getting something done
I saw this:
--The girls are getting their nails done.
translated as this:
--Las chicas se están arreglando las uñas.
To me, this translation misses the nuance of having someone else do their nails for them, and seems to me to say that the girls are doing their own nails.
Is this a bad translation?
If so, what is the normal way to express "get something done"?
Examples:
He is getting his house painted next month.
I'm getting my car fixed today.
They are getting their kitchen remodeled right now.
If the person were doing the action himself, the above would be:
He is painting his house next month.
I'm fixing my car today.
They are remodeling their kitchen right now.
(This last one could also be used if someone else were doing the work.)
23 Answers
Samdie wrote:
P.S. Nor do I know 2/4 of what (my apologies to mathematicians in the audience), although, obviously, it refers to something of at least twice the value of a "real".
I just realized (no pun intended) that I didn't answer your question. One cuarto (not quarto) was one-fourth of a real, and they were little bitty silver coins (I have one from 1802). I'm not sure why a vieja (un real) costs twice as much as a muchacha (1/2 real) in that song, but maybe experience trumps beauty in such matters.
I was just fooling around. People say a lot of strange things, but I've never heard a man announce, "I'm gonna get my hair done!"
lazarus1907 said:
Natasha said:
What is all this about girls always talking about getting their hair fixed or their nails done? As if we have nothing else to do or talk about . . .
I wasn't trying to criticize anyone... directly. Many women talk about hair, nails and gossips, and men about sports and women; this is generally true, whether we like or not. Some other time I'll give my views about the empty talk of men, if you want.
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Natasha said:
What is all this about girls always talking about getting their hair fixed or their nails done? As if we have nothing else to do or talk about . . .
I wasn't trying to criticize anyone... directly. Many women talk about hair, nails and gossips, and men about sports and women; this is generally true, whether we like or not. Some other time I'll give my views about the empty talk of men, if you want.
Samdie, the international money of trade for several centuries was the coin called ocho reales, which were called pieces of eight in English, or Spanish dollars. They came in denominations of 8, 4, 2, 1, 1/2 real.
I have a collection of coins minted in the years of birth of all my known paternal ancestors, back to 1615, and I have quite a few of these coins, which circulated widely in the American colonies, and continued in use in the US until 1857.
Gus said:
If manicure is manicura, then the persons that say quarta for quarter,(quarter is a 0.25 coin American) and trucka for truck, might be correct,and I been wrong for the last 48 years. Oh! my God.
"Una vieja vale un real y una muchacha dos quartos/Pero como soy tan pobre, me voy a lo más barato" (fom a Spanish folksong) suggests that the notion of a 1/4 is not at all new (can't account, however, for the shift in gender).
P.S. Nor do I know 2/4 of what (my apologies to mathematicians in the audience), although, obviously, it refers to something of at least twice the value of a "real".
If manicure is manicura, then the persons that say quarta for quarter,(quarter is a 0.25 coin American)
and trucka for truck, might be correct,and I been wrong for the last 48 years. Oh! my God.
lazarus1907 said:
James Santiago said:
Thanks to all for your replies.So, is the consensus that "Las chicas se están arreglando las uñas" is not the best translation of the English here, and that "Les están arreglando las uñas a las chicas" would be closer? Or are both equally valid and natural? The latter translation seems to shift the emphasis on the subject from the girls to the people going the manicure.
It depends. If the sentence is part of a dialogue, in Spain most people would say "Las chicas se están haciendo la manicura", and most people would understand -by default- that they are getting their nails done. That's how people talk in Spain, at least. If you want to make 100% sure that there is no misunderstanding, you can say "Les están haciendo la manicura a las chicas (en un sitio)", but it is not the most way to say it. Very often, they also say "Han ido a hacerse la manicura", and this one is even more unlikely to be interpreted as "do it themselves" than "se están haciendo la manicura".
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Me voy a sacar una muela.
I don't do that myself though. 
I agree with Lazarus,
the use of the passive voice in Spanish makes so that someone else is doing the action.
tad said:
Se va a cortar el pelo hoy there is normally no need to say "ella misma", since few people cut their own hair.
I do!
So do I, but very few women do, and in any case, I don't go around telling my friends: "I am cutting my hair today".
Se va a cortar el pelo hoy
there is normally no need to say "ella misma", since few people cut their own hair.
I do!
James Santiago said:
Thanks to all for your replies.
So, is the consensus that "Las chicas se están arreglando las uñas" is not the best translation of the English here, and that "Les están arreglando las uñas a las chicas" would be closer? Or are both equally valid and natural? The latter translation seems to shift the emphasis on the subject from the girls to the people going the manicure.
It depends. If the sentence is part of a dialogue, in Spain most people would say "Las chicas se están haciendo la manicura", and most people would understand -by default- that they are getting their nails done. That's how people talk in Spain, at least. If you want to make 100% sure that there is no misunderstanding, you can say "Les están haciendo la manicura a las chicas (en un sitio)", but it is not the most way to say it. Very often, they also say "Han ido a hacerse la manicura", and this one is even more unlikely to be interpreted as "do it themselves" than "se están haciendo la manicura".
Thanks, Lazarus. Changing the way we think about and conceptualize situations is probably the most difficult aspect of learning a foreign language, but it is also one of the most rewarding if and when we succeed. I'll keep working on this.
James Santiago said:
Thanks to all for your replies.
So, is the consensus that "Las chicas se están arreglando las uñas" is not the best translation of the English here, and that "Les están arreglando las uñas a las chicas" would be closer? Or are both equally valid and natural? The latter translation seems to shift the emphasis on the subject from the girls to the people going the manicure.
It depends. If the sentence is part of a dialogue, in Spain most people would say "Las chicas se están haciendo la manicura", and most people would understand -by default- that they are getting their nails done. That's how people talk in Spain, at least. If you want to make 100% sure that there is no misunderstanding, you can say "Les están haciendo la manicura a las chicas (en un sitio)", but it is not the most way to say it. Very often, they also say "Han ido a hacerse la manicura", and this one is even more unlikely to be interpreted as "do it themselves" than "se están haciendo la manicura".
Thanks to all for your replies.
So, is the consensus that "Las chicas se están arreglando las uñas" is not the best translation of the English here, and that "Les están arreglando las uñas a las chicas" would be closer? Or are both equally valid and natural? The latter translation seems to shift the emphasis on the subject from the girls to the people going the manicure.
To change from Russian to Spanish language, have to go to settings and choose a language and then re-boot the computer.
To change from Englsi to Spanish,all Ia have to do is depress a key on my key board and presto.
This is the why, I did not typed the letter "enye" like is required and this goes for the tildes.
This is nothing to do with the subject, but I felt bad about my most recent post in this tread. By the way, the "original question" that I typed two post ago was asked by Mr. James Santiago.
