A Mayan Life (By Gaspar Pedro Gonzales 1995)

How does the English translation affect the language?

In the back of the book, where there is a mini-biography of Gaspar, it is written that Gaspar is the only Mayan to ever have published a book. His story, "A Mayan Life," chronicles the life of Lwin and his father Mekel as they live in the poor city of Cuchamatan in the mountains of Guatemala. Mekel is forced to work under brutal conditions in labor camps in order to provide money for his son and wife. This book is very interesting; it details the lives of modern day Mayans, something that has never been done from the point of view of a native Mayan before. Originally, written in Spanish, the book was translated into English a few years after it was published. I assume that in Spanish, the diction and flow of the sentences are much better than they are in English. The sentences are very choppy in places and the dialogue does not sound natural. Whoever translated this book did not do a very good job. For example, a line of dialogue reads, "Those are the ones who take their small children to the fincas and don't come back with them. They take them only to bury them." The translator could have done a better job with making these sentences flow better; maybe by saying "they take their small children to the fincas and don't come back with them...etc." I wish I was better at understanding Spanish so I could read the Spanish addition of the book and the original words that Gaspar had written. Thankfully, though, these awkward sentences don't take away any of the book's meaning, so the story line is still very understandable.