Need Spanish translator

freddy the beard

freddy the beard

Freddy Bentivegna
Silver Member
I am considering translating my books, Banking With The Beard and The GosPool into the Spanish language in order to reach a larger audience. I dont have a clue as to how to go about it. Any serious professional suggestions would be appreciated. Please no guesses as to how to do it. I am more than capable of doing that myself.

Beard
 
Freddy, you may want to Google "translation service" in your area. We have quite a few here in my neck of the woods. They will translate the content and provide a PDF or Word-formatted document of the Spanish language text.

I will mention that they are not cheap, but that would be the easiest way to do it. :)

Once you got it in final order, you can then offer it on your website. Build it and they will come, as they say.
 
The thing about what JAM said is that Google translates it to the literal meaning. If you write "pool stroke" it would translate it to the actual pool word "pisina" and the dangerous kind of stroke, the one that kills "derrame cerebral." I'm no professional but am fluent in Spanish, and able to write and read, and I speak it on a daily basis. I suggest that you find somebody that speaks Spanish very well and have human assistance. Also note that words like cue ball, rail, cushion, pocket, stroke and cue might be different in other countries. So you might want a player that grew up playing pool in their country for the "slang" part. I know in Bolivia they call a cue "taco," not sure if same anywhere else.

On a side note, I think it's great to expand horizons to the hispanic market. You don't see many pool books in Spanish, well actually you don't see many in English either! Not many pro hispanic players here in U.S. only a handful that I have seen. You might influence the next Paez, without his jerking though of course. Lol
 
Foolio said:
The thing about what JAM said is that Google translates it to the literal meaning. If you write "pool stroke" it would translate it to the actual pool word "pisina" and the dangerous kind of stroke, the one that kills "derrame cerebral"....
Click to expand...

No, I did not mean the Google Translater, which is in its infancy stage. I meant for him to look in the Yellow Pages or do a Google search for a translation company. We have a lot of them in my area.

I actually did a job about the Google Translater, an interview with Franz Och, Google's uber scientist. It was quite interesting about how the technology is advancing in this arena, but what you said is exactly right. There are some languages where an exact translation would not make any sense. :o
 
billiardshot said:
Check with local College or University for a student to translate material
Click to expand...

Translation is one thing, but I think he needs a professional translation service to transcribe it correctly, with proper spellings and punctuation.

A friend of mine has a side job as a proofreader for college students. Professors are requiring students to submit their papers to a professional proofreading service before they submit the paper to the professor in final form. She said that many of the papers submitted for proofreading are lacking in spelling and punctuation.

For Freddy to get this published, he needs a professional service to ensure its accuracy. I'm sure he wouldn't want to publish a book that is riddled with errors in spelling, translation, and punctuation. And then there's all those Spanish accent marks, too. Yikes, it is more complicated than I thought. :o
 
JAM said:
Translation is one thing, but I think he needs a professional translation service to transcribe it correctly, with proper spellings and punctuation.

A friend of mine has a side job as a proofreader for college students. Professors are requiring students to submit their papers to a professional proofreading service before they submit the paper to the professor in final form. She said that many of the papers submitted for proofreading are lacking in spelling and punctuation.

For Freddy to get this published, he needs a professional service to ensure its accuracy. I'm sure he wouldn't want to publish a book that is riddled with errors in spelling, translation, and punctuation. And then there's all those Spanish accent marks, too. Yikes, it is more complicated than I thought. :o
Click to expand...


Who going to proofread book after it come from print shop for mistake??

Here a post Beard might want to read on the translation of Billiards Manual
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=2601177&postcount=44
 
Foolio said:
The thing about what JAM said is that Google translates it to the literal meaning. If you write "pool stroke" it would translate it to the actual pool word "pisina" and the dangerous kind of stroke, the one that kills "derrame cerebral." I'm no professional but am fluent in Spanish, and able to write and read, and I speak it on a daily basis. I suggest that you find somebody that speaks Spanish very well and have human assistance. Also note that words like cue ball, rail, cushion, pocket, stroke and cue might be different in other countries. So you might want a player that grew up playing pool in their country for the "slang" part. I know in Bolivia they call a cue "taco," not sure if same anywhere else.

On a side note, I think it's great to expand horizons to the hispanic market. You don't see many pool books in Spanish, well actually you don't see many in English either! Not many pro hispanic players here in U.S. only a handful that I have seen. You might influence the next Paez, without his jerking though of course. Lol
Click to expand...

I"m with you in this one
For the must part the slang will find the way in, I do like the idea to translate in spanish and if it follows La Real Academia Española there should not be problems. They incorporate modismo.
Godd luck and hereby offer my services if required
 
Thanks to all...

... for your suggestions and advice. I just want to save myself as much time, energy and money as I can. I will consider all the options ya'all provided. I definitely need someone poolwise and Spanish literate to do a final reading edit.

Beard
 
Freddy
Why don't you contact PETER APRILE.

He is an Englishman who has lived in Spain for many years and is fluent in the language. He was involved in translating the BCA rules into Spanish.
He is a top class guy and a dedicated pool fanatic.
He is held in high regard throughout the world and was recently inducted into the Spanish Billiards Hall of Fame for his services to the game.
Just look after him well.

The best way to contact him quickly is on Facebook or I will PM you his number if you want it
Doug Gordon
 
Hi Freddy, You might consider contacting this company, http://www.globaltranslation.com/ I used to live in Chapel Hill and know them personally. The person that does the majority of the Spanish translation is a friend of mine named Dave MacRonald. He is an excellent pool player so he understands the game as well as translating. You can click on the About Us section and read his bio.

Take Care,
Dan
 
The best move is to use the Google translator:
http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en

It will give you a great translation. In fact, I ran our South American business using this tool exclusively. I never once spoke to our clients on the phone. They'd send me email requests--- I'd copy/paste them into the translator, write a response and translate that and then re-copy/paste that into an email.

Yes, it's not 100% accurate but it's over 85% accurate. Once you use the Google translator, get a native Spanish-speaker to proof the result. That's a lot easier than translating everything from scratch (which is a grind, imo).

Good luck, Beard.

Dave
 
Related to which, I see that there is already a Chinese version of Bw/tB:

freddythebeard 001.jpg

As for Google Translate, that's a really bad idea if you want a translation people won't laugh at. It's going to be especially poor at pool-English. Your best bet is to find someone like those mentioned before who know both pool and Spanish. Maybe Oscar D.?
 
freddy the beard said:
I am considering translating my books, Banking With The Beard and The GosPool into the Spanish language in order to reach a larger audience. I dont have a clue as to how to go about it. Any serious professional suggestions would be appreciated. Please no guesses as to how to do it. I am more than capable of doing that myself.

Beard
Click to expand...

Perhaps this service could be of use to you.

http://www.bbspanish.com/
 
Victor Maduro from Panama is your man

Freddy,

Without a doubt, the perfect person for this job is Victor Maduro. He lives in Panama and is the most knowledgeable player/promoter/coach/author/tournament director/historian/and all-around pool and billiard fan that you'll ever meet. He authored the first book, written in spanish, that is dedicated to 9-ball. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5460818/LA-ESQUINA-DEL-BILLAR-Por-Víctor-Maduro-madurovictor-hotmail

He's fluent in english, spanish, and most importantly: he knows the lingo used in the game. He's a great guy, easy to get along with, quick to reply to correspondence, and very detail oriented.

Robert Byrne used a few of Victor's shots and ideas in his books. :thumbup:

His e-mail address: madurovictor@hotmail.com
His website: http://www.cpbillar.net/tecnicas.htm
- You'll find many articles written in spanish that can be translated. You'll quickly discover the inherent problem of literal translation.
 
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Maybe I can help...

I avoided this when I first saw it, but my Wife is a Spanish teacher (over 12 years now with many certifications) and also has done ESL training in Spain as well as South America. She has lived in Spain for a year or so as well.

In addition to the translation, she is familiar with the differences in dialect between Spain, Mexico and South America, where one word can have very different meanings. (she also can usually tell where a person speaking Spanish is from just by their accent and word usage but that has little relevance here).

If interested, PM me and then I will see if she is interested in this as a summer project. With her language skills and my Pool exposure, we (mostly her) should be able to do it for you.:thumbup:
 
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