Simple translation exercise

[Jonh]

Here's a simple translation exercise from this news item.

The original news item from La Prensa reads like this:

El niño Alejandro (Alex) Martínez Morales cumplió el 29 de junio sus 4 años, por lo que sus queridos padres Sr. Ramiro Martínez y Sra. Silvia Marcela Morales de Martínez, le celebraron el 1ro. de julio con una alegre fiestecita en el Club de la Fuerza Aérea, donde en compañía de sus invitados disfrutaron de los juegos del Payaso. En esta foto el cumpleañero con sus padres y hermana. Foto inferior con sus amiguitos. A las felicitaciones recibidas, nuestros mejores deseos.

My somewhat direct translation, punctuation maintained:

The boy Alejandro (Alex) Martinez Morales completed on June 29th his 4th year, for which his dear parents Senor. R.M. and Senora SMM de M, celebrated it July 1st with a happy little party in the Air Force Club, where in the company of his invited ones, they enjoyed the clown games. In this photo is the birthday boy with his parents and sister. Photo below with his little friends. To the received greetings, our best wishes.

Note the sentimentalism and awkward sentence structure of a literal translation.

As it would probably appear in a U.S. newspaper:

Alejandro (Alex) Martinez Morales turned 4 years old this June 29th. His parents, Mr. R.M. and Mrs. S.M.M. de M. celebrated it July 1st with a festive party at the Air Force Club. There, the family and their guests enjoyed games and a clown. In the top photo are the birthday boy and his sister. In the bottom photo are Alex and his friends. Happy Birthday, Alex!

They would spell out the parents' names of course; I just abbreviated them here for brevity.

Google's translation:

The child Alejandro (Alex) Martinez Morales met on June 29 its 4 years, so that her beloved parents. Ramiro Martinez and Mrs. Silvia Morales, Marcela Martinez, he held on May 1st. July with a cheerful fiestecita in the Air Force Club, where in the company of their guests enjoyed games Clown. In this picture the cumpleañero with his parents and sister. Photo below with their friends. At received congratulations, our best wishes.

Google can only take you so far - sometimes it does a great job, but for some reason they translated "1ro. de julio" as "May 1st July."

As you can see, a direct translation of the news story shows some grammatical oddities. I haven't figured out if this is considered standard Espanol or just not very well educated or edited since this "style" appears in almost all of Nica journalism. Sentence fragments and awkward phrases like "A las felicitaciones recibidas" (Felix, Cathy, anyone? help!) This is why a human translator is essential to get it to read smoothly.

[JackMcG]

I asked my wife about, " a las felicitaciones recibidas" and she said... don't try to understand the way La Prensa writes their articles.... bc they always write with mistakes and strange expressions of speech. She said the woman who writes the column in La Prensa called "Hablemos del Idioma" who is a grammar expert, often criticizes the newspaper herself.

[Jonh]

That's a relief! I wasn't sure if it was me, or they needed a new editor.

What were you saying about Nicas needing proper education?

[JackMcG]

That's a relief! I wasn't sure if it was me, or they needed a new editor.

What were you saying about Nicas needing proper education?

Ah ya... speaking of education... I want to post (under another thread) a question later (have to work now,,, damn it) about education in general in Nic and specifically college education.

[peterchristopher]

Now that you have mastered simple translation, try this on for size:: http://www.bizlatino.biz/filosofia/descifrar/

Peter

[tresfrijoles]

Now that you have mastered simple translation, try this on for size:: http://www.bizlatino.biz/filosofia/descifrar/

Peter

cierto dia de verano estaba en la playa observando a dos chicas brincando en la arena, estaban trabajabando mucho construyendo un castillo de arena con torres, pasadizos ocultos y puentescuando estaban acabando vino una ola destruyendo todo, reduciendo el castillo a un monton de arena