I love foreign backcards :lovey:
I'm just going to let my obsession with languages come out to play, hope no one minds. I did Spanish at school, and I am also armed with a large Spanish dictionary! So I'm not a Spanish expert, but I have a little experience and I am very enthusiastic :lol:
It seems that in Latin American Spanish, a moño is a bowtie; in the River Plate area (southern Uruguay, northern Argentina) a moña is a ribbon. So Moñitos probably means something like 'little bowties' or 'little ribbons'.
I'd like to have a go at translating the backcard stories a bit more thoroughly too, if that's ok. *wields dictionary like a weapon :lol:*
Post Merge: October 05, 2020, 07:24:03 AM
I'm back :)
I had some fun with my Spanish dictionary :)
Arlequín/Sparkler's Backcard:
Spoiler
Arlequín stood in the sun, admiring his collection of little shimmering stones. "Their shine is so beautiful," he observed, as he rearranged his glitter cards, his gold coins and his little pieces of tinsel. Arlequín loves sparkly, shiny objects. When there is a full moon, he follows the most radiant star in search of shiny trinkets. On the night of the last full moon, Arlequín found a glowing diamond. "This will be perfect for the Queen's crown," he thought. But the Queen told him to keep the jewel, for one day he might have his own crown!
Otoño/Gusty's Backcard:
Spoiler
The leaves of the trees were wearing their autumn suits and Otoño was excited. "I love the colours of autumn: orange, red and yellow!" Dancing a little sadly, Otoño swirled through the picturesque treetops. Suddenly, a wild wind whistled across the sky and the leaves were knocked from their trees. They swayed and fell, dropping lifeless to the ground. "Come back up here! Come back!" cried Otoño, feeling nostalgic. Taking a deep breath, Otoño flapped his lips and blew at the leaves. Upon hearing the magical command, the leaves, full of happiness, returned to their homes.
I was able to guess most of the missing words from the context and from knowing the UK factfile story, but the last bit has me stumped!
Pony Names!
Spoiler
Applejack - Manzanita - Little Apple
Bow Tie - Moñitos - Little Bows. From moño, which in South America generally means bow (as in ribbon), and may also be used in Argentina to mean a bowtie.
Cherries Jubilee - Cereza - Cherry
Firefly - Tormenta - Storm
Glory - Gloria - Glory (somewhat obviously)
Gusty - Otoño - Autumn
Heartthrob - Amor - Love
Lickety-Split - Golosa - Sweet-toothed (feminine). It can also mean greedy but I think sweet-toothed sounds kinder. This word is used in the expression es muy golosa, which is basically equivalent to 'she has a really sweet tooth'. The similar word Golosina means a sweet (as in candy).
Medley - Melodia - Melody
Moondancer - Luna - Moon
Posey - Tulipán - Tulip
Powder - Escarcha - Frost
Skyflier - Cometa - Kite (and it can also mean comet)
Sparkler - Arlequín - Harlequin
Surprise - Globito - Little Balloon
Tootsie - Dulce - Sweet. Usually in Spanish, dulce is an adjective. But in much of South America, dulce is a noun and means sweet as in what Americans would call candy. Interestingly, in the River Plate area (southern Uruguay/northern Argentina) it can refer to jam (jelly to Americans). If I was translating Tootsie's name back from Spanish, I think I'd call her Sweet Thing.
And here's a list of pony names I collected from an Argentinian sticker book, if that's of interest.
Spoiler
It's the sticker book that recounts the events of the Movie, I think it's available in many other languages too. Most of the ponies probably weren't even sold in Argentina! But at least Argentinian children got a little glimpse of Majesty: a picture and a caption saying that she is "the legendary unicorn....who rules over all the ponies".
Buttons - Botoncito - Little Button
Cupcake - Pastel - Cake
Fizzy - Fizzy. I bet that took a long time to come up with :lol:. Fizzy isn't a Spanish word at all, so not sure why her name isn't translated.
Galaxy - Galaxia - Galaxy
Gingerbread - Panadero - Baker
Heartthrob - Corazon - Heart. Can also mean 'sweetheart' colloquially.
Lily - Lirio - Iris
Honeysuckle - Madreselva - Honeysuckle
Lofty - Globito - Little Balloon. Lofty stole Surprise's name! But that's okay, because Surprise is now Sorpresa.
Magic Star - Estrella Mágica - Magical Star
Majesty - Reina - Queen
Masquerade - Antifaz - Mask. Literally means 'before the face', and refers specifically to the type of mask that only covers the eyes.
Morning Glory - Mañana de Gloria - Morning of Glory. The flower is more usually called gloria de la mañana, so I don't think the translators were feeling very on the ball with this one.
North Star - Estrella del Norte - literally Star of the North
Paradise - Paraíso - Paradise
Peach Blossom - Capullo - Bud
Ribbon - Moñito - Little Bow
Rosedust - Polen de Rosas - Roses' Pollen
Shady - Soleado - Sunny
Spike - Pincho - Prickle, thorn
Sundance - Sol Dorado - Golden Sun
Surprise - Sorpresa - Surprise
Sweetstuff - Pastelera - Pastry Chef (can also mean cake-seller)
Whizzer - Zumbador - Hummingbird or perhaps Buzzer. The word zumbador comes from zumbar meaning to hum or buzz.
Wind Whistler - Silbador, Silbido - Silbido is a whistle or a whistling noise, while Silbador means Whistler.