baseball game

Question

I see and hear "juego de béisbol," but I was taught that the correct way to say this is "partido de béisbol." However, those two phrases get almost identical hit counts on Google, so clearly both are used by native speakers.

Is there a difference in nuance, or in geographical usage'

Answer 1

In Argentina we use partido for sports. The word "juego" is mostly used when you are describing a recreational activitie.

Answer 2

Thanks, iker. I wasn't aware of that distinction. Good to know.

Your list makes me wonder why fútbol isn't called balonpié, and why Lazarus isn't upset about such a barbarism as fútbol being used in Spanish. {big wink}

Answer 3

You know how one thing leads to another, well anyone interested in Latin American's in baseball can check this site. It was introduced in Cuba in 1864

http://original.britannica.com/eb/article-229950/baseball

Answer 4

All board games and card games you must say "partida" and on the other hand we say "partido" when are sports (games).

boards games or card games

partida de póquer (poker)
partida de cartas(cards)
partida de ajedrez (chess)

sport games

partido de fútbol (soccer )
partido de baloncesto (basketball)
partido de tenis (tennis)
partido de balonmano (handball)
partido de béisbol (baseball)

Answer 5

But "set" itself is a confusing word. A chess set is quite different from, say, three "sets" of tennis.

Answer 6

That's a good question (for which I don't have an answer), but in the case of board games, juego would definitely not work because the other meaning of juego is "set." So un juego de ajedrez would be a chess set.

Answer 7

Does this discussion apply to board games, for example? I looked up chess on this site and found "una partida de ajedrez". Why partida, not partido'

Answer 8

I told you I was not a sports person! (Geography was never my forte either, apparently...) I think I was thinking of DR, but said PR... or maybe it's played in both?

I'd say you can't go wrong with "partido," but give it a few more years and we might have to change our tune, who knows... 'shrug'

Answer 9

Yes, it's perfectly natural for foreign words to be used for foreign sports. In English, we use Japanese words for sumo and karate, French words for fencing, and Spanish words for rodeo-related terms. In Spanish, in the game of golf, they use green, hazar (hazard), and par (even though par means something else in Spanish in other contexts). So, as you say, it is no surprise that English would affect Spanish in regard to baseball (which is played in many Latin American countries, not just the two you mentioned, the DR being the most prominent).

But I'll stick to using partido, since I'm not a native speaker and try to use more "standard" Spanish.

Answer 10

I'm no sports buff, but baseball is huge in Puerto Rico, right? Where there is likely to be quite a bit of English interference (right') This is a very US-American sport, and the Spanish-speaking countries that play it (Puerto Rico, Mexico) are very close to the US and English-speakers, where the English interference could make a difference.

With words like "training," "pitcheo" and "inning," it's pretty clear baseball lingo borrows heavily from English, so it might be that in this case, a game ("match") of baseball would be called "un juego de béisbol."

Answer 11

Interestingly, searching for {"partido de beisbol" site:es} gets 2600 hits, while {"juego de beisbol" site:es} gets 5400 hits. That pretty much eliminates the Tex-Mex theory.

Look at the Google's 1st page: TRAINING DE PITCHEO PREVIO A UN JUEGO DE BEISBOL. Este video muestra el momento previo a mi entrada al juego de béisbol para lanzar un inning Pitcheo? Video? Inning? All those are not used in Spain.

5th page: It is not used as a synonym of "match".

The 6th page: Suspenden juego de beisbol entre Oaxaca y Tabasco. Typical Spanish cities, maybe?

7th page: AP: Suspenden juego de béisbol en Guaynabo. That's in Puerto Rico!

8th page: It is not used as a synonym of "match".

Shall I continue?

I've checked several pages, and very few ones use "juego" as "match".

Answer 12

Interestingly, searching for {"partido de beisbol" site:es} gets 2600 hits, while {"juego de beisbol" site:es} gets 5400 hits. That pretty much eliminates the Tex-Mex theory.

Although I have seen juego used this way many times, my question was prompted by a "Spanish phrase of the day" that I just saw, and in which juego was used for game in this way. I'm glad to see that all of you agree with what I originally thought, but it does seem that the use of juego for game may be gaining in popularity among those, er, less bothered by such things.

Thanks to all three of you.

Answer 13

My guess is you have a lot of Tex-Mexers translating poorly

I am not sure how popular is baseball in the "American continent" outside the USA, but the guys you mentioned are the most likely candidates to write Web pages in Spanish about a sport which, in Europe at least, is just a curiosity. For example, there are probably very few web pages from Spain about baseball adding Google hits with "partido de beisbol".

Answer 14

My guess is you have a lot of Tex-Mexers translating poorly (English interference), which is what gives you the Google hits. When I check Google, I look at the validity or "professionalness" of the website. Perhaps you do get several hits with "juego de béisbol," but they may all be from personal blogs or other "informal" (not-proper-grammar/vocab) sites.

However, as Lazarus says, you could probably use "el juego de béisbol" when referring to the sport (as opposed to a game/"match").

Answer 15

We don't play baseball in Spain (as far as I know), but I wouldn't use "juego" for "partido". It sounds weird (in Spain, as you already know), and it certainly sounds stupid with other sports: "Vamos a ver un juego de fútbol esta noche" '? "Vamos a jugar a un juego de ajedrez" ''?

Of course, you can say "El juego de beísbol es muy popular..." ("El béisbol" would be simpler anyway).

Another bad (literal) translation, I guess.