I have been learning Spanish for three years now and according to Duolingo I have reached level A2. I have gathered a wealth of resources for learning Spanish and I’ve read several books on grammar so I may be a little more advanced than A2. But I still cannot read a book in Spanish unless it uses a very limited vocabulary. Currently I translate children’s books as a learning exercise. This is a tedious process but given time I can get through a 70 page book which has just a few sentences per page.
I have considered translating Spanish plays as a learning exercise. This is far more ambitious since plays are a form of literature. But some plays use conversational language which might not be any more challenging than conversational Spanish. I love to travel and language learning is part of my preparation for a daunting trip. When it is unnecessary to learn a language for a trip the whole adventure seems less exotic. For example, I did not bother to learn Irish for my trips to Dublin. Going to the Dublin Theatre Festival was an exciting adventure but it was not terribly exotic.
Drama is my favorite form of literature and I would love to combine my love of travel with my love of dramatic writing. Unfortunately this is not practical. As I’ve mentioned, you need advanced knowledge of the language to read a work of literature. The theater community of most foreign countries is an impenetrable mystery since no effort is made to inform the outside world of productions in the country. Of course, it would not make any sense to do so since the audience for a play will always be limited to the local community. Plays on Broadway may be advertised more widely since tourists will go to New York City to see a Broadway show.
Fortunately after a great deal of research I have found a Spanish publishing company which specializes in publishing plays, Ediciones Antígona. Even better they publish bilingual texts in Spanish and English in association with the Cervantes Theatre in London. ¡Perfecto! I have ordered my first book from this publisher, Asesinos todos (Murderers All) which I hope to translate into English. This will be done strictly as a learning exercise. I have no plans to publish my translation. It is quite possible that I shall be the only English speaker to become familiar with this play.
Since I have no professional stake in the theater I am free to do something like this. I would not be doing this if I were more ambitious or had better prospects. In a sense, being successful or becoming a professional serves as a restriction. It limits what you might consider to pursue. It can even limit what you might create. Translating this play might be considered a complete waste of time, but it is something that strikes my fancy. I like the idea of being an explorer, an adventurer, and that requires venturing into areas where you have no right to be. In this case, I was not destined to ever come across this play or give it any consideration. As an explorer of Spanish theater I shall encounter plays which no white man has ever seen. Since Spanish Europeans are white it would be better to say that I will encounter Spanish plays that no English speaker has ever been made aware of.
