Hi all,
I'm currently trying to learn spanish (mostly through listening to salsa and reading a lot on the internet), so here I have posted my attempt at translating Hector Lavoe's El Cantante. I have put specific questions below, but any comments/criticisms/suggestion/explanation on anything below would be very much appreciated. This forum is such a great resource, and I thank all of you very very much for helping me out! Here goes.
Yo, soy el cantante
I am the singer
que hoy han venido a escuchar
That today you have come to listen to
Here is my first question. As I understand it, in Spanish outside of Spain (which Hector would be using, as he's from Puerto Rico), second person plural is usually "ustedes" which seems to always be the same as third person plural (ellos, ellas). But also in Spanish, usually the pronoun is not used... "canto" instead of "yo canto", for example. So, how can you tell if the verb's pronoun is "you all" (ustedes) or "they" (ellos, ellas)? For example in this case, couldn't "han venido" be translated as "you have come" but also as "they have come"? Is it only context or is there some other hint?
lo mejor del repertorio
The best of the repertoire
a ustedes voy a brindar.
I will give (toast/sing?) to you.
In the dictionary brindar's definition is "to toast"... but there is a very far down the list alternative definition of "give". Would you use toast, give or sing here?
Y canto a la vida
And I will sing to life
de risas y penas
Of laughter and pain
de momentos malos
Of bad moments
y de cosas buenas.
And of good things.
Any more elegant way to translate the last two lines? Can cosa be times as well as "things"? Or is there a better word than things.
Vinieron a divertirse
You came to have a good time
Again, you or they?
y pagaron en la puerta
And you paid at the door
"a la puerta" or "en la puerta"? Paying "in" the door seems strange.
no hay tiempo para tristeza
There's no time for sadness
vamos cantante comienza.
Let's go (I will?) start the singing.
Is this right? How do the verb conjugations of "vamos" and "comienza" reconcile here?
Me paran siempre en la calle
They always stop me in the street
mucha gente que comenta
Lots of people who comment (who tell me)
¡Oye Hector ah! tu estas hecho
Hey Hector! You're made,
You're made? You've made it? Am I getting the right jist here?
siempre con hembras y en fiestas.
Always with the women and partying.
Y nadie pregunta
And nobody asks
si sufro si lloro
If I suffer or cry
si tengo una pena
If I have a pain
que hiere muy hondo.
That hurts very deeply.
Yo soy el Cantante
I am the singer
porque lo mío es cantar
Because singing is my thing
y el público paga
And the public pays
para poder me escuchar.
To be able to listen to me.
Yo, soy el cantante
I am the singer
muy popular donde quiera;
Very popular where I love(?);
This one seems really strange to me. How does quiera work here? Apparently it's first person subjunctive... is that right?
pero cuando el show se acaba
But when the show ends
soy otro humano cualquiera.
I'm just like any other human
Y sigo mi vida
And I go on with my life
con risas y penas
With laughter and pains
con ratos amargos
With bitter times
y con cosas buenas.
And the good things
Yo soy el cantante
I am the singer
y mi negocio es cantar
And my business is singing
y a los que me siguen
And to those that follow me
mi canción voy a brindar.
I will give my song to you
No question here... it's just really quite beautiful.
Alright that's all for now... if I can get some good feedback I'll post the call and respond coro/solo bits he sings at the end and ask questions on those as well. Thanks so much, this is very fun for me and I'm really glad resources like this exist. Looking forward to the critique!