When translating something...
Is the literal translation better then guessing the meaning?
For example the song La Carcacha by Selena
A line from the song is en la esquina yo esperando someone translated the line like this as usual in the corner I wait. I got on the corner I wait.
Which translation would be correct? Is it because the person guess at the meaning or is it because I did the literal meaning?
6 Answers
Hi, Roz:
The first lines are:
En la esquina yo esperando.
Como siempre su novia fiel.
Mis amigas se están burlando.
Murmuran cosas de él.
(Estribillo)
Carcacha paso a pasito.
No dejes de tambalear.
The meaning is approximately:
I'm waiting for him at the corner as usual,
because I am her faithfull girlfriend.
My friends are making a mockery.
They mutter things about him.
(Chorus)
Jalopy, step by step,
Keep moving!
Spanish is my mother tongue, so I don't know it my attempt sounds good in Englis. I'm sure you could help me to improme it.
In general when translating you want to capture the meaning of the text, lyrics or whatever you're trying to translate. Literal translations are not always possible and can often lead to an incorrect translation.
A line from the song is en la esquina yo esperando someone translated the line like this as usual in the corner I wait. I got on the corner I wait.
Regarding this example, I would translate it as....
I'm waiting for you on the corner
In the line you posted there is no reference to "as usual".
en la esquina = "on the corner" . If it were "in the corner" they would have used the word "rincón", which is the type of corner where walls meet.
I am waiting at/on the corner, like always your/his faithful girlfriend. My girlfriends are joking, muttering things about him.
This is my take on the first part.
The second part seems to be talking about "something step by step not stopping stumbling. I have problems with this part.
@roz84:
When I looked up "en" in my Spanish/English dictionary yes the first word was in but the next word was on which I thought would make more sense to the sentence. When translating when you do translate isn't possible that you might have to switch words around to make sense and/ or add words?
Of course you have to switch around some words etc, in order for you to make sense of what's being said in Spanish, that's the whole purpose of translating literally, word for word, to your native language.
90% of the time you are going to have it right if not higher, but as you become accustomed to this system, your odds improve.
Now try like everybody does, from your native language to Spanish, and you don't know if the resulting Spanish phrase/sentence is correct. Because you don't know the language. Simple. Then you have to rely on anybody else to tell you their "piece" and hopefully you are going to get it some day. So, it is reasonable for people to say and recommend not to translate literally, but this is true in one direction, but not in the other.
See?
Edit: You are the second person that sees/percieves that notion. :-D
Chileno,
When I looked up "en" in my Spanish/English dictionary yes the first word was in but the next word was on which I thought would make more sense to the sentence. When translating when you do translate isn't possible that you might have to switch words around to make sense and/ or add words?
First of all, a direct translation will be:
en la esquina yo esperando = in the corner I/me waiting
Now, you also have to take into account the context, in order to understand in English what's being said in Spanish.
without anymore context I would translate that as follows:
at the corner, me, waiting.
Notice the commas.
Again, this is without anymore context.
Now, you are doing something good. You have to translate literally, word by word, from Spanish to English, simply because English is what you understand.
See?
