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Comment by omegant | Hacker News Reader

"Muchos años después, frente al pelotón de fusilamiento, el coronel Aureliano Buendía había de recordar aquella tarde remota en que su padre lo llevó a conocer el hielo."

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Gracias por esto. Entre otras cosas, la traducción de inglés no puede capturar la sutileza de "había de recordar" o "conocer el hielo". En inglés Aureliano Buendía podía ver el hielo, pero en español podía conocerlo.

"had cause to remember" and "introduce him to ice"?

Potentially to "experience ice for the first time", but that lacks the romantic-ness of the Spanish original. The problem is that English's "meet" or "know" would cause the reader to double-take, and potentially still not understand the meaning, whereas in Spanish it feels normal.

"grok"? Not in common enough usage though, and not sounding nearly as pretty.

I think "learn about ice" would have worked.

"Introduced" him to ice, maybe? It's usually translated "to know", as in "took him to know ice", but I think "introduced" works better here.

The thing is "conocer el hielo" gives you this feeling of playing and experimenting a new sensation.

It's more like took him to discover the ice, but I don't think I can translate it accurately, though the differences are subtle, they're there.

Many years later, Colonel A.B. faced a firing squad while remembering that distant afternoon when his father came to show him ice.

It's just not the same. :'(

Agreed. "Show him ice" is closer.

Lo increíble de "conocer el hielo" es que te transporta ahí, a cuando vos conociste el hielo, cuando jugabas y descubrías una nueva sensación.

There's a rhythm to the original that's lost in translation. GGM's mastery of the language is impossible not to notice.

"...porque las estirpes condenadas a cien años de soledad no tenían una segunda oportunidad sobre la tierra..."

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