Rompecabezas-song translation?

Question

I love this song and I have it on my web site but the person who translated it I believe made some mistakes. The sentence below does not make sense.

I start a new life...a puzzle I must solve far, far away from the influence from that extravagance that twisted my faith

Empiezo una nueva vida...un rompecabezas que tendré que armar bien lejos, lejos de su influgo esa extravagancia que torció mi fe.

In another section, it was translated "I no longer want to run after you"...as formal instead of tú. This just doesn't make sense since the love song is talking about her lover. Why formal?

Answer 1

Foxluv, what part of the translation of the following line does not make sense to you?

I start a new life...a puzzle I must solve far, far away from the influence, from that extravagance that twisted my faith

Empiezo una nueva vida...un rompecabezas que tendré que armar bien lejos, lejos de su influgo, esa extravagancia que torció mi fe.

armar un rompecabezas is a phrase meaning to do a puzzle or to put together a jigsaw puzzle

As Margaret noted, influgo needs a spelling change: influjo

Notice that I have added a comma in both the English and the Spanish in the second part of the line: ... lejos de su influjo, esa extravagancia ... = ... far away from the influence, from that extravagance ....

Instead of using del influjo (from the influence), the song writer/translator has chosen de su influjo (from its influence) where su is a poetic forward reference to esa extravagancia. (Maybe an extra syllable was needed since "de el" always becomes "del".)

Regarding the formal you, the usted, I have observed a very interesting phenomenon here in Guatemala:

• usted is used as the formal you just as in most Latin American countries
• tu is used as the informal you
• among close friends, vos is used as a very informal you
• but, and this is where it gets interesting, between husband and wife I have often heard usted ... back to the formal you in what we would normally consider a very close relationship!! And I have heard this usage in older couples who have been together for 30+ years, as well as in young couples who have been together for just a few years.

I wonder if this practice is more widespread (not just in Guatemala), I don't know. But this may be why the song writer/translator has chosen the formal usted.

Thanks Waltieco, very informative! - margaretbl, Jun 1, 2010

Gracias waltieco...this is exactly what I was asking and now I have learned a lot! - foxluv, Jun 1, 2010

Answer 2

I start a new life...a puzzle I must solve far, far away from the influence from that extravagance that twisted my faith

So the song is written first in English? Here's a try: Empiezo una vida nueva.. un rompecabezas que tendré que armar bien lejos, lejos del influjo de esa extravagancia que me torció la fe. Re the "Vd" honestly everybody makes mistakes right. I agree with you - doesn't make sense. But then isn't there a S American country where they only always use 'Vd.'? not sure...