Proper translation of "This"

Question

I have come across the following sentences: "Éste es Cisco. Esto es lo que se llama Cisco." which are translated "This is Cisco. This is what is called Cisco." First, I would like to know if the translation is correct? Second, should there be an accent mark on the "E" in "Éste"? Third, how would I know to use "Éste" in the first sentence and "Esto" in the second? I would greatly appreciate your help?

Muchas Gracias,

Jim

Answer 1

Hello Jim (my Spanish is intermediate so take what I say with a pinch of salt)

Éste es Cisco

Cisco is a masculine noun so Éste is the right choice.

Esto es lo que se llama Cisco

"Esto" refers to something abstract (ie. not masculine or feminine) so the neuter Esto is right.

should there be an accent mark on the "E" in "Éste

Sorry, don't know about that.

Answer 2

should there be an accent mark on the "E" in "Éste"?

The way I learned it was that "éste" and "ése" (demonstrative pronouns) mean "this one" and "that one" respectively.

Este carro es rojo, éste es azul, y ése es blanco.

This car is red, this one is blue, and that one is white.

Taken from www.studyspanish.com:

Note: The rule used to be that the demonstrative pronouns always carried a written accent, while the demonstrative adjectives [Este in the above example] did not. But in 1959 the Real Academia Española, the institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language, ruled in its revised spelling rules Nuevas normas that the written accent is only required to remove certain ambiguities, the type of which almost never appear in written Spanish. Thus, in practice, the written accent is not required. However, it should also be noted that not everyone has jumped on the RAE bandwagon, -- including Madrid's daily newspaper El País as well as the majority of Spanish grammars that you are likely to encounter.