"Reverse" Translation Exercise (Beginners) - Drunk Driving

Question

Here is an exercise in 'thinking in Spanish' for beginners. This was inspired by Renae's post Translation Exercise For Beginners. I had started posting an exercise several weeks ago aimed at 'beginners to intermediate' as an alternative to Heidita's 'killer threads'. (Click here for this week's exercise.) However after seeing the response to Renae's post, I see now that at the beginner level there are different levels of progress among the members. So here is one that might make you stretch your 'cerebral muscles', but shouldn't result in a 'brain strain'.

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According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. Of all U.S. traffic deaths during 2005, 39 percent involved alcohol.

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So give it a shot, and don't be embarrassed if you aren't sure that you can get it exactly right. That leap into the possible unknown may prompt you to do even better than you thought you could!

Update: Click here to see my answer, and an explanation of why I picked the answer you see below.

• Buena idea :D - bomberapolac Jan 25, 2010
• typo - lorenzo9 Jan 25, 2010
• ¡Gracias, lorenzo! - chaparrito Jan 25, 2010
• "stretch your cerebrum" - "cerebral" is an adjective. - samdie Jan 25, 2010
• jeje. ¡Gracias, samdie! - chaparrito Jan 25, 2010

Answer 1

Según el Ministerio de Transportación de los Estados Unidos manejando un auto en un estado de embriaguez es uno de los crimenes mas sbbjsaci nbnasc bascb bbcsa drunk aaaaaaaaay perdónnnnnnnnn estoy completamente "pissed" y no puedo mas............

• Don't give up... ;-) - chaparrito Jan 26, 2010

Answer 2

Según a el Ministerio de Transportación de Los Estados Unidos, conducción borracha es un crimen más mortal de America. De todos las muertes del tráfico de Los Estados Unidos durante dos mil cinco, porcentaje treinte y nueve implicado alcohol.

Okay, here´s my attempt. Get out the rusty machete to fix the mistakes.

Answer 3

Segun del Ministerio del Transporte de los EEUU el crimen mas mortifiero es conducir en estado de embriaguez. Entre todo fallecimientos de trafico del ańo 2005 39 por ciento envolvieron alcohol.

• There are no tildes as I was doing the translation in a programme where that was not possible. But I am certainly aware of their existence! - bomberapolac Jan 25, 2010
• :) - webdunce Jan 26, 2010
• That's okay. But just to make sure you know how to type them, there is a Reference article on this site "Technical Support" that has a link to help regarding this. :-) - chaparrito Jan 26, 2010

Answer 4

Según a el Ministerio de transporte de los estados unidos, conducción mientras borrascho es uno de crímenes más mortales en los estados unidos. De todos los muertos en el tráfico en los estados unidos, 39% implicado alcohol.

I know this is wrong but a great learning exercise. I look forward to comparing my answer with the "correct" answer.

Thanks

Answer 5

Según el Departamento de Transportación de los EEUU, conducir ebrio es uno de los crimenes más mortales de América. De todos los mortales de tráfico en los EEUU durante 2005, 39 por ciento involucraron alcohol.

Answer 6

Según a el Departamento de Transporte de los Estados Unidos, conducir borracho es uno de crímenes más mortales de América. De todas muertes de tráfico de EEUU durante 2005, treinta y nueve por ciento implicó alcohol.

Great idea Chaparrito! Está siempre lleno de los ideas grandes.

Answer 7

Según el Departamento de Transportación de EEUU, conducir borracho es uno de los crímenes más mortales de América. De todas muertes de tráfico de EEUU durante 2005, el 39% implicó alcohol.

Answer 8

Según el Departmento de Transporte de Los Estados Unidos, conduccion en estado de embriaguez es uno de los crimenes de America más mortal. De todas las muertes del tráfico en Los Estados Unidos durante 2005, treinte y nueve por ciento tenía que ver con alcohol.

Answer 9

Según el Departamento de Transporte de EEUU, por conducir mientras borracho es uno de los crímenes más mortales de América. De todas las muertes de tráfico de EEUU durante 2005, el 39 por ciento implicaron alcohol.

¡Gracias Chapparito!

• Dog-gone-it...I should've probably left out the "por" in front of "conducir". :-( Oh well, if I get an "E" for 'effort', I'll be happy! (jajaja!) This was fun! Thx again :-) - Dee914 Jan 25, 2010
• Very nice try! :-) - chaparrito Jan 26, 2010
• ¡Gracias! ;-) - Dee914 Jan 26, 2010

Answer 10

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. Of all U.S. traffic deaths during 2005, 39 percent involved alcohol.

Según el Departmento de Transportación de los E.E.U.U., conducir en estado de embriaguez es uno de los crimenes más mortales de los E.E.U.U. De todos los muertes de los E.E.U.U. durante 2005, 39 por ciento supone alcohol

Answer 11

Kudos to everyone who posted an answer! Keep in mind that there really is no 'one correct' answer to this. I'm going to post what I have, but that does not mean it is the only way to say it in Spanish. Even if we were all talking about speaking English, one person may say something differently than the next. I will say that I got some help with my 'answer' to make sure that this is a natural sounding way to say it in Spanish.

One thing you might find interesting is that the direct translation of the word 'involved' isn't used as much in Spanish as we use it in English. This emphasizes the need to learn by exposure to Spanish conversations (television, friends, interactive programs such as this site or others) and not to rely solely on a dictionary. I will say there were little errors in all of the posts, but most of them conveyed the right idea to some extent. So compare your answer with this one and see what you learn from it.

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Según el Ministerio de transporte de Estados Unidos, conducir borracho es uno de los delitos que más muertes ocasionan en Estados Unidos. El alcohol estuvo presente en el 39% de los accidentes de tráfico mortales de Estados Unidos durante el año 2005.

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I picked the answer of martinj (click here to see it) because: 1) no one had voted on any of the posts so I had to pick one of them, and 2) to me it seemed that he had really tried hard. And that counts for a lot in my book. (Now don't think I'll use the same criteria next time. Always do your best! )

• jajaja~~~You made a Great selection, Chaparrito! An excellent reminder that "nothing beats failure, but a try"! :-) Fantastic! - Dee914 Jan 27, 2010

Answer 12

According to the shipping minister of United States, drunk driving is one of the crime that cause most death in United States. The alcohol was present in the 39% of the accident of fatal traffic in United States during the year of 2005.

Buena practica para traducir.

• Nice effort. Check out the English sentence in bold at the top of this page and compare your answer. :-) - chaparrito Jan 27, 2010

Answer 13

So... what is the right translation!? The anticipation is killing me!

• I agree!! - alice_m Jan 26, 2010
• :-) - Dee914 Jan 26, 2010