We call him tortoise because he taught us.

[JPablo]

“We call him tortoise because he taught us." (Lewis Carroll)

There are several Spanish translations of this witty statement by Lewis Carroll...

However... what would be the best?

Editorial Lumen translation gives,

La llamábamos «Galápago» porque siempre estaba diciendo que tenía a «gala» enseñar en una escuela de «pago»

While this is a good play on words (not as "simple" as the original), it is ingenious, but a bit too-too for words... (in my view)

Other translations just say,

La llamábamos «tortuga» porque nos enseñaba, which makes the Spanish "literal" translation "correct", but utterly non-sequitur as a statement...

La llamábamos «tortuga» porque nos «tortugaba» con sus enseñanzas, podría ser otra opcion...

«Le llamábamos tortuga [tortoise] porque nos enseñaba [taught us]»,

Any good/better ideas about this "infernal" conundrum?

[poli]

Originally Posted by JPablo

“We call him tortoise because he taught us." (Lewis Carroll)

There are several Spanish translations of this witty statement by Lewis Carroll...

However... what would be the best?

Editorial Lumen translation gives,

La llamábamos «Galápago» porque siempre estaba diciendo que tenía a «gala» enseñar en una escuela de «pago»

While this is a good play on words (not as "simple" as the original), it is ingenious, but a bit too-too for words... (in my view)

Other translations just say,

La llamábamos «tortuga» porque nos enseñaba, which makes the Spanish "literal" translation "correct", but utterly non-sequitur as a statement...

La llamábamos «tortuga» porque nos «tortugaba» con sus enseñanzas, podría ser otra opcion...

«Le llamábamos tortuga [tortoise] porque nos enseñaba [taught us]»,

Any good/better ideas about this "infernal" conundrum?

Lo llamábamos morrocoyo porque nunca no dejaba en un hoyo.

[JPablo]

Hah, that's a good one! Good rhyme and sounding good...

But still something seems off, as in making it "logical" (like the English)

Lo llamábamos morrocoyo porque nunca dejaba un hoyo. (?)

(Is that your invention, or taken from somewhere?)

[pjt33]

Testudínido debe de ofrecer alguna posibilidad con estudiar, pero igual no significa nada para la mayoría de la gente.

[poli]

Originally Posted by JPablo

Hah, that's a good one! Good rhyme and sounding good...

But still something seems off, as in making it "logical" (like the English)

Lo llamábamos morrocoyo porque nunca dejaba un hoyo. (?)

(Is that your invention, or taken from somewhere?)

Again I made a typo. What I meant to write was Lo llamábamos morrocoyo porque nunca nos dejaba en un hoyo. (I mean to impy that the was a dependable tortoise whose never left us in a hole)

I did make this up. I think it is difficult to translate word play, but it's a good brain excercise.

[JPablo]

Well, thanks to both of you... it is definitely quite a brain exercise...

(Particularly because in English is so "easy" and "natural"... anything in Spanish tends to sound strained, no matter how you want to slice it...)

@Pjt33, testudíneo, (propio de la tortuga) is quite a good term... although I never heard or read that before... it is easy to clear in the DRAE...

La llamábamos «Testudíneo» porque, el muy testarudo, siempre nos enseñaba a estudiar textos de estudio... (Buff... it's another atempt, but strained at best...)

I think I am going to go with "Le llamábamos «Tortuga» porque nos «tortugaba» al enseñarnos..., which would be in accord with the old maxim, "La letra con sangre entra"... and probably is the "simplest"...

Although, as noted, I appreciate the imput!