Need some help understanding a Spanish thesis

Question

Usually I figure these things out by myself, but now I am asking for some help from the excellent members of this forum. Recently a Mexican friend of mine lost her father, a university teacher. There have been some tributes written to honor him and I am translating them into proper English prose. I'm having a problem with the following:

En español: Sería demasiado obvio decir que creo que ambos fueron luchadores. Más exacto es decir que ambos fueron rebeldes, cada uno a su manera (y muy al contrario de esos rebeldes que lo son por cinco minutos y luego regresan al redil). En algún momento pensé en agregar a mi tesis un pasaje sobre el filme de William Klein sobre Alí: "The Greatest". Pero mis limitaciones y el hecho de pensar que hablar sobre la lucha de un deportista gringo no era lo suficientemente profundo para una tesis sobre cine y filosofía me hicieron desistir.

My English translation: It would be obvious enough to say that I think they were both fighters. It’s more exact to say that they both were rebels, each in his own way (and quite different from those that are rebels for five minutes and later go back to the safety of the herd). At some moment I thought of adding to my thesis a passage about the William Klien’s film about Ali: "The Greatest". But my limitations and the thought that to speak about But my limitations and the act of thinking that to talk about the struggle of an American athlete was not deep for a thesis on film and philosophy made me desist.

It looks like you understand it perfectly - 005faa61, Jun 10, 2016

Thank you, Julian. The wording of the last English sentence I now know captures the Spanish, I hope to get some English suggestions for that one as it seems a little awkward to me. - Jubilado, Jun 11, 2016

the last sentence maybe: "But my limitations and the act of thinking that to talk about .............................." - 005faa61, Jun 11, 2016

Great to see interesting posts like these, thanks mate. How are you ? - ray76, Jun 11, 2016

Thanks, Julian! - Jubilado, Jun 11, 2016

Answer 1

Jerry, You've taken quite an interest in this so I'm posting here the entire paragraph in which this conundrum of a sentence appears and my latest edit to the English. Although I think I understand what the Spanish says I just can't get a natural sounding translation for that one part:

En algún momento pensé en agregar a mi tesis un pasaje sobre el filme de William Klein sobre Alí: "The Greatest". Pero mis limitaciones y el hecho de pensar que hablar sobre la lucha de un deportista gringo no era lo suficientemente profundo para una tesis sobre cine y filosofía me hicieron desistir. Ahora veo que estaba equivocado: Alí fue profundo porque no sólo fue un gran deportista, sino por sus palabras. Un poco como mi papá, que se comunicaba poco, pero siempre tuvo autoridad en el decir.

At some moment I thought of adding to my thesis a passage about the William Klien’s film about Ali: "The Greatest". But my limitations and (my) act of thinking that talking about the struggle of an American athlete was not deep (enough) for a thesis on film and philosophy made me give up. Now I see that I was mistaken: Ali was deep not only because he was a great athlete but also because of his words. A little like my dad, who said little but always did so with authority.

Worth a vote mate. - ray76, Jun 12, 2016

Answer 2

Jubilado -instead of :

"But my limitations and the act of thinking that to talk about the struggle of an American athlete was not deep for a thesis on film and philosophy made me desist."

I think the English sounds better with:

But my limitations and the thought of talking about the struggle of an American athlete was not deep enough for a thesis on film and philosophy made me desist.

notwithstanding the possibility that it may mean a loss of fidelity to the original...

also not sure I understand the "deep" part...? if limitations aren't deep, that'd be a good thing for moving ahead on the thesis , I'd think...

Thanks for your input. I thought about adding "enough" also. This is part of a larger essay by a college professor in Chile eulogizing his father a former teacher of entomology at the University of Mexico City. Deep may be better as "profound" . - Jubilado, Jun 12, 2016

de nada... - Jerry777, Jun 12, 2016

Answer 3

Jubilado - I also note that the original uses hicieron suggesting that limitations and the act of thinking are two distinct things, so should the was be were??

and if the professor means limitations and the act of thinking to be two separate things in the subject , then the not deep enough part should really only refer to the the act of thinkingpart and not the limitations... just to make it logical...

does this make sense? I'm no expert on Spanish but that last sentence in English not only sounds awkward but illogical to me...what does it mean for the act of thinking that to talk about... to be or not be deep or deep enough?...thinking can be deep and thought can be deep but the act itself? sounds strange to me...

I kinda get the idea...the limitations are one strike against doing the thesis and then some sort of lack of cogitation on the profundities of the matter seem to be another...

maybe the fault lies more in the original...

Answer 4

Based on your latest post Jubilado:

But my limitations and (my) act of thinking that talking about the struggle of an American athlete was not deep (enough) for a thesis on film and philosophy made me give up. Now I see that I was mistaken: Ali was deep not only because he was a great athlete but also because of his words. A little like my dad, who said little but always did so with authority.

I take it that the writer intends the "depth" to refer to Ali. If so, then maybe say " athlete who was not deep enough" ...that would at least remove the implication that the act of thinking... was not deep enough...the who could have been left out of the original??