...por enseñarnos el aprender hacer mejor

Question

Gracias por compartir tu sabiduría con nosotros y por enseñarnos el aprender hacer mejor. - Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us and for teaching us to learn to do better.

Am I translating that correctly? Why has she said "el aprender"? Is the "el" necessary?

Thanks.

Answer 1

I would offer an alternative that makes more sense:

"Gracias por compartir tu sabiduría con nosotros, y por enseñarnos a aprender a ser mejor."

It is still odd, specially because "enseñarnos a aprender" is an unusual, rather redundant contruction... but it would make sense, sort of.

Ideally it should be written: "Gracias por compartir tu sabiduría con nosotros, y por enseñarnos a ser mejor."

Yes, this is the right way. I vote for it. - Carlos-F, Dec 22, 2010

Answer 2

The fact is (sorry to say) that it's wrong, but not because of the fact that you put "el" or not. What you are saying is "Gracias por compartir tu sabiduría con nosotros y por enseñarnos a hacer las cosas mejor" What you wrote sounds like an automatic translator with poor spanish spelling.

Thanks. It sounded odd to me, too, but it was written to me by a native Spanish speaker. - alba3, Dec 21, 2010

Answer 3

Hi Alba,

I think he tried to say "a ser mejor" instead of "hacer mejor", but "enseñarnos el aprender" sounds odd to me.

Answer 4

no it isnt really necessary but i dont think it matters if you do put it though