Sobreviviente -v- superviviente

Question

Heidita has corrected an entry I put in the game involving one letter change

" Grieta crevice, cracks

Grita [gritar] To shout

The rescuers listen at the cracks in order to hear the cries of the survivors

Los rescatistas escuchan en las grietas para oír los gritos de los supervivientes

I had trouble thinking of a sentence with 3rd person present or 2nd imperative. Most of ones I considered used the subjunctive.

I hadn't heard superviviente. When I read recent reports from Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba I saw sobreviviente which is what I used in the sentence.

Fundeu seems to give equal weight to both

Fundeu

Pratica Español based in Spain only gives superviviente (the reference to sobreviviente is Portuguese) and Rae ( I haven't checked Drae) mentions both but clearly prefers superviviente.

Vocabulary terremoto

Is sobreviviente the more usual word in Mexico and Latin America? Is it gradually giving way to superviviente? Why has there been a change?

thanks for posting, great post - 006595c6, Sep 28, 2017

I would have put sobreviviente, I did not realize there was such a strong regional preference, thanks for posting this. :) - bosquederoble, Sep 28, 2017

I find these kind of threads really interesting, and here, so many more read the difference of opinions than on the other thread...nice, thanks again, saff - 006595c6, Sep 29, 2017

Answer 1

I don't know about Drae but I for sure would have made the same mistake. I guess is a matter of where you grew up. I cannot explain it but I would use sobreviviente every time, and sobrevivir as the verb.

I don't know if supervivir is even a verb, but I certainly wouldn't use it.

I may be wrong according to the Drae, as probably would be most of Argentinians.

Es verdad. Nunca oí supervivir. - Polenta, Sep 28, 2017

Answer 2

sobreviviente

Del ant. part. act. de sobrevivir.

1. adj. superviviente. U. t. c. s. <----------also used as a noun

Interesting, good for you to post Mardle, these doubts always make an interesting discussion.

Polenta said:

Both are usually heard.

Shocking , jeje, I personally had not even heard this word before, that's why I immediately corrected it.

Answer 3

I have looked through a number of threads:

I did not find Carribean speaker preferences.

I found people from Mexico and Argentina and Chile that say sobreviviente is the correct and the word they use.

I found people from Spain all preferred superviviente (multiple ones).

I found a person from Peru and one from Mexico that said: sobreviviente is someone who survives a catastrophy, but superviviente is one that survives through great effort on their part. Eg sobreviviente for a building collapse, superviviente for someone who survives being stranded in the desert.

Two threads that reference these last two (I am not going to link every thread I viewed)- the first has a number of posts.

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/sobreviviente-o-superviviente.600679/

https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/73812

Once again it reminds me why it is important to know where the person giving you an answer is from.

indeed, thanks for investigating so thoroughly, I thought it was a mistake!! :) - 006595c6, Sep 29, 2017

Answer 4

Acá se conoce la palabra supérstite. Es un término más bien legal y hasta lo que yo sé se usa en la expresión conyuge supérstite y es la persona que queda viva cuando uno de los conyuges muere.
Supongo que viene de superviviente

Answer 5

Both are usually heard.

My husband feels sobreviviente Is the term we use more. I have not gone to any dictionary but giving it a second thought maybe sobreviviente Is more used as a noun.

Interesting question.

Answer 6

sobrevivir. ‘Seguir existiendo después de la muerte de alguien, de la desaparición de algo o de un suceso’. Se construye con un complemento indirecto: «A Lupe Gómez le sobreviven sus hijos» (DYucatán [Méx.] 23.7.96); «Ernesto Samper dijo ayer que sobrevivió a un atentado» (Clarín [Arg.] 14.2.97). Existe la variante cultista supervivir, de uso mucho menos frecuente: «Una de las más antiguas lenguas de América, que supervivió arrinconada en la costa de Esmeraldas» (Salvador Ecuador [Ec. 1994]). A diferencia del verbo, el sustantivo derivado supervivencia (‘acción de sobrevivir’) ha triunfado frente a sobrevivencia. Los adjetivos superviviente y sobreviviente (‘que sobrevive’) conviven en el uso culto. Es incorrecta la forma superviviencia.

See!! But this seems only to be true for Spain, as everybody else is saying "sobrevivencia" is the preferred word.

Es verdad. Nunca oí supervivir. - Polenta

Oh, no, we only use "superviviente" as a noun, the verb is sobrevivir.

Actually, we have TV show here taking this name:

Very interesting

Answer 7

A propósito, jamás usamos vale con el significado de ok pero lo entendemos y nos gusta.

¿En serio? Pues aquí es cada dos palabras, jejeje, genial, ves, otra diferencia cultural

usamos mucho ok pronunciado como en inglés o imitamos a los brasileros que dicen oká - polenta1, Sep 29, 2017

Answer 8

He oído el verbo concienciar o algo parecido. Sé que lo usan en España porque acá tenemos TVEspañola y programas españoles en nuestros canales de TV abierta.
Aquí usamos el verbo concientizar

De todos modos nos entendemos. jaja Vale!!!

A propósito, jamás usamos vale con el significado de ok pero lo entendemos y nos gusta.

I used to have a teacher from Valencia in Spain who used vale as OK all the time! Pues and A ver were his other faourite phrases - Mardle, Sep 29, 2017

Answer 9

Check the reply post by --Mariana--, superviviente is common in South America. Hola, does anyone know what sovreviviente mean?

In your thread the native from Spain says superviviente, the one from Argentina says sobreviviente. Those are the only two I detect as natives. :) - bosquederoble, Sep 28, 2017

The dictionary on this website doesn't mention anything about regional differences. http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/survivor - NKM1974, Sep 29, 2017