Buenas noches a todos / The Going to Bed Book (Spanish edition)

 (10 customer reviews)

"The Going to Bed Book" is a favorite of my little nephew. I've read it to him since he was an infant ... but he doesn't know almost any English. So you can imagine I looked forward to the Spanish version, so that I could read both to him for some bilingual cuddle time. BIG MISTAKE! This translation is one of the worst I've ever seen in terms of capturing the spirit of the original.

Sure, in literal terms, the following express the same dictionary meaning:

(English) "They hang their towels on the wall / and find pajamas, big and small."

(Spanish, back-translated) "They hang their towels on the wall / and look for pajamas, big and little, as you can see."

(Cuelgan las toallas en la pared / y buscan piyamas grandes y pequeñas, como se ve.)

Gone is the rhyme. Gone is the use of small, familiar words so the child can pretend to "read" along. There's an occasional rhyme ("resquicio" / "ejercicio"), but for the most part it's a...Read more

I did read the previous reviews on the book's poor translations, yet I never imagined they would be so bad! How can publishing houses do this?? The pictures and the characters are fun, yet if you are a native Spanish Speaker, this book will hurt your eyes, and you will end up making up better translations as you go along. The pictures are fun, and the story is relevant for children as they prepared to go to bed, but other than that...I agree, you are better off buying the English language version!

The book arrived on time, as the vendor promised and it was in good shape also. Thank you for being honest.