Everyday Spanish: Star Wars

It will be the middle of summer before most of the Spanish-speaking world gets a chance to see the latest installment of the Star Wars film empire, Episode I: The Phantom Menace. But in those countries as well as in the United States there appears to be plenty of hype as well as anticipation.

Although it's a bit early to find Internet sites devoted to the new film, there's no shortage of sites devoted to the popular trilogy that began in 1977. A glance through the sites can give you an idea of how much American entertainment has entered the world culture. And for the student of Spanish, these sites are rich in the vocabulary of space, filmmaking, legends, and mythology.

Que la fuerza te acompañe.
 

 
• El Nuevo Episodio I de La Guerra de Las Galaxias — The official site. Only the introduction to the movie is available in Spanish.
• Fan Club Star Wars Chile — Bringing together the country's fans of the saga. Lots of information here, although not frequently updated.
• Liga Latinoamericana — Links to various Latin American fan clubs.
• Página Starwars de Modesto — A fan's page with some good links.
• Primer Salón Star Wars — A small site developed by two self-described Star Wars freaks.
• Star Wars — Site developed by a Mexican fan.
• Star Wars Fan Club Ciudad de México — One of the most thorough sites and so professional looking it could be mistaken for an official site. Photos, recent news updates, plot summaries, and more.
• Star Wars Mirbind Enciclopedia — Everything you'd expect from the title, this is one of the best Web reference works in any language.

Names: Names of people or characters generally aren't translated into their Spanish equivalents. Thus Luke Skywalker is known as Luke in the Spanish-speaking world, not Lucas.

Planeta: Note that the noun for "planet" is masculine despite the ending.

Translate for meaning: Note that "May the force be with you" is generally translated using the present subjunctive of acompañar (to accompany) rather than of estar (to be). That's because the meaning of "be" in this phrase doesn't have much to do with geographic location. Rather than meaning "May the force be in the same place as you," the sentence comes closer to saying "May the force be your companion." Thus acompañar is a suitable verb to use. Similarly, the phrase "God be with you" is frequently translated loosely as Vaya con Dios.
 

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