Thoughts on the Spanish Language

glennmagusharvey

Yeah, I was wondering what the title referred to.

Stormtroper

Relevant to IJBMer Updates, I'd post it there but language:

glennmagusharvey

reí


[does this actually work in Spanish? I mean, how would one translate "I lol'd"?]

Stormtroper

"Reí" sirve.

glennmagusharvey

[inserta aquí imagen de Evangelion]

glennmagusharvey

Pero...¿Quién es phone?

glennmagusharvey

¿"Un dólar por uno" o "un dólar para uno"?

Stormtroper

You mean, for example, buying one candy for one dollar? In that context it's "Un dólar por uno". In some other contexts "para" might be used instead.

glennmagusharvey

Stormtroper wrote: »

You mean, for example, buying one candy for one dollar?

Sí.

In that context it's "Un dólar por uno".

¡Gracias!

glennmagusharvey

hoy aprendí: no es "bienvénido"; es "bienvenido" (es decir "bienvenído")

edición: escribí "hodie" en lugar de "hoy" jajajaja estoy idiota pensaba en latin

glennmagusharvey

Ahora vi el tercero episodio de "Destinos".

glennmagusharvey

Ahora vi el cuarto episodio de "Destinos".

Hay muchos "falsos amigos" entre inglés y español:
* una carpeta no es "carpet", pero es "folder"
* asignaturas no son "signatures" pero son "school subjects"
* calificación (no deber confundirse con "cualificación") no es "qualification" pero es "grade/mark (on a school subject)"
* asistir puede significar "assist" pero también puede significar "attend"

¡Y finalmente el episodio se acaba en un momento de suspenso!

glennmagusharvey

Is a verb in imperative or infinitive more commonly used to indicate the prompting of a possible action?

In other words, what verb mood is typically used for the following:
* "Sign here"
* "Click here to download the file"
* "Donate" (a button to click to donate)
* "Shut Down" (in the power options of a computer)
* "Take the survey"

I've seen both verb moods used. Previously I thought it was just the infinitive, but I just now got an e-mail with a "Take the survey" link and it's translated into Spanish" as "Responda la encuesta", which I think is imperative (it's definitely not infinitive, at least).

Stormtroper

The infinitive form is by far the most common one. It makes sense, "press button -> do this", but the imperative form also works as a advertising/suggestion. "donate, or else..."

glennmagusharvey

Hoy aprendí: las fechas en español se escriben de derecha a izquierda. lel

https://www.spanish.academy/blog/how-to-write-dates-in-spanish/

Stormtroper

glennmagusharvey

(I was actually making fun of the page's header picture)

(but yes)

glennmagusharvey

glennmagusharvey

Vivaldi now has a built-in translation feature. See the mention of it here: https://vivaldi.com/new/
It is apparently powered by Lingvanex and hosted by Vivaldi.

So I decided to try it out on the text that it provides. Of course, its text is in English, so I went to translate it to Spanish.

The built-in Vivaldi Translate goes a notch higher bridging language barriers.

El traductor Vivaldi incorporado tiene un nivel superior en las barreras del lenguaje puente.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think this is grammatically correct Spanish...? Shouldn't it be something like:

El Traductor Vivaldi incorporado tiene un nivel superior en salvar las barreras del lenguaje.

?

(not sure whether "barreras de lenguaje" or "barreras del lenguaje" is more appropriate)

Stormtroper

El traductor Vivaldi incorporado tiene un nivel superior en las barreras del lenguaje puente.

Yep, it's completely wrong and it sounds like it's suggesting language barriers are a good thing that the software is good for. The irony.
I don't think most people would understand what "salvar las barreras del lenguaje" means without context, especially because of the "salvar" there. "Barreras de(l) lenguaje" is not a set phrase (that I've heard of at least) so I guess it could go either way.
Keep in mind that "bridging" also exists in Spanish ("tendiendo puentes"), meaning the same thing both literally and metaphorically.
I'd translate it as:

El traductor Vivaldo incorporado sobresale en tender puentes entre lenguas.

glennmagusharvey

Ahh.

Does "tender puentes" get used even for "bridging" in a technical sense like in circuits?

Stormtroper

It doesn't.
I know about "puenteo" but I don't know if that's a technical term or just slang. I feel like I should know that but I don't.

glennmagusharvey

What's an appropriate translation for the verb "to typeset"? For example, you've sketched out some music by hand on paper and it looks messy and now you're going to a music notation software like MuseScore to typeset them and make them look neat and presentable?

Stormtroper

Unless there's a music-specific term for it that I'm unaware of, the correct word is "transcribir".

glennmagusharvey

I looked up some other sources and they seemed to recommend componer, but it just so happens that both "compose" and "transcribe" have musical meanings.

glennmagusharvey

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chucha

chucha f (plural chuchas)

(vulgar, slang, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Panama) cunt, vagina
(vulgar, slang, Colombia) body odor
(colloquial, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras) female dog
(slang, Colombia) opossum

Uno de estos no es como los otros.

Stormtroper

So I heard in the wild the "te llamo para atrás" thing I had heard about but innocently believed would never be part of my life.

glennmagusharvey

What does that phrase mean? ("I call you back"? Does it have to do with someone passing away?)

Stormtroper

It's a transliteration of the English phrase and that's the intended meaning, other than that it means "I'll call you backwards" or "I'll call you in reverse", which was funny the first time but meh. This is why maintaining language purity is of utmost importance.
(The actual phrase is "te llamo de vuelta".)

glennmagusharvey

Oh, you're talking about Spanish taking English slang and translating it literally and running with it despite it not making proper sense.

I just now tried word-for-word translating it into Chinese and it becomes even sillier, because the "back" translation ends up meaning, like, a person's backside. So it's like you're calling (whatever that means) the back of their shirt or whatever, or alternatively, you're trying to give them a new name "Back".

A proper Chinese translation seems similar to what I think is the proper Spanish phrase -- it basically ends up being "I('ll) call [in return] you" in a word-for-word translation to English.