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Translated by Carlos Rivera.I LOVE CATS!I LOVE CATS!
Customer Review: The worst translation I've ever seen
This is a put-down to the Spanish language. It is literally translated- word-for-word, and obviously that does not work with any kind of translation. The translator has to use his/her disgression to transmit the message through whatever type of medium they are working with. In this case, Dr. Seuss's writing is playful and rhyming- this translation does not do this book any justice. They should really never have published this. Even as a non-native speaker of Spanish, I know that this translation is not well-done. My suggestion-- go read "Huevos verdes con jamon", which is wonderful.
Customer Review: AWFUL TRANSLATION!!!
We first bought "Huevos Verdes con Jamon" an excellent translation of "Green Eggs and Ham." The translator, Aida E. Marcuse, managed to play with the wording to retain the "Seussian" rhyme, rhythm, and whimsy. Based on that, we bought this bilingual edition without inspecting it first--big mistake! I am an Anglo-American who learned Spanish as an adult, and I could have done this translation. Carlos Rivera's translation looks like he took a English-Spanish dictionary and went through the text line by line, translating each word in turn. The result is clunky, non-rhyming, and completely devoid of the charm so characteristic of Dr. Seuss's works. A child exposed to this book might come to think of Spanish as a dull, clunky language compared to the fun English text. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Spanish is much easier to rhyme than English, so this translation makes no sense whatsoever. My suggestion to Random House: call Aida E. Marcuse and get her to do the same quality translation for "El Gato Ensombrerado" that she did for "Huevos Verdes con Jamon."


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