Ana Siqueira Shares Tips on Writing Bilingual and Translated Books

8/22/2022

Guest Blog by Ana Siqueira

Are you an author who speaks multiple languages? Are you curious about how to write a book using more than one language? 24 Carrot Writing has invited Spanish-language elementary teacher, and award-winning Brazilian children’s author Ana Siqueira to share her tips for writing bilingual books and her thoughts on translated books.

Welcome Ana!

On Bilingual Books

My books BELLA’S RECIPE FOR SUCCESS (art by Geraldine Rodriguez- Beaming Books 2021), IF YOUR BABYSITTER IS A BRUJA (art by Irena Freitas - Simon&Schuster 2022), ABUELA’S SUPER CAPA (art by Elisa Chavarri- HarperCollins 2023) and ROOM IN MAMI’S CORAZON (art by Nomar Perez - HarperCollins 2024) are all bilingual books.

Bilingual books are books that mix two or more languages in their texts. For example, in the Bruja book, the girl imagines herself climbing in a Twisted Torre, being dumped in a cauldron with starving cocodrilos, and being attacked by gatos. The bruja wears a sombrero on her head and sings a Hispanic lullaby, casting a sleeping spell that nobody can resist.

The way both English and Spanish weave through the story is based on how bilinguals or polyglots, frequently talk. In my case, since I’m a member of a beautiful, blended Cuban-Brazilian-American family, I speak three languages in one sentence easily. For example, Yo voy a parkear (to park conjugated as a Spanish verb) my car na garagem. - Can you understand this sentence? - Translation - I’m going to park my car in the garage.

In my books, I chose to use Spanish and English, and not my first language, Portuguese. There are basically three reasons I chose Spanish.

First, I’m a Spanish teacher, so I can’t miss an opportunity to teach Spanish.

Second, I believe in this country it’s so important to learn Spanish. If I can inspire children to learn Spanish, I will feel super happy.

And third, considering many children at school are from Spanish-speaking families, I want them to feel proud of themselves and their language. But, no worries, Brazilians. I have some stories with Portuguese included too.

What are the tricks to writing a bilingual book that readers can understand, even when they don’t know the language? My tips are:

Use Cognates - For example, instead of adventures, you can use aventuras. Take advantage of these super similar words.
Use Words That Can Be Illustrated - For example, if you write - Los gatos attack - and the art shows cats attacking, the readers will decode the meaning of this word.
Use Both Languages In One Sentence - For example - If your new babysitter zooms on a broom, wearing a sombrero and cackling like a crow. Run! ¡Corre! She might be a witch! ¡A bruja! - You can see here that not only do readers understand the word bruja, because the word witch was right before it, but also the context would give readers enough clues to get this meaning even without the word witch.

On Translated Books

Remember that bilingual books are different than translated books.

Some of my bilingual books will be published simultaneously in English and Spanish. IF YOUR BABYSITTER IS A BRUJA will be CUANDO TU NIÑERA ES UNA BRUJA, ABUELA’S SUPER CAPA will be LA SUPERCAPA DE ABUELA
and ROOM IN MAMI’S CORAZÓN will be translated, but we don’t have a title translation yet.

I am proud of having these books published in Spanish. Children can read in their own language and that makes me excited. I can’t wait to hear parents’ voices proudly telling stories in their own language.

There are challenges when publishing books in both languages. The first one is translating it. I translated my stories with the help of Mariana Llanos. Mariana is a Peruvian author with over nine books published. Her most recent book, 'RUN, LITTLE CHASKI" was also translated by her into Spanish.

I relied on her experience writing and translating in Spanish to help me with that task. When you translate a picture book, you can’t only translate the words. You must work on flow, rhythm, and structure. So Mariana and I had to go back and forth many times to translate sentences, rhythm, and flow.

For my book IF YOUR BABYSITTER IS A BRUJA, the Spanish version is also bilingual, that is the text is mostly in Spanish sprinkled with words in English.

Here is the first page of the Spanish version:
Si ya es casi Halloween y tienes una nueva niñera…¡Cuidado!
¡Podría ser una bruja! A witch!
Si vuela en una escoba, con un sombrero negro en la cabeza, graznando como un cuervo…
Run! ¡Corre!

When the books get published, I will learn the challenges of marketing both versions. It’s naturally easier to market the version in English. So where can I market the Spanish version? That’s something I need to research and work on.

The third challenge, for me, is how to get these books translated into Portuguese. I would love to see Brazilian children reading it in their own language. This is a battle I will be pursuing.

But no matter if readers choose to read my bilingual version or the Spanish version, I hope they can have fun and learn an important lesson: Don’t judge a bruja by her sombrero.

Ana Siqueira is an award-winning author from Brazil. In addition to Bella’s Recipe for Success and If Your Babysitter Is a Bruja, Ana has also published a Spanish early reader for the education market. Ana was born in Rio, Brazil and lives in Tampa with her Cuban husband. When she’s not writing or reading, she is playing with her Cuban-Brazilian-American grandkids. To learn more about Ana visit her website here.

1 Comment

Sue Leopold link

8/26/2022 06:29:21 pm

Dear Ana,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about the importance of bilingual and translated picture books for kids.I certainly appreciate both and know the importance for readers to *see themselves* in books along with reading words in their heritage/native language.

Bilingual picture books support students who are acquiring English as a Second Language, students who are learning Spanish as a Second Language, and students in a Dual language program.

As a writer, I am often told that it is important to write what you know. I am also told that literary agents may not be in favor of writers writing in someone else's language or lived experience.

While Spanish is not my heritage language, I did earn a Bilingual certification from UT. My husband and I are proud of the grandkids who have/are participating in a Dual language program In Texas.

I wrote a manuscript about El Runaway Tomate in English. It includes words in Spanish that are sprinkled throughout the story. I feel context clues and illustrations along with the back matter (translations and pronunciations) will support the story.

I feel discouraged because I'm told this is not my story to tell/write.

I look forward to participating in your book launch Saturday through a Writing Barn webinar.

Gracias por escribir libros que los niños quieren leer.

Sue Leopold
aka Suzy