How to say "way" in Spanish.

Question

Hello,

I am writing a Spanish paper on Simón Bolivar and need help translating the word "way" into Spanish. In English my sentence reads like this: "Finally, Bolivar fought his way inside Venezuela."

Can anyone help me with this translation'

Answer 1

James Santiago said:

Eddy wrote: Although the title is not ideal, she has put the relevant word in it. I will post a comment to her wall.

Eddy, the title was originally "Translation Help." It has now been fixed and is perfectly acceptable in my mind.

Thank you, James.

Answer 2

Eddy wrote:
Although the title is not ideal, she has put the relevant word in it. I will post a comment to her wall.

Eddy, the title was originally "Translation Help." It has now been fixed and is perfectly acceptable in my mind.

Answer 3

loven said:

I wasn't "expecting" to be able to force a word into the place I wanted it to fit. That is why I used the word wondering, as in, I was curious if this particular translation were possible.
You need to bear in mind that "to make ones way into" is, essentially, an idiomatic expression in English for something more like "he succeeded in entering" or "he managed to enter" or "he fought his way into". Occasionally idiomatic expressions can be translated literally (word-for-word) into another language but most of the time that is not possible (which is why, basically, they are called "idiomatic"). In most cases, the equivalent idiomatic expression will be quite different.

Answer 4

James Santiago said:

loven said:

Thank You. That sentence will probably work, but I'm also wondering if there is a word for "way" that I can plug into my sentence. In Spanish my sentence reads as: "Finalmente, Bolivar peleó su "way" adentro Venezuela."

I'm afraid that is "way" too literal, loven. But "paso" in my translation is roughly equivalent to "way" here. Literally, he "opened a pass (way) by fighting toward Venezuela."

And you still haven't fixed your thread title, so this thread will be deleted as soon as an administrator notices it.

By the way, if you say "inside Venezuela," it means that he fought within the country while slowly advancing. However, if you want to say that he entered the country by fighting, you should say "into Venezuela."

James
Although the title is not ideal, she has put the relevant word in it. I will post a comment to her wall.

Answer 5

Actually, this reminds me a little bit of the trouble with translating the English word "across." This is an example from the site dictionary:

he ran across the road -> cruzó corriendo la calle

You simply have to change the way it's phrased to get it to work.

loven said:

Natasha,

I wasn't "expecting" to be able to force a word into the place I wanted it to fit. That is why I used the word wondering, as in, I was curious if this particular translation were possible.

>

Answer 6

Natasha,

I wasn't "expecting" to be able to force a word into the place I wanted it to fit. That is why I used the word wondering, as in, I was curious if this particular translation were possible.

Answer 7

loven said:

:

I'm also wondering if there is a word for "way" that I can plug into my sentence.

That's the wrong question to ask. You can't just "plug in words" as though translating between languages were a mathematical function. In other words, you can't expect a word-for-word match between languages. You need to think about how to express the idea, not just how to translate one word.

Answer 8

I'm using the word finally in the sense of- After months of fighting, he finally fought his way into Venezuela.

Answer 9

I think that "al fin" works better here, though it is difficult to say with exact certainty without seeing the other sentences around it. "Finalmente" seems more like something used when wanting to denote impatience, and "al fin" is more of a word to denote a succession of events.

Answer 10

Thanks for you help! My Spanish is still pretty weak, and I was having a very difficult time trying to translate the word way into Spanish. Also, I do mean to say into Venezuela.

Answer 11

I am agree with James Santiago. Though I would use "Finalmente" instead of "Al fin". So, you might say: Finalmente, Bolívar se abrió paso luchando hacia Venezuela.

Answer 12

loven said:

Thank You. That sentence will probably work, but I'm also wondering if there is a word for "way" that I can plug into my sentence. In Spanish my sentence reads as: "Finalmente, Bolivar peleó su "way" adentro Venezuela."

I'm afraid that is "way" too literal, loven. But "paso" in my translation is roughly equivalent to "way" here. Literally, he "opened a pass (way) by fighting toward Venezuela."

And you still haven't fixed your thread title, so this thread will be deleted as soon as an administrator notices it.

By the way, if you say "inside Venezuela," it means that he fought within the country while slowly advancing. However, if you want to say that he entered the country by fighting, you should say "into Venezuela."

Answer 13

Thank You. That sentence will probably work, but I'm also wondering if there is a word for "way" that I can plug into my sentence. In Spanish my sentence reads as: "Finalmente, Bolivar peleó su "way" adentro Venezuela."

Answer 14

I will try: De repente, Bolivar peleo (diacritical mark over the o) a alcanzar Venezuela. I cannot remember the word for 'to reach' and I don't have a dictionary handy at this time but I believe it is correct!

Answer 15

Please read the Rules above, and fix your title.

You might say:

Al fin, Bolívar se abrió paso luchando hacia Venezuela.

Someone else might improve on this.