"rescatar" as "bring back"

Question

On 8/15/15, I asked a question about the meaning of "rescatar." In the context about which I was asking, "rescatar" didn't have the meaning of any of the examples in the SpanDict dictionary. Fortunately, in response to my question I got some helpful suggestions. (I'm not sure how to attach that thread here for easy reference.)

Well, here is another use of "rescatar" that I have come across, and again the examples given in the Spandict translator don't really fit:

Existen diferentes modalidades de turismo ecológico. Las agencias que ofrecen servicios de turismo aventura buscan rescatar el espíritu pionero de los primeros exploradores, pero ofreciendo servicio de alta calidad.

I suppose you could translate "recatar el espíritu pionero" as "rescue the pioneer spirit" but such a translation would be quite awkward.

What about "bring back the pioneer spirit"?

Answer 1

I think rescue works as does bring back. But rescue to me sounds better as it conveys the need of being saved whereas bring back does not. Remember word for word doesn't always give a good result. Other words that might have also worked are "revived" "resusitated". In Spanish "resucitar" "reanimar" "hacer revivir". Also, and this one may be a little bit of a stretch, "estrenar de nuevo". And finally, "reintroduce" and "reintroducir".

So there are many ways of conveying this but I like "rescatar".

Thanks. I especially like "revive" as a suggestion. - malbecblend, Apr 19, 2016

Answer 2

Again this boils down to the fact that different languages express ideas somewhat differently.

While an English speaker might say that the agencies attempt (or looking for a way) to revive or bring back the pioneering spirit of the first explorers, etc., the Spanish speaker speaks in terms of "rescuing" the pioneering spirit, etc.

One term I'm having difficulty with however is: "turismo aventura." In Spanish very seldom are two nouns used in tandem as in your example. I know it means "adventure tourism."

It's probably a more modern way of saying "turismo de aventura" which would make more sense. It's like Ciencia-ficción. But at least in that expression you get a hyphen which shows that it's unusual Spanish.