"No" por Shakira

Question

Hola,

Tenía una pregunta breve - ¿qué significa esta letra de la canción "No" por Shakira?

No se puede dedicar al alma A acumular intentos

Pensaba que significaba

One can't dedicate the soul To piling up intentions

¡Ayúdenme, porfa! Gracias por la ayuda.

I think Shak has a new song out that's on YouTube. New or not, the video looks real nice with the animation. - Sassette, Apr 20, 2017

Me Enamoré, right? I love it! - KRavishankar19, Apr 20, 2017

Yes, that's what it is. I've got to view it again. I was so tired when I first saw it. :) - Sassette, Apr 21, 2017

Answer 1

Hello Kravinshkar,

Welcome to our Spanishdict community forum

You asked what some of the words from Shakira's song mean:

No se puede dedicar al alma A acumular intentos

While I am not a Spanish native nor an acclaimed expert in intepreting Spanish media (songs, literature etc...), I would say (my best attempt) from all the context you have provided, also taking into account the words with her picture that Sassette provided:

You* cannot dedicate your life to accumulating intentions in your soul, they weigh you down more than hardened anger. (rage)

One* cannot dedicate their life etc...

I believe that Sassette was also very close to the meaning

I hope this helps

Corrijan mi español si es necesario, por favor

:) - Sassette, Apr 21, 2017

Thank you, Sassette :) - FELIZ77, Apr 21, 2017

I think that you have it mate , I thank you . - ray76, Apr 22, 2017

Thank you, Ray but Luis is more likely to have got it right since he is a native Spanish speaker :) - FELIZ77, Apr 22, 2017

Answer 2

I am not an English native, so I can't translate clearly the meaning of the song into English, though I can grab the meaning in Spanish.

Sassete is very close, but I would translate intentos as attempts instead of venom and rage

intento fallido - failure attempt

intento de suicidio - suicide attempt

al primer intento - at the first attempt

I think the meaning of intentos is close to trials and errors:

it's not a good idea to use our soul to accumulate trials and errors (attempts to fall in love)

@Sassette: Saludos!

I see your point. It's a little twist on what I was thinking. :) - Sassette, Apr 21, 2017

Answer 3

Yo dedico mi tiempo a acumular dinero. It means something like TO or IN ORDER TO in English.

Tú te dedicas a trabajar con niños con síndrome Down.

Él se dedicaba a enseñar computación.

Nosotros vamos a dedicarnos a construir edificios.

Ellos se dedicaron siempre a escribir novelas de terror.

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In all the above examples the preposition "a" is necessary and can't be omitted..

I will try to remember to always include the "a." - Sassette, Apr 21, 2017

Answer 4

This may not be an issue of translation but of figuring out what she meant. As a guess, she might be saying that it's not a good idea to use our soul to accumulate venom and rage.

Sadly, there are people out there that seem to do just that.