A question for the Spanish speakers out there
My book has just been translated into Spanish by Maria deVera of ContentSpanish who did a magnificent job. It will be available in Spanish on paper and in pdf very soon.
I just have one question for ya: The title.
This is the title we’re going with: Nuestra hora feliz es de 9 a 5 – Cómo estar encantado con tu trabajo y con tu vida y ser un profesional excepcional.
It’s a pretty literal translation of the original English title Happy Hour is 9 to 5 – Learn how to Love your Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work.
How do you like the title in Spanish? Do you have a better idea? Do you think there’s a market for the book in Spanish?
Please write a comment, I’d really like to know your take!
Benjamin Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 12:40 am
ok, te lo pondre en español e intentare traducirlo, ok.
La gente que creo es tu objetivo, sabe leer algo de ingles, ademas es muy comun , por lo menos en México DF(México city), que se le denomine “happy hour” cuando en un bar o antro la barra es libre (free drinks), por lo que yo dejaria el titulo del a siguiente manera: “happy hour de 9 a 5, como amar tu trabajo, amar tu vida y destacar en el trabajo.”
The people I think will be your target, know a bit of english , and is very common, at least in Mexico city, that the hour when in a bar or disco the drinks are free is call “happy hour” , so a will put the title like this: “happy hour de 9 a 5, como amar tu trabajo, amar tu vida y destacar en el trabajo.”
espero te sirva
I hope you find this usefull.
Benjamin Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 12:45 am
olvide decirte que creo que si tienes un buen mercado para poder vender tu libro, los problemas laborales por lo menos en México son en terminos de felicidad en el trabajo, muy similares a EEUU, o eso creo yo, ademas por estos lugares es muy comun que el horario de trabajo se extienda a 6:30 o mas.
I forgot to tell you, I think you hace a very good market for the book, the work problems, at least in México, are very similar to the ones in the USA, well I think that. Also that the schedule of work extends to 6:30 or more late is very, very common, if is not the rule.
Peluka Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 1:50 am
As Benjamin said, Happy Hour is perfectly understandable by profesionals, at least in Latin America. I’m from Argentina and live in México City, and both cities are used to the term.
Also agree on the time issue… 9 to 6 is surely more realistic.
So is something like “El Happy Hour es de 9 a 6″.
For the tagline (Learn how to Love your Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work) I would say “Aprende a amar tu trabajo, tu vida y ser el mejor”.
Good luck!
PD: I think there is a market for your book arround here. It will depend on marketing (how do you get people to know about it).
Drew Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 3:30 am
It’s good, but leaves out the “kick butt” part.
Learn how to Love your Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work
vs.
How to be delighted with your work and life and be an exceptional professional.
I’m not a native speaker, but seems to need a little more zip.
jose Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 5:47 am
Greetings from Venezuela. As others have said, happy hour is known in Latin America as “happy hour”, in English. That’s the term bars and pubs use. Saying it in Spanish would leave a lot of people wondering what’s that bar talking about.
That said, I would suggest titling it “happy hour de 9 a 5″, without the verb. That’s the kind of sign you would find in a bar: “happy hour de 10 a 12″ for example. By the way, I’ve always wondered why “happy hour” is never one hour, at least not over here.
I would shorten the subtitle too and would try to keep the “kick butt” sense, however, it might be difficult since different Spanish speaking countries have very different idioms and expressions. I’d go with something like this: Aprende a amar tu trabajo, amar tu vida y comerte a mundo. (Learn to love your job, to love your life and to eat the world). Or even and imperative “Ama tu trabajo, ama tu vida y cómete al mundo”. I’m kind of sure that expression, to eat the world, would be understood pretty much in every country, but I’d suggest some verification first. Maybe you could post it and get some feedback about it from Spanish speakers. It means to succeed, mostly professionally, at work, in your projects.
Good luck !!
José from Caracas, Venezuela.
jose Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 5:50 am
Sorry, a little typo. The titles I’m suggesting are:
Happy Hour de 9 a 5. Aprende a amar tu trabajo, amar tu vida y comerte al mundo.
OR
Happy Hour de 9 a 5. Ama tu trabajo, ama tu vida y cómete al mundo.
(Actually I’d go with this last one).
jorge Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 6:16 am
PROPOSED SPANISH TITLE
¡Gracias a Dios es Lunes! – Aprende a Amar tu Trabajo y Dale Una Vuelta a tu Vida
ABOUT NOT USING HAPPY HOUR
I agree with Benjamin and Peluka that the Mexican and Argentinean target for the Spanish edition of your book would know the meaning of “Happy Hour”. I don’t know if Spaniards use “hora feliz” as we use “happy hour” (literal translation) for the period of time in which bars and restaurants are promoting 2 beers, tequila shots, etc. for the price of 1.
The thing is, as Benjamin wrote, using either Happy Hour or Hora Feliz would be associated with drinking hard liqueur during office hours.
Spain is known for dubbing all English spoken movies to Spanish, including titles and character names. i.e. Spain translated Star Wars to La Guerra de las Galaxias, Luke Skywalker is Lucas Trotacielos, ant dubbed all dialogues to Spanish for movie theatres. We also used La Guerra de las Galaxias, but kept Luke Skywalker and English dialogues just adding subtitles.
There are a lot of nuances in Spanish selection of words and meanings depending on the Spanish speaking country you are referring to. I would recommend adapting translations to each main Spanish speaking market –that would be quite expensive– or find the most even universal Spanish title, which I believe is more practical.
ABOUT NOT USING 9 TO 5, 9 TO 6, 9 TO…
9 to 5 does not apply in Mexico because we like to show off how hard workers we are by going home after 7. Sometimes we prefer to get out even later just to avoid driving during 1 hour (perhaps more) through life consuming routinely traffic jams. Also, taking 1.5 or 2 lunch hours is standard in my country.
Good luck and hope to see you in Mexico promoting your spanish relese!
Julie Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 7:09 am
I think the above suggestions for an alternative translation of the title are all very good. And they touch on a very key point: who is the target audience of your text in Spanish? To say “all Spanish speakers” is really too broad – and yet this is an all too common error. (I realize that you did *not* say this.)
I tend to agree with Jorge – when you have clearly defined your target market(s), you may wish to consider where and how it might be appropriate to adapt the text. The relevance of your book to your reader, with respect to cultural differences, will be immediately apparent in the title. For example, with respect to the typical work day in various countries.
Also, the phrase “kick butt” becomes a challenge in translation. You’ll notice that everyone chose conservative translations: ser un profesional excepcional, destacar, ser el mejor, etcetera. And perhaps a conservative translation is best: some synonym for “excel”. If you try to keep the tone and the slang of “kick butt”, in translation you run two risks: offending someone or choosing an idiom that makes sense in one country but not another. But with the conservative choices, as Drew pointed out, you also lose some of the tone you were trying to get across.
Josep Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 9:56 am
Hello from Spain,
Here at the other side of the Atlantic, the happy hour concept is not translated, so i think it’s better to use the original version. I vote for Benjamin suggestion of title:
“happy hour de 9 a 5: como amar tu trabajo, amar tu vida y destacar en el trabajo”.
Vidar Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 10:52 am
I’ll have to agree with those that said using “happy hour” in english would suggest getting drunk on the job or something like that. not a very good idea.
For your original title idea “Nuestra hora feliz es de 9 a 5″ I’d suggest changing it to “Nuestro horario feliz es de 9 a 5″ (or 6, 7, whatever). This could/would translate back to english as something like “Our happy business hours are 9 to 5″ which is kinda the idea of the original title in english, right?
Alain Gougeon Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 1:37 pm
Well, all the comments above are quite interesting, and i’d say… you’re in trouble.
The point to me is that:
1. Happy Hour in its English form is used everywhere, and understood as what it is, meaning, a bar thing. The subtlety of the “happy” in it wouldn’t be conveyed to the Spanish speakers in the same way that it is to the English ones. The first association would be done with drinking. Therefore, from that point of view, I would refrain from using it. Then on the other hand, even in English, that title meant to be provocative, and also for the English speakers the bar association is there…
2. The literal translation is way too corny. Sounds like a children fairytale bad title in some way.
3. To be able to use a title and subtitle that use your twist of words with the enthusiasm, the lack of conventionalism and at the same time without going into either corny, daring or lame is quite impossible without getting more local than the whole Spanish speaking market, The way we Latinamericans speak is way different from one place to another when it comes to the idioms.
Then, it only happens to me that in order to still have a provocative title that catches the attention without falling into too regionalistic expressions, you indeed might want to keep the “happy hour” after all.
Of course people will first associate the term with drinking and bars, but that’s what the English speakers do as well. In my opinion the effect of the title is interesting because it makes you think a bit. If you stay with the first meaning it would be a book on how to be drinking all day. Then you realize there is a word play in it and that makes it funny. And then interesting.
(The subtitle and cover clarify anything that might still need to be, anyway)
I think that effect is quite impossible to translate to anything else, and that if you would maintain “happy hour” in it, you would keep that same effect. “Nuestra Hora Feliz…” certainly doesn’t convey anything at all. Please do NOT use that one.
My vote goes to “Happy Hour de 9:00 a 6:00″
Regarding the subtitle, I don’t know if that is idiomatic, but it works for me:
“Como amar tu trabajo, amar tu vida, y arrasar en tu empresa”
I leave the “Learn…” just to make the sentence in better shape, and wouldn’t use the “eat the world” thing just because I don’t like it, but then, probably the “arrasar” part wouldn’t fit other regions as well. It’s quite difficult to be idiomatic for such a large region…
Anyway, just my 0.2… and, as I said at the beginning… You’re in trouble buddy! ;-)
pancho Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 1:47 pm
Happy Hour in Argentina is perfect.
Gerardo Amaya Said,
September 4, 2007 @ 3:45 pm
Greetings from Guatemala. I think that the title can not be taken so literally, the title and the punch line should change in order to impact the Spanish audience.
The literal translation from happy hour is “Hora Feliz” which sounds more like a Sunday morning kids show.
I know that you’re trying to keep the original title impact, but in Spanish is quite different. Also “Kick Butt” is something that has to be translated in a very special way
How about this:
“La Felicidad tiene Horario, de 9:00am a 5:00pm — Aprende como Amar tu Trabajo, tu Vida y trascender en el trabajo”
some light changes
“La Felicidad tiene Horario, y es de 9:00am a 5:00pm — Aprende como Amar tu Trabajo, tu Vida y encontrar el exito en el trabajo”
This suggestions may sound long, but Spanish can not be compressed as English
Hope this really helps :)
Luis Said,
September 4, 2007 @ 7:51 pm
Well
I really agree with mr. Gougeon… your are in big trouble. But since i really want to see this book in the mexican shelves i would make an slight change on the title he suggests.
Maybe to reinforce the encapsulation of the idea that the happy hour is in the working hours. How about:
“La hora feliz es de 9 a 5
Como amar tu trabajo, amar tu vida, y arrasar en tu empresa”
The “kick butt” idiom its a hard one to translate but i think the “arrasar” word its the more accurate because it translates also the harsh and forcely manner of the idiom.
And about the time frame i think its not necessary to move it because for a lot of spanish people its commonly know the term “from 9 to 5″ refers to the working hours, there was even a movie with that title !!!
Hope i am of help to you
L.E.
Alexander Said,
September 5, 2007 @ 7:45 am
Thanks for the fantastic input everyone. I’m going to think this over together with Maria de Vera and announce a title soon!
Muchas gracias!
Jose Said,
September 8, 2007 @ 7:49 pm
Hi everybody from Spain.
I think leaving “Happy hour” is perfect for your target audience.
My vote goes to the mixed-translation proposed by Josep.
Hope seeing your book soon in our bookstores !!
Juan Said,
September 12, 2007 @ 6:15 pm
Greetings from Chile. Here is very common using “Happy Hour” and our working time is from 9 to 6, like in Mexico. To avoid this kind of complications is great Jorge Said’s “¡Gracias a Dios es Lunes!”. About the second part mi vote goes to “Cómo amar tu trabajo, amar tu vida, y arrasar en tu empresa” or “Cómo amar tu trabajo, amar tu vida, y trascender en tu trabajo”. Congratulations for the blog.
Productivity Zen - Today’s Top Blog Posts on Productivity - Powered by SocialRank Said,
October 1, 2007 @ 12:16 pm
[...] A question for the Spanish speakers out there [...]