'Ser' and 'Estar'

[Matthew]

Here is another little exercise on ‘Ser’ and ‘Estar’. I have put in some present tense sentences, and some past tense (preterite) sentences, just to make things a little bit more interesting!

1) She is Chinese
2) Have you been to Russia?
3) Were you worried?
4) They are dead
5) They were short
6) You (p) were blind
7) She was very rude
8) What’s the time?
9) Where were you?
10) Speaking! (on the phone)

Matt

[Fiona Pitt-Kethley]

I have just been to see Hamlet (very well-acted by Juan Diego Botta). I have always wondered what they said for To be or not to be...I now know. It is "Ser o no ser". On a comic note 5 mobiles went off during the performance. The fourth played almost the whole of I kissed a girl when Hamlet was talking to his mother. Don´t know how he managed to keep a straight face...

[Matthew]

Hello Fiona,

You don't happen to remember what they said for the next line, do you ('...that is the question')? It's a tricky one for the Spanish, because there are two words for 'question'. There is 'pregunta' for a question that you ask, and there is 'cuestión', which is a false friend, because it means 'subject' or 'matter'.

So, the Spanish depends on what Shakespeare meant. Did he mean 'that's the question that I want to ask', or did he mean 'that is the subject I want to discuss', both of which, it strikes me, are possible interpretations of the line.

Problems, problems...!

Matthew

[Fiona Pitt-Kethley]

I don´t physically remember what he said next. I have just googled and there seem to be a few different translations knocking around. This is one of them:
« Ser o no ser: he aquí la cuestión, ya sea más noble para la mente sufrir las hondas y los dardos de la tirana Fortuna, o tomar las armas contra un mar de dificultades, y, haciéndolas frente, destruirlas. ¡Morir! ¡Dormir, no más! Y con ese sueño, damos término a todos los pesares del corazón y a los mil sacudimientos a que está sujeta la carne: ¡debiéramos desear ansiosamente este fin! ¡Morir, dormir! ¡Sí, dormir, soñar acaso! En eso está el sarcasmo; porque en este sueño de muerte, la ilusión que pueda nacer cuando nos hayamos alejado de la baraúnda de la existencia tiene que llevarnos a la duda: he aquí la consideración que hace tan largo el infortunio. Porque., ¿quién soportaría los latigazos y las burlas del tiempo, el daño del opresor, el baldón del vanidoso, las tristezas del amor desdeñado, la dilación con que la justicia actúa, el abuso del poder y los desprecios que el mérito sobrelleva pacientemente de los hombres ensoberbecidos, siendo tan fácil procurarse la quietud con un simple puñal? ¿Quién soportaría ese peso sólo para suspirar y sudar una vida rendida de cansancio, si no fuese por el temor de algo después de la muerte, ese país sin descubrir desde cuyos confines no regresa viajero alguno, que confunde nuestra voluntad y que nos pone en trance de preferir el sufrimiento de todos los males que padecemos antes que abordar otros de los que no tenemos noticias? Por eso nos hace a todos cobardes la reflexión, y de ese modo es como flaquea el impulso natural de la resolución aún con los más débiles influjos del pensamiento, y como tuercen su camino las aventuras que más importancia y entusiasmo despiertan, que llegan a perder su carácter de acción...»
I did see another translation that made it "problema" instead. I just don´t remember which he used on the night. This is now the second Shakespeare I have seen in Spanish. The last was Midsummer Night´s Dream a year or more ago. They set it on the see shore and had Bottom and his friends as a rather incompetent gypsy Flamenco band!
I thought Juan Diego Botto was excellent (and pretty easy on the eye). Definitely a rising star. I had seen him in one or two films before including Trece Campanadas - a creepy one where he was being haunted by his sculptor father.