Lost in Translation

There used to be a running joke in Star Trek TNG where they would quote Shakespeare and the Klingons would reply "it's just not the same from the original Klingon", implying that his workds were orginally in their language. I kinda related to it after I moved to Brasil and read Hemingway or other English authors in Portuguese. I never really thought about it when I read Dostoyevsky or other authors whose original language was not English. (BTW, you have never really read Dostoyevsky till you read it in Portuguese). Marti is pretty good in Portuguese too. Anyways, the other day I was in the DVD rental place and saw the first season of The Muppet Show. I grabbed it in a instant and rushed home. Now, at first, I watched it alone in English. Then, when the kids got home I ranted and raved about what a great show it was, how I watched it as a kid, blablabla, yadayadayada. So I switched the audio to Portuguese for them to watch. It just wasn't the same. I mean, Jim Henson is Kermit, Ms. Piggy is Frank Oz, as sure as the Sun rises in the East. My favorites, Waldorf and Statler, the two old guys who used to complain about everything, their wisecracks didn't have the same effect. The kids, they enjoyed it though. Eric and Ericka laughed the whole way through. Adriana just kept looking at us, shaking her head saying I was more a kids then they are.