The rain in Spain…

We’ve been watching a Spanish series on the Internet which is in Spanish, but with English subtitles, and it’s quite funny as we understand enough of the Spanish to realize that the English subtitles are an interpretation rather than a strict translation. For example, we were both surprised to see one of the characters say “the rain in spain falls mainly on the plain”. The Spanish equivalent is Lluvia de Sevilla es una maravilla (the rain in spain is a marvel). There’s been a few other things like this. Sometimes it’s funny because the character will say a couple of words, but the subtitles go on like a short novel, and other times the English is just so ‘English’.

Some subtitles are automated translations, but these have obviously been lovingly crafted by hand!

It has made me realize that I need to be careful when suggesting students turn on Spanish subtitles when they watch a program in English as it could be more confusing than helpful.

The other interesting thing is this series is about time travellers (it’s not as dull as it sounds). And it’s obviously the Spanish take on history – some of which differs quite a lot from the British take on history (the Spanish definition of ‘Pirate’ seems to equate with our definition of ‘hero’). Another interesting thing is that Franco appeared in one episode. He was played as a straight character – but they gave him a funny voice. I have no idea if Franco really had a funny voice, but I thought it was quite a clever way of playing him in a way that made his slightly ridiculous, without making him ridiculous…