'The race is often not won by the swift, but to those who keep on running'

Question

I'm trying to translate this into spanish, can anyone please assist? Thank-you.

Answer 1

Thanks Lazarus, yours does sound better. I see "está ganado" in newspapers often, but now that I see your sentence, I understand why it would be used in normal speech.

Answer 2

lazarus1907 said:

Mark W said:

I'll give it a try."La carrera, muchas veces no está ganada por los más rapidos, sino por los que siguen corriendo".

That doesn't sound natural. A native would have said something like:"La carrera muchas veces no la ganan los más veloces, sino los que siguen corriendo""La carrera muchas veces no la ganan los más veloces, sino los que perseveran" (another slightly more formal alternative)You have to try to refrain to over-use the passive in Spanish. It is only used in legal language, newspapers and history books. The more common alternatives are: the passive reflexive and the direct object pronoun in the third person of the plural (like my suggestion above).

By the way, it shouldn't be "refrain to over-use"; it should be "refrain from over-using." Anyway, that's very interesting! I've heard this construction with the "third person" before but didn't know it had a name.

Answer 3

Mark W said:

I'll give it a try. "La carrera, muchas veces no está ganada por los más rapidos, sino por los que siguen corriendo".

That doesn't sound natural. A native would have said something like:

"La carrera muchas veces no la ganan los más veloces, sino los que siguen corriendo"
"La carrera muchas veces no la ganan los más veloces, sino los que perseveran" (another slightly more formal alternative)

You have to try to refrain to over-use the passive in Spanish. It is only used in legal language, newspapers and history books. The more common alternatives are: the passive reflexive and the direct object pronoun in the third person of the plural (like my suggestion above).

Answer 4

The English reflects the register (if not exactly the sentiment!) of Ecclesiastes 9:11, so here it is in the Reina Valera version.

Tornéme, y vi debajo del sol, que ni es de los ligeros la carrera, ni la guerra de los fuertes, ni aun de los sabios el pan, ni de los prudentes las riquezas, ni de los elocuentes el favor; sino que tiempo y ocasión acontece á todos.

Answer 5

I'll give it a try.
"La carrera, muchas veces no está ganada por los más rapidos, sino por los que siguen corriendo".