Did I translate this right?

Question

To help myself learn better, I am reading children's books. I was wondering if I translated this correctly:

"Mi niña, la que más quiero es dulce como la mora tiene el aroma del níspero y la luz de la feijoa"

I translated it to mean essentially, "My girl, the one that I want is sweet like the blackberry, has the aroma of the medlar and the light of the feijoa."

Answer 1

Thank you, everybody!

I didn't appreciate how difficult translation can be until I started learning another language. I never (before) believed people when they told me that there was no word for something in their language, or they couldn't translate what was probably an idiomatic expression. I feel rather bad now, because I assumed when people said such a thing, that they were putting me off because they didn't want to translate something because it was probably vulgar.

I have found with just the little exposure I have learning a language that I understand some of my foreign associates much better and am able to avoid some of the misunderstandings that used to arise. For that alone, I find it worth it to learn.

I already googled "feijoa". It is a shrub that produces a fruit that is like a pineapple guava.

Answer 2

TheMatronofB:

Yes. You did a good job, but as Goyo has pointed out you did not include "Más" in your translation.

I would translate your reading as :

"My girl, the one that I most want is sweet like the blackberry, has the aroma of the medlar and the light of the feijoa."

This differs from Goyo because I think that the word "más" is associated with "quiero" rather than with "niña" as Goyo has suggested. Notice the comma separating "más" from "niña". Thats why I've translated differently.

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By the way, if anyone is curious, see This Link to see what a feijoa is. Remember that as with many Wikipedia pages, if you scan down the left side of the page, you will see a list of other languages besides English. Click on "español" to see the same thing in the Spanish language.

Recuerdos/Regards,

Moe

Thanks for the link, don Moe. :) - Valerie, Oct 26, 2009

Actually Moe, we agree about más- it clearly modifies querer. - Goyo, Oct 26, 2009

Answer 3

I would translate "la que más quiero" as "the one I love the most," as in this case querer is probably used in order to say "to love"

I dont agree with this either. Looking in our dictionary, we find "querer = to want (verb)". I dont believe the author intended "love" only want/desire. - Moe, Oct 26, 2009

Answer 4

Pretty good, but you left out "más".

She's the one I love the most. (And it could be a daughter)