Vergüenza: How can it mean both shame and embarrassment?

Question

To me shame and embarrassment mean very different things but the dictionary gives the word vergüenza as the translation for both. How can this be and is there a more appropriate word for each?

Answer 1

There are always variations both in the language in question and in translations. What is appropriate varies with situations. Dictionaries aren't always forthcoming with language subtleties and nuances. It may require a bit more searching on an online dictionary that goes into such things. Here are a couple of possibilities:

Spanish English

RAE

:) - ian-hill, Oct 12, 2014