Please translate as closely as possible to English
The following is written in Spanish from the Cordoba/Jesus Maria area of Argentina. I would like to know what is the closest English translation (using as many descriptive English words as are needed) of the following. What I would like to know is which love the reader will think is the bigger or greater love of the two described below. Take into account that the writer had just found out that the "great love" had died which may be the reason for past tenses:
Pase todo el fin de semana llorando...Arme Pedro, no diga mucho pero me abrazar. La noticia de Juan me afecto muchisimo. Siempre digo que fue el gran amor de mi vida, porsupuesto no sigo enamorada de el, lo amo bien a mi marido, pero a Juan lo queria tanto, y siempre tenia una parte de mi corazon. Creo que el amor es distinto a los 18 anos no? Decidi (va, el me dejo de hablar) que no podemos estar juntos, pero siempre desea que el tener una vida feliz; y creo es por eso que me llora....que estaba tan perdido, que se fallecio por una cosa tan estupida de manejar borracho.
6 Answers
My translation (put in the names annierat has given): I have spent the whole weekend crying ... poor Pedro, he does not say much but just holds me. The news about Juan affected me a lot. I always say that [he] was the great love [romantic love, lover] of my life, of course I'm not in love with him [now, anymore], I love my husband well [a lot], but I loved Juan so much, and he always had a part of my heart. I think love is different when we are 18, am I right? I decided (we had stopped talking) that we can not be together, but you always want them to have a happy life, and I think that's why I cry .... he was so lost, drunk driving is such a stupid way to die.
I don't think that you can really compare the two loves in a quantitative way. I think the difference is qualitative. She had the passion of early love at 18 with Juan, the wanting to be together but not being able, the desire for the impossible and the tragedy of a pointless death. With her husband, she had a love deep enough to want to marry him, years of shared life, comfort and understanding for her emotional distress and the promise of many more years of sharing. She obviously loved her husband enough to give up on the idea of a shared life with Juan (but was this before or after he stopped speaking to her?).
Your effort is pretty good, I've tried for you, and I think the two loves are different, one can hardly know which one is deeper from this.. Anybody might cry at the loss of a former love, the love of one's youth..
In order to make it easier to read I have called the husband Pedro and the former lover Juán.
Pase todo el fin de semana llorando...Arme Pedro , no diga mucho pero me abraza. La noticia de Juan me afecto muchisimo. Siempre digo que fue el gran amor de mi vida, porsupuesto no sigo enamorada de el, lo amo bien a mi marido, pero a Juan lo queria tanto, y siempre tenia una parte de mi corazon. Creo que el amor es distinto a los 18 anos no? Decidi (va, el me dejo de hablar) que no podemos estar juntos, pero siempre desea que el tener una vida feliz; y creo es por eso que me llora....que estaba tan perdido, que se fallecio por una cosa tan estupida de manejar borracho.
I spent the whole weekend crying. Poor Pedro might not say a lot but he holds me tight. The news of Juan is affecting me a lot. I'm always saying that he was the great love of my life, even though I'm not l in love with him any more, I love my husband well enough , but Juan, well, I just loved him so and he always had a bit of my heart. I think love is different at 18, don't you think so?
I decided( come on , he had stopped talking to me) that we couldn't be together, but I always wanted him to have a happy life. I think that's why I'm crying so.. That he was so lost , that he should have died from such a stupid thing as drunken driving..
I can't add anything to Annie's good work. It seems spot on to me. In this case, I don't see any examples of regional dialect or idioms, so I agree that this would be the same anywhere.
This is what Google said: Spend the whole weekend crying ... Arme Peter, do not say much but I embrace. The news of John affected me a lot. I always say that was the great love of my life, ofcourse I'm not in love with him, I love my husband well, but John wanted him so much, and always had a part of my heart. I think love is different from 18 years right? I decided (goes, I stopped talking) we can not be together, but you always want to have a happy life, and I think that's why I cry .... I was so lost, you died for something so stupid drunk driving.
Are there any other translations? For example, could this mean "I always thought he was the great love of my life"? What type of love is being expressed about the husband in the phrase "lo amo bien a mi marido"? Can "pero a Juan lo queria tanto," mean "I had great affection for" or "I cared very much for"? What is the reason for deciding not to be together? Is it because "he" had stopped talking to me or could it mean "we had drifted apart" or "we had stopped talking to one another".
The context here is a love she had while on exchange in Argentina for a year at age 18. She is English but learnt fluent Spanish while living there. She left Argentina to go back to her home country to study at University but they vowed to stay together - either he would follow her at some stage or she would come back. This never happened and she met and fell in love with her husband who she married 7 years after leaving Argentina. She found out from an old friend in Argentina 9 years after that that he had died two years before.
