weaboos that insist on literal translation from Japanese. Sometimes just rewriting a phrase is a better option to carry the literary quality.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I miss Spanish language memes on Lemmy. I really wish the one mayor Spanish language server didn't disappear overnight with no major explanation.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Yeah... I knew something was missing... That was really cool to see with my Spanish learning whenever I understood one.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

Learning Spanish where people shitpost all the time sounds a little dangerous if you ever have to make polite conversation lol

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There was a server, mujico.org that just disappeared, suddenly at the beginning of this year. I don't know why, but I would read news and memes there. I've tried to Google about it. I don't know who ran it, but it was a Mexican server. It was the largest Spanish language community I found on Lemmy and I desperately want a replacement.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Look like they're back: https://mujico.org/post/3614

(a lot of slang there I don't understand, though...)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

a lot of slang there I don’t understand, though…

Well, the important part is that they either had to migrate to a larger VPS or decided to deploy the site into a Rasperry Pi. It depends on what story you'd want to believe.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

I'd didn't even knew there was a spanish one.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

I just remember, "por que no los dos?"

[–] [email protected] 30 points 9 months ago

I was a tripping a lil on mushrooms and my roomate was like "hey theres a cute stray hanging out on our porch. And now I have a cat

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I am learning spanish for a month . Now, I can fucking understand this comic without translation OMG.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Congrats 👏

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Thanks

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The Cat Distribution System at work

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

CDS, CDS, where have I heard that before...

Oh. Oh no.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Gato es muy bueno!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

HOLA SOY DORA

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Hola Dora, soy gato!

Can you say gato!?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Estoy a favor de gato, soy gatista

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Why does the cat look like those medieval paintings of cats that look butt ugly?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

The human eyes are the start.

Most animals don't show the whites of the eyes.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

Basically, the start of human relationships with cats.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Accurate.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

That's not a cat. That's a dog with small ears and a long tail.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

so is no one going to ask for the source?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Zoom in. The source is right in the middle. Looks like it says: "Alwer art"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

thanks

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Was this a real question? Or are you role playing?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

sorry I wear glasses

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

¿fuente?