In "ABOUT THE GIANT AND THE LITTLE MAN" I apologized for what I considered a bad translation of mine (I'm italian and saw TP in italian only). I thought that was a misunderstanding about Little Man's backwards words during ep.29 when Dale sits with his strange cup of coffee, just before the hunt against him will start. I thought the bad translation of WOW BOB WOW into GO BOB GO was my personal fault...Well, it's not MY fault, and please pay attention to this strange stuff....

In the italian version, the Little Man says "VAI BOB, VAI", which is the italian translation for "GO, BOB GO". I've reviewed the scene millions of time, in doubt. Not convinced at all, because of the dwarf's backwards way of speeching, I put the SPANISH subtitle, and here's another surprise:

VAYA BOB, VAYA!

So, I didn't study spanish at the university, but I read this:

Del verbo ir: vaya es la: 1ª persona singular (yo) presente subjuntivo 3ª persona singular (él/ella/usted) presente subjuntivo 3ª persona singular (él/ella/usted) imperativo

So, VAYA is such as CHE EGLI VADA ( third person); by the way IMPERATIVE MOOD was the italian translation, causing another mistake, with the passage from third person to second person: VAI BOB, VAI. In the english version, we find WOW instead of VAYA or VAI or CHE EGLI VADA. So my bad translation GO BOB GO was caused by TWO or THREE INCORRECT TRANSLATIONS IN SPANISH AND ITALIAN, that can generate a COMPLETE misunderstanding of the WHOLE scene, letting the italian and spanish spectator think that the Little Man is the INITIATOR of the doppelganger's Hunt against Agent Cooper.

And this is a philological discovery ahahaha

Sonia

In spanish "vaya" can be used also as an indication of surprise ("¡Vaya por Dios!" is something similar to "Holy smokes!"), so the translation is correct...

But since "wow" is an interjection they should have used one in spanish (or any other language) to be more accurate. Something like "¡¡GUAU BOB GUAU!!"...

I'm spanish BTW...

That's true, an old friend of mine from Panama used to say "vaya la pinga!" as an interjection ehehe

But the double repetition in VAYA BOB, VAYA seems to signify a verbal use....Don't you think?

By the way, I clearly hear VAI BOB, VAI in the italian translation, and I'm sure of it because in Italy we use the same english or american WOW interjection when we talk, and the dwarf's words don't sound like a WOW. So the whole thing is a scandal to me, and I'm angry with italian translators...

Sonia

yeee...it's really interesting - translation. In this scene the swedish translators have been (most of the times I've seen anyway) kinda boring. I recall that they don't translate it at all, since we're so influenced by the english language anyway. The subtitles just say "Wow, Bob, Wow"...

I also remember a spanish frase from taking spanish in highschool: Vaya con dios! Means go with god, right? Is it the same verb as in vamos a la playa??? I would definately have recognized it as a verb, it's nice to learn something new everyminute passing by

"Vaya" as interjection can be repeated for emphasis... There's a song whose lyrics say "Vaya vaya aquí no hay playa...", that translates to something like "Wow wow there's no beach here...".

The video of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVjWTzVSCWg

Ok, spanish version is correct...But I need some of you to analyze italian subtitles in that scene, because I haven't. Please does anyone...? Thanks...

P.S. That song is really funny

Foreign subtitles are notorious for having mistakes. Enough said.

Foreign and english too... The TP DVDs have some mistakes in the english subtitles. For example I remember right now that in the scene where Catherine says to Harry "Heaven was Pearl Lakes" the subtitles say "Having these poor old legs"...

I think it's on the dvd (s2), when mrs tremond tells donna that they used to bring her hospital food, then she says "imagine that"...at least i have always thought she says that...on the dvd the translations says: "that Jeanette"...

of course, translations are never perfect, and that's not what i'm after - other way around: i like when there are real flunks and u get to pay some attention, scratch your hair (might be an swedish expression!) and most interesting of it all: u get to discuss different languages and all the syntax belonging! Yehoo!  Besides, u get some good laughs!

"Having these poor old legs"...

 Hehe, it's hysterically funny!

I saw INLAND EMPIRE with custom made spanish subtitles, I don't know who made them... The curious thing is that over all is perfectly translated, but in the polish parts they didn't translate the english subtitles that the film has (which would have been easier), but it seems they tried to translate directly from polish. The result is that those spanish subtitles make no sense and are completely different to the english ones...

And Peaks. Well, let's just say that spanish and Peaks don't get along well.... The dubbing was terribly translated, both in the series and in the film (which had two), the subtitles of the Manga DVDs and the new ones contain several errors, etc. It's a disaster... It's been a while since I've accostumated myself to see Peaks in english and english subtitles...

The worst translation ever was when Twin Peaks aired on a norwegian channel. In episode 2, LMFAP says "Let's rock". In the norwegian subtitles, it said "Slå på lyset", which actually means "Lights on" in english. I'll agree that if you listen closely, it might sound like LMFAP is says "Lights on", but didn't the translators get the english subtitles that were already on the episode? One would think they at least got a manuscript or something, so they didn't have to translate the whole series by listening to what the actors say all the time...

I strongly suggest non-english speaking viewers, in the case that you know english (and those posting here do obviously), to forget completely about dubbings, translations, etc. They were done by people who clearly don't have a great knowledge of the show. In the case of Twin Peaks even the minor error can confuse very much, as is the case of the example posted here, in the series and film it is very important what is being said...

In spanish right now I remember Mrs. Tremond's grandson not saying "J'ai une aime solitaire", the LMFAP not saying "That gum you like..." and even more terrible, in the film Annie saying something like "Good ol' Dale is in a lodge"...

In the swedish subtitles, the Wow BOB, Wow is translated to Oj, BOB, witch kinda means Whoops, BOB

In the swedish subtitles, the Wow BOB, Wow is translated to Oj, BOB, witch kinda means Whoops, BOB

 Yeah, i've seen that one too...when/where was it?