Is this English translation accurate?

Question

I read this on a very interesting article written in spanish, my mother tongue. I tried to translate it to english but I´m not sure if the grammar is right. ¿Can someone help me?

"...Quiero decir que hoy día para nosotras el mayor error es calcar lo masculino, intentar ser un Hombre Eficaz, porque no lo somos biológicamente, ni culturalmente, y por algo más: porque al hacerlo perdemos la oportunidad de traer algo novedoso a nuestras sociedades."

"...I mean that nowadays the biggest mistake for us is to copy the masculine, try to be an effective man, because we are not biologically nor culturally, and for something more: because by doing so we lose the opportunity to bring something new to our societies."

Recuerde que en inglés los nombres de idiomas se escriben con letra mayúscula: English, Spanish, pero "mother tongue" no porque es descripción no un nombre. - Jubilado, May 11, 2016

Answer 1

Looks good to me.

Personally, I would capitalize Effective Man, as in the original. And, precise grammar notwithstanding, I would say we are not, biologically or culturally, and [note comma].

Answer 2

Yes. Your translation captures the meaning of the sentence. I might replace "effective man" with "complete man" and "...y por algo más" with "...and something else".

or just 'and also' - Mardle, May 11, 2016

I did not know that Effective Man was a term of art or a book or whatever. So as such it should not be changed as I suggested. - gringojrf, May 11, 2016

Thanks for the suggestions! In the original text I was a little confused by the author's capitalization in "Hombre Eficaz". I think she was trying to highlight it as a particular term. Now I think "Efficient" would be more accurate than "Effective"! - CarimeOmMime, May 11, 2016

Answer 3

Si desea usarlo aquí tiene un lección que escribí hace rato para los inglés hablantes acá.

Watch your language - part 1 capitalization

Really useful! ¡Muchas gracias! - CarimeOmMime, May 11, 2016

Answer 4

Perhaps a good translation of "calcar" would be "to emulate." I also found that "eficaz" can also mean "real" which would make sense here - a "Real Man."