Rainbow Fish children's book- a rant

[gardenmom5]

I never actually read the Rainbow Fish but am now glad I did not. As for The Giving Tree. I used that book to teach my children about selfish behavior and being appreciative for what you get and to not behave like the boy. I also taught my children that the man in the yellow hat from the original Curious George was a poacher, so maybe I am not the best one to be dispensing my wisdom on this one.

 

ds was given a number of curious george books. my older son started complaining about how george *always* caused trouble, but NEVER got in trouble for it.

[beaners]

Is that the exact quote in the English? I should have gotten out an English copy too.

 

It does not say the same thing in German. "Schenke jedem Fisch eine deiner Glitzerschuppen. Dann bist du zwar nicht mehr der schönste Fisch im Ozean, aber du wirst wieder fröhlich sein." literal translation: Give each fish one of your glittery scales. Then you will admittedly no longer be the most beautiful fish in the ocean, but you will be happy again."

 

In reading through the whole thing in German, I have to say that I have a different take on it now.

 

In the beginning, the text twice refers to the "Schuppenkleid." This is a compound word - "schuppen" means scales, and "kleid" means dress. This suggests to me that his glittery scales are not his actual scales, but some kind of extra set of scales that he has for some reason. So in giving them away, it would be more like giving away a piece of clothing that one is wearing than the self-mutilation some of you were mentioning.

 

Rainbow Fish (RF from now on) is quite a clueless jerk in the beginning. The other fish want him to play with them (ie, he could have had friends keeping his shiny scales) but he just swims by them and makes his scales glitter even more. When the little blue fish asks RF for one scale, RF yells at him and scares him (RF's unspoken thought might be: things are more important than other people). The little fish tells the other fish what happened, and they all decide to have nothing to do with him. They turn away when RF swims by, so at this point, no one is appreciating his beauty at all, because they know that underneath it lies a selfish, rude person (possible message: beauty is only skin-deep).

 

So then it says, "What use to RF were his marvellous glittering scales, if they from no one were admired? [literally LOL] Now he was the loneliest fish in the whole ocean!" Now, remember, he's lonely not because the other fish are jealous of him - they wanted to play with him - but because of how he treated them all. He made it clear that his beautiful scales were more important than them.

 

He shows that he still doesn't understand when he complains to the starfish, "But I am beautiful. Why doesn't anybody like me?" So the starfish suggests he talk to the octopus.

 

I already said above the literal translation of what the octopus tells him. The octopus sees right to the heart of the matter - the scales are what's standing in the way between RF and happiness. In fact, this part reminds me of the gospel story where the rich young man comes to Jesus and asks what he must do. Jesus tells him to sell all he has and give it to the poor, but the young man doesn't do it. RF's reaction is also not positive: "Never! How could I be happy without them?"

 

Suddenly the little blue fish appears and asks again for a scale. RF hesitates and then thinks that he could give him one little scale that he wouldn't even miss. So he gives him the smallest scale he has and says, "Here, I give this to you! Now leave me in peace!" He still is being quite the jerk!

 

The little fish thanks him and says, "You're kind!" RF feels peculiar, and watches the little fish swimming happily for a while.

 

Soon he is surrounded by the other fish, who all want a scale too. He shared his scales left and right, and through this he was made more and more cheerful. The more the water around him glittered, the better he felt.

 

Finally he had only one shining scale left, and he was happier than he had ever been before! Again the other fish repeat their invitation from the beginning "Come play with us!" and this time he does.

 

As I was typing this I was thinking of Ebenezer Scrooge also - he realizes that by giving away his money, helping people and sharing what he has, he makes other people happy, but he also becomes happy through it. I was telling my daughter somebody's comment on here, something like "You have to give away what makes you special to have friends," and then she looked through the book and suggested that perhaps the message was, "you have to share what makes you special to have friends." Kind of like not hiding your light under a basket. RF learned to be generous and loving and through that became happy. I don't really have a problem with that message LOL. But, again, since it's been years since I read the English version, I don't know if that's how it comes across. Perhaps it's time for a new translation!

 

Translating, even a picture book, is really hard work. Even in this brief summary, I had to decide what words to use when there really is no way to convey it in English. For example, when RF talks to the starfish, he says, "Ich bin doch schön." Simple sentence, right? Ich means I, bin means am, schön means beautiful. It's that word doch that is difficult.

 

Doch can mean many things and doesn't really have an equivalent. It's that word that shows the level of his cluelessness - he thinks everyone should be admiring him all the time, but no one's paying attention to him. He doesn't understand why. Above I decided to have him say, "But I'm beautiful" but "still" could have been a possibility "I am still beautiful. Why doesn't anybody like me?" but neither of those choices conveys what "doch" does.

 

Wow, thanks so much! I only have the board book copy in the house, but it does say exactly what was in the previous quote. Maybe it's a combination of a difference in the translation and losing a lot of material when the book was condensed? I can't remember what the full English version was like either, now that I think about it.

[AndyJoy]

I'll donate my hair if you donate a kidney ;) Sick people need it, you have 2 healthy ones, don't you want to help????? :D

 

 

 

edited to say: I didn't read through the thread, so I didn't know this had already been posted.

Great minds think alike :tongue_smilie:.

[Jenny in Florida]

As the parent of a couple of kids who are "special" and who have been teased and troubled by it, yeah, I hate that book.

 

For what it's worth, I'm not scared of the 's' word, either. And I'm perfectly willing to concede that it may be in part the translation that is at fault. However, I hated the message I felt the English translation gave to kids.

 

Of course, I also intensely dislike "Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer" for much the same reason. Everyone teases poor Rudolf and makes him an outcase because he has something special the other deer don't. Even his own parents encourage him to hide his gift. Only when it becomes useful to them do the others start to tolerate him. Blech.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Jenny in Florida

[Haiku]

I hate that book.

 

Tara

[Heather in Neverland]

I'll be the odd one and say I always liked the book. I think I understood it to be the same as what you wrote. I, too, remember being reminded of Scrooge while reading it.

 

And I'm also not terrified/disgusted by the word "socialist", which I think is REALLY ridiculous and over the top to describe this book. I think most of the people who said that have no idea of the meaning, but like to throw it around whenever they need a catch-all phrase for something they dislike. Seriously.

 

Wow, that's quite an assumption to make. Trust me when I say I know exactly what the word means.

[KristenR]

Wow, that's quite an assumption to make. Trust me when I say I know exactly what the word means.

 

:iagree:

[KristenR]

As the parent of a couple of kids who are "special" and who have been teased and troubled by it, yeah, I hate that book.

 

For what it's worth, I'm not scared of the 's' word, either. And I'm perfectly willing to concede that it may be in part the translation that is at fault. However, I hated the message I felt the English translation gave to kids.

 

Of course, I also intensely dislike "Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer" for much the same reason. Everyone teases poor Rudolf and makes him an outcase because he has something special the other deer don't. Even his own parents encourage him to hide his gift. Only when it becomes useful to them do the others start to tolerate him. Blech.

 

 

After starting this thread, I recently discussed this book with a friend of mine who had read it in its original language. When I showed her my English copy she said she was horrified by the translation. She went into some more detail about the original- and if what she said was accurate, I agree something was definitely lost in translation. That being said- I still didn't care for her summary of the original.. Not a book I would be running out to get to add to our library.