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Post by farseer on Aug 27, 2024 20:42:27 GMT
Someone posted a picture of a Spanish edition of a Verne book in the reddit Verne sub, and someone else was scandalized that the author was called Julio Verne on the cover.
I admit it's weird that we Spanish-speakers changed his first name to the Spanish equivalent. At the time, when he was translated back in the 19th century they called him that, and he became so famous and ingrained in popular culture that it was not possible to change it back to his original name later.
It's not something common here either with other foreign writers, although the same thing happened to Verne's friend, Alexandre Dumas, who is Alejandro Dumas here.
Does something like that happen in other countries, with Verne or other writers? I mean, excluding writers whose names are in other alphabets, like Homer, who necessarily needed to be translated.
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berc
Administrator 
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Post by berc on Aug 28, 2024 6:43:09 GMT
In Hungary, it was quite common to 'rename' authors so that Hungarian readers would feel more familiar with them. For example, Jules Verne became Verne Gyula, and William Shakespeare was known as Shakespeare Vilmos. Additionally, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, English and French were not commonly spoken in Hungary. Most people spoke German, so changes were made for easier pronunciation. However, I believe this practice is fading out as time passes.
I was actually surprised when I read your post because I thought it was just a thing in Hungary.
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Post by farseer on Aug 28, 2024 8:45:17 GMT
I was actually surprised when I read your post because I thought it was just a thing in Hungary. It's not really common here. Apart from Verne and Dumas, I can't think of other writers whose names have been Spanish adapted like that (not counting writers whose names are in other alphabets so they necessarily have to be adapted). Although I can think of some painters/artists, like Raphael (here called Rafael) and Michelangelo (here called Miguel Ángel). I think it's a decision the publisher made at the time when they started translating Verne's work, because they thought it would sound more familiar, and once it got popular it just would feel weird to change it, since everyone is used to it. It's the kind of thing that may make sense in the past, when countries were more culturally isolated, but would probably not be done now that we live in a more globalized world. One question, when you say that Shapespeare *used* to be called Shakespeare Vilmos... since you chose the past tense, does that mean that now he is back to being called William Shakespeare? |
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berc
Administrator
Posts: 49
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Post by berc on Aug 28, 2024 11:13:13 GMT
Well, only a few elders still use the name Shakespeare Vilmos. As you mentioned, we live in a more globalized world, so it has nearly faded out completely. However, in the case of Verne, we still refer to him as Verne Gyula.
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Post by farseer on Aug 28, 2024 12:09:02 GMT
However, in the case of Verne, we still refer to him as Verne Gyula. Yes, we still refer to him as Julio Verne too. If you try to look for Jules Verne in the Spanish Wikipedia you are redirected to Julio Verne, and new editions still have that name on the cover. |
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