Translation Exercise for Beginners: Number 20

Question

This is a thread specifically designed with beginners in mind. If other exercises intimidate you this one shouldn't! Keep in mind that it doesn't matter if you don't get it all right. The actual process of attempting translation, and then correcting yourself is what helps us learn!

There are three rules:

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1. Don't look at other people's translations until you have made your own.
2. Do not use a translation engine. (Although you can use a dictionary)
3. Do vote for the best answers and this thread. If there is a tie, votes make a difference.

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So here is our sentence for Number 20:

La belleza que atrae rara vez coincide con la belleza que enamora.

José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955 filósofo y ensayista español)

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Please remember to answer and then vote generously! This helps our thread and helps to choose a winner because if there is a word-for-word tie the answer with the most votes wins! The winner automatically recieves 20 reputation points not counting any votes he/she may have garnered. Every participant receives a vote from me as well for participating. Keep in mind that if you need some time to come up with an answer and if the thread disappears you can find it under the category: Games and Challenges. Have fun! The translation will be posted on Sunday.

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Translation:

The beauty that first attracts is rarely the same beauty that wins the heart.

Congratulations fatchocobo! You did an excellent job! The competition was close as usual...I would like to thank everyone for participating and voting. This is what makes this thread great! See my answer below for details on the translation...

Answer 1

La belleza que atrae rara vez coincide con la belleza que enamora.
The beauty that attracts is rarely the same beauty that makes one fall in love.

Congratulations fatchocobo! You did an excellent job remaining true to translation and managing to choose wording that an English speaker would naturally use. I am impressed. - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Impresionante, yo nunca he ganado esto antes de aqui. Estoy feliz. - fatchocobo, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 2

The beauty that inspires attraction only sometimes inspires love.

Very nicely phrased :) - bomberapolaca, Apr 9, 2010

...thanks a lot:) - luz_72, Apr 9, 2010

Very beautiful, yes! I believe, though, that this phrasing was not the intent of the author... - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 3

Superficial beauty is seldom the same as the beauty that makes us fall in love.

...being a little loose with the translation here.

Very nice! I love it, and agree with you that beauty that attracts could be superficial beauty to you and I, but not necessarily what the author was thinking...You take second...awesome! - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 4

The beauty that attracts us seldom matches the beauty we fall in love with.

Nice job. "seldom matches" is a good attempt to make the sentiment sound English, although I don't think "matches" is accurate... - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 5

La belleza que atrae rara vez coincide con la belleza que enamora.

The beauty that attracts rarely coincides with the beauty that results in love.

Good job! "coincides" is definitely the direct translation, but not really a word an English speaker would choose in this situation... - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 6

The beauty that allures rarely coincides with the beauty that inspires love.

Very nice, nizhoni. In this case the direct translation "coincides" would not normally be used by an English speaker...see translation. Con - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 7

La belleza que atrae rara vez coincide con la belleza que enamora.

The beauty that attracts rarely coincides with the beauty that makes us fall in love.

Very nice! "coincides" is not a word normally used by an English speaker in this situation. "makes us fall in love" is definitely closer to the meaning of "enamora". - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 8

the appealing beaty rarely is the beaty that makes you fall in love.

beauty - renaerules, Apr 9, 2010

Nice try! - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 9

Giving this a shot!

La belleza que atrae rara vez coincide con la belleza que enamora.

en ingles: Beauty that is rarely found conicides with beauty that loves

Nice try...see the translation, and welcome to my thread! - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 10

The beauty that attracts rarely coinsides with the beauty that wins the love.

coincides.... not coinsides :) - hlsbookworm, Apr 9, 2010

Nice, but a couple of the word choices would not be used by an English speaker..."coincides" and "wins the love" - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 11

"The beauty that attracts is rarely combined with the beauty that inspires love."

I like it, but combined is not entirely correct... - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 12

The beauty that attracts us, at times does not coincide with the beauty that we would have loved.

Good! "would have loved" is the wrong tense...I need a better choice for "loved". - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 13

La belleza que atrae rara vez coincide con la belleza que enamora. José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955 filósofo y ensayista español)

The beauty that attracts rarely coincides with the beauty with which we fall in love.

I like this sentiment, though I don't quite know why. Me gusta este idea, aunque no sé por qué. - schemmn, Apr 8, 2010

Very good...although an English speaker would not generally use coincides here... - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 14

Alright. I've been following this thread for a while and without looking I'm blindly jumping in: La belleza que atrae rara vez coincide con la belleza que enamora. José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955 filósofo y ensayista español) "The beauty that attracts is rarely the beauty that loves." -José Ortega y Gasset (Spanish philosopher and essayist) (¿?)

Good job...you are missing "coincide" in your sentence. "loves" is not quite the correct translation... - renaerules, Apr 11, 2010

Answer 15

Congratulations fatchocobo!

Everyone did an excellent job. It is always hard for me to choose from so many creative responses, but somehow someone always seems to stick out just a little bit!

After reviewing the answers, there are a couple points I need to cover:

The word "enamora" does not mean "love".

amor = love

enamora = to win the heart, to fall in love, to inspire with love or delight

The word "coincide" does translate directly to "coincides" but this sounds awkward in this sentence, as well as causes the loss of some understanding of the meaning...let's explore the nuances of coincide:

coincide = to coincide, to agree, to meet, to be the same

Now for our sentence, with implied meaning in parentheses:

La belleza que atrae rara vez coincide con la belleza que enamora.

The beauty that (first) attracts rarely to be the same with the beauty that wins the heart.

So now make the sentence sound English which necessarily includes modifying sentence structure and articles.

The beauty that first attracts is rarely the same beauty that wins the heart.