Anyone got a good phrase for "Better to be safe than sorry"

Question

it is especially hard to know which word to chose for " sorry" in this situation... I gues something like regretful but not quite sure if that works???

Answer 1

I guess you could say:

Más vale prevenir que lamentar.

sí, pero no se dice - 00494d19, Aug 8, 2010

¿Cómo no se dice? Así es como lo conozco yo... "Más vale prevenir que lamentar". - Gekkosan, Aug 8, 2010

Si se hace una búsqueda en Google por (incluyendo comillas) "más vale prevenir que", la expresión aparece con mucha más frecuencia con "lamentar" que con "curar". - Gekkosan, Aug 8, 2010

I thought I had heard of it :) Gracias :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 8, 2010

Answer 2

How about:

más vale prevenir que curar

Answer 3

Actually I am a translator so I am very welll aware that phrases do not translate word for word... However I can tell you that Spanish phrases certainly match a lot better / more often than they do in Japanese!

Of course I want a phrase that sounds natural in the target language and not some stiff reflection of the source language... But that does not mean that I should not strive to find the phrase that reflects my intended meaning.

The consesus in the case seems to be " más vale prevenir que curar" so I'm happy with that, but just accepting the first phrase you see in a book is generally not a good habit to get into

Thank you all for your feed back

Sorry, you may have been at a disadvantage, you may not have known who provided you the link. - LateToDinner, Aug 8, 2010

If we haven't run you off, and you stick around, you will see your info came from an extremely knowledgeable source. - LateToDinner, Aug 8, 2010

Part of the problem was that you asked two different questions. You were getting answers to the bold question when you wanted an answer to the latter question. - LateToDinner, Aug 8, 2010

Answer 4

HI, I guess you have not seen our phrasebook yet,

better safe than sorry.

Welcome to the forum

You get to the phrasebook book using the more tab at the top of the page. Took me a while to find it too. - revmaf, Aug 8, 2010

true, that should be more "obvious"+ - 00494d19, Aug 8, 2010

it really should be... - cymrulass, Aug 8, 2010

Answer 5

but just accepting the first phrase you see in a book is generally not a good habit to get into

This is true, but our phrasebook is made by the site itself.

There are two mods, a native Spanish speaker and a native English speaker, both proficient in the other language and they have to double check on the correctness of each phrase. Trust me, a phrase in our phrase book can be trusted, jeje

I hope you like it here, welcome again

Answer 6

A trick question, Ms. J, are you stuck on having a literal translation, a one-word for one-word translation of an expression whose meaning is unique to the English speaking world,

or would you like a Spanish expression, understood in the Spanish speaking world, that conveys the idea?

Answer 7

No I hadn't seen the phrase book, Thank you!

But to me reading this phrase it means " Prevention is better than cure" which has a slightly different nuaance to "Better safer than sorry"

Is there no other closer phrase??

Common sayings or idioms frequently don't translate word for word. You have to understand the idea behind the words. - KevinB, Aug 8, 2010

Answer 8

Is there no other closer phrase??

No, that is the phrase we use. Sometimes the translation looks different but means the same