It would be "as well"

Question

¡Hola a todos! Necesito que me den una mano con la traducción de la siguiente oración:

"Our subject tonight is "why I am not a christian". Perhaps it would be as well, first of all, to try and make out..."

Tengo problemas con ese "as well". ¿Quiere decir algo como "sería mejor empezar por..."'

Answer 1

"Our subject tonight is "why I am not a christian". Perhaps it would be as well, first of all, to try and make out..."

It would be as well to... = We might as well...

Esta construcción es difícil traducir a español, pero el significado es más o menos "Quizá más val que empecemos por..." Pero tu traducción también puede servir.

Espero que te ayude.

Answer 2

'why I am not a christian'. porque no soy cristiano

the rest of your request is confusing, please re- ask the question.

Answer 3

I cannot rephrase it, because that is the sentense I am supposed to translate:
......
"Our subject tonight is 'why I am not a christian'. Perhaps it would be as well, first of all, to try and make out what we mean by Christian.?
......
I was pointing at the use of "as well" that I cannot really figure out how it is being used in English.
By the way, the proper translation is "por qué no soy cristiano". You must use an interrogative pronoun with indirect questions.

Answer 4

'why I am not a christian'. Perhaps it would be as well, first of all, to try and make out what we mean by Christian.?

Por que no soy cristiano, antes de nada seria mejor pensar que es lo que queremos decir con la palabra cristiano

por que no soy cristiano, lo primero es describir que quiere decir "cristiano"

po que no soy cristiano, tal vez es mejor, seria mejor aprender que es un cristiano.

i could keep going all night--mistakes and all

disclaimer ........ I dont know

Answer 5

I cannot rephrase it, because that is the sentense I am supposed to translate:

......

"Our subject tonight is 'why I am not a christian'. Perhaps it would be as well, first of all, to try and make out what we mean by Christian.?

......

I was pointing at the use of "as well" that I cannot really figure out how it is being used in English.

"Nuestro tema esta noche es 'porque no soy cristiano'. Quizá sea bueno, antes de todo, intentar esclarecer lo que queremos decir por 'cristiano'"

Your original sentence sounds very British. Americans typically would say "Perhaps it would be good, first of all, ..."

By the way, the proper translation is "por qué no soy cristiano". You must use an interrogative pronoun with indirect questions.

"Why I am not a Christian" is not a question. The correct translation is "porque no soy...", meaning "here are the reasons I'm not..."

(PS: I hadn't seen Gus' reply; sorry for the redundancy)

Answer 6

By the way, the proper translation is "por qué no soy cristiano". You must use an interrogative pronoun with indirect questions.

"Why I am not a Christian" is not a question. The correct translation is "porque no soy...", meaning "here are the reasons I'm not..."

No, that is incorrect. In indirect questions, such as "I don't know why he hasn't come," we use por qué: No sé por qué no ha venido. If you say "porque no soy cristiano," it means "because I'm not a Christian."

By the way, Lucho is a native Spanish speaker, so I'm sure he knows what he's doing in writing it this way.

Answer 7

I think the answer lies in the word "conviene" or "convendría".

Could a nativo fill in the blanks?

Be something like - tal vez convendría definir primero lo que queremos decir con "cristiano".

Answer 8

By the way, Lucho is a native Spanish speaker, so I'm sure he knows what he's doing in writing it this way.

I won't argue with a native Spanish speaker, but I looked up what is the title of Bertrand Russell's "Why I'm not a Christian" in Portuguese and found, to my dismay, that it is "Por que não sou cristão". I was sure it had to be "Porque ..."

Now I'm very stubborn and I'm still not convinced (about the Portuguese; I won't argue about the Spanish). But the point remains that being a native speaker does not make one an authority.

Answer 9

But the point remains that being a native speaker does not make one an authority.

True, but if Lucho and I are wrong, tell me this: How would you say "Because I am not a Christian" in Spanish? Surely you're not saying that that and "Why I am not a Christian" are the same in Spanish.

Answer 10

True, but if Lucho and I are wrong, tell me this: How would you say "Because I am not a Christian" in Spanish? Surely you're not saying that that and "Why I am not a Christian" are the same in Spanish.

As I said, I won't argue about the Spanish. The reason I'm not convinced about the Portuguese is because I know, from being a native speaker, that there are things in the language that are a bit fuzzy and no one knows for sure. The difference between "porque" and "por que" is one such case (again, I'm talking about Portuguese).

As to Spanish, what do you more knowledeable, less stubborn guys make of this: http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~alopez-o/politics/navarromay03.html

Answer 11

Aurino, here is what the DRAE gives.

por qué.
1. loc. adv. Por cuál razón, causa o motivo. ¿Por qué te agrada la compañía de un hombre como ese? No acierto a explicarme por qué le tengo tanto cariño.

The second example given above corresponds to the context of this thread: I can't seem to explain why I have such affection for her.

Answer 12

As to Spanish, what do you more knowledeable, less stubborn guys make of this: http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~alopez-o/politics/navarromay03.html

It is either an error, or the author is using the noun porqué, which does not have to take the accent when written in upper-case letters. This noun means "the reason," as in Quiere saber el porqué (She wants to know the reason). I don't know if that fits in this context without the article (Reason I'm not a Conservative), but maybe it could work as a title.

Answer 13

It is either an error, or the author is using the noun porqué, which does not have to take the accent when written in upper-case letters. This noun means "the reason," as in Quiere saber el porqué (She wants to know the reason). I don't know if that fits in this context without the article (Reason I'm not a Conservative), but maybe it could work as a title.

He writes in the same article "el porque de los ataques al neoliberalismo". I'll take the position that he does not fully master his native tongue, despite being an academic. That puts me in good company and saves my pride

Answer 14

I cannot rephrase it, because that is the sentense I am supposed to translate:

......

"Our subject tonight is 'why I am not a christian'. Perhaps it would be as well, first of all, to try and make out what we mean by Christian.?

......

I was pointing at the use of "as well" that I cannot really figure out how it is being used in English.

By the way, the proper translation is "por qué no soy cristiano". You must use an interrogative pronoun with indirect questions.

El tema de esta noche es 'por qué no soy Cristiano'. Antes que nada,deberíamos definir el significado de la palabra Cristiano.

Answer 15

As to Spanish, what do you more knowledeable, less stubborn guys make of this: http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~alopez-o/politics/navarromay03.html

Did you actually read that article? There are so many misspellings and typos in it that article that I wouldn't use it as an example for anything. I certainly wouldn't trust any punctuation.