Thoughts on the Spanish Language

Stormtroper

'Cantante' is the general purpose one. 'Vocalista' I believe is used more when referring to the singer specifically in a band. 'Cantor/a' is more like on titles or stuff.

And yeah, 'poco convencional' is how the phrase usually goes.

No sé por qué encuentro la voz de Cyndi Lauper tan extraño en esta canción.  Son mucho más familiarizado con su voz cuando canta "Time After Time" y mucho prefiero esa voz de todos modos.

'No sé por qué encuentro la voz de Cyndi Lauper tan extraña en esta canción. Estoy mucho más familiarizado con su voz cuando canta "Time After Time" y de todos modos prefiero mucho esa voz.'

Putting 'de todos modos' at the start of the phrase is a minor 'feels right' thing. The other stuff is important tho. And yeah, you can use 'cantando' there.

glennmagusharvey

> tan extraña

ah, adjective-noun gender agreement, my nemesis

Waluigi

glennmagusharvey

Trying to figure out what someone's username might mean, assuming it's meant to be (internet melting pot) Spanish.  It's "El Tamago Suca".

Tamago is Japanese for egg.  Not sure about Suca though.

glennmagusharvey

Clitic doubling is confusing me currently.

glennmagusharvey

Also:

Cuando nadie non vio, Lex Luthor tomó cuarenta queques.  Tomó cuarenta queques.  Aquello es hasta cuatro decenas.  Y aquello es terrible.

I feel a slight hunch I'm missing something, because this sounds a bit too formal/literal.

Stormtroper

^^^ No idea. Maybe it's regional slang or a reference to some specific thing.

^^ i dunno lol

^

Cuando nadie veia, Lex Lutor tomó cuarenta tortas. Tomó cuarenta tortas. Eso es tanto como cuatro decenas. Y eso es terrible.

'Cuando nadie veia' is a literal translation. I'd otherwise translate it as 'mientras nadie veia', i.e. 'while nobody was looking'.

The internet tells me 'queque' is a muffin, while presumably you meant cakes. 'Pastel' is the standard 'regionally neutral) word for cake (in Spanish America at any rate), but the only true word for it is 'torta'. Similarly, 'panqué' is the standard word for muffin, but anything other than 'ponquecito' is wrong and disgusting.

'hasta' is 'up to', while 'tanto como' is 'as much as, so...

glennmagusharvey

How to tell the difference between Spanish and Japanese:

1. Spanish can talk about you, too.  Japanese can't.  Tsk tsk.
2. In Spanish, cherry trees are safe, but the Japanese won't recognize them.
3. Spanish won't shush you.

glennmagusharvey

Setenta is ten more than sesenta.

glennmagusharvey

glennmagusharvey wrote: »

Setenta is ten more than sesenta.

How would this be translated into Spanish?  It's not a typical construction of a comparative ("seventy is more than sixty by ten") but rather somewhat idiomatic.  Is this idiomatic construction ("X is Y more than Z" meaning X = Z + Y) also used in Spanish?

Stormtroper

Yep. 'Setenta es diez más que sesenta.'

glennmagusharvey

Stormtroper wrote: »

Yep. 'Setenta es diez más que sesenta.'

I actually just read up on the difference between "más de" and "más que" and I realized that it was the difference between an implied phrase or just a quantity of comparison.  And what you say makes complete sense in that framework.

#hoyaprendíalgonuevo

glennmagusharvey

Incidentally I think the fact that Spanish divides this into más que and más de means that some things that would work as jokes in English don't work.

Tell me if I'm right:
"I like you more than Alice" could mean that I like you more than Alice does, or that I like you more than I like Alice, but in Spanish, these two meanings would respectively use "más que" and "más de", and thus they couldn't be confused by the wording.
Or am I misunderstanding the usage altogether?

Stormtroper

'Te quiero más de Alice' is wrong. The correct form is '[a tí] te quiero más que a Alice'. Fortunately for the purpose of the joke the 'a' blends there so they sound similar (assuming the person's name starts with 'a') .

glennmagusharvey

101. ¡Sea chica mágica!
102. Bienvenidas, tierras mágicas
103. Pasos prohibidos
104. Creyendo justicia
105. Clemencia
106. Deseo
107. Desorden
108. Tarde
109. Chica en sueño
110. Sombra negra
111. Terror afferándose (o Terror hendiendo)
112. Escenario feliz
113. Lucha con maga

201. Decreto (o Decisión)
202. Ejército de seguidores (o clientes)
203. Cazar brujas
204. Signo malo (o Mal signo)
205. Mis amigas preciosas (o Amigas preciosas mías)
206. Incertidumbre
207. Inevitable
208. Ira serena (o Serena ira)
209. Alma mala
210. Lucha infinita
211. Vocalise Op. 34 no.14
212. Ave Maria

301. Nunca vencer
302. Por qué
303. Corazón destruido
304. Resucitaré reiteradamente
305. Confesión
306. Flecha de luz
307. Nuez de Walpurga (Noche Walpurgis?)
308. Alcoba blanca
309. Tenia Cinta de memoria
310. La fille aux cheveux du lin
311. Simposio de magas
312. Continúo luchando
313. Conectar -Inst. de Juego=



lol, "tapeworm of memory"

glennmagusharvey

In English the present tense is actually used for a very "general" usage, while the specific present is often referred to using the present progressive tense.

"I dance." = Dancing is something I do, in general.
"I am dancing." = I am presently engaged in the activity of dancing.

To what extent does Spanish do this?

I know that in Latin, both would use present tense, as there is basically no "be" + present participle construction in Latin.  But I know that "estar [verb]ndo" is a thing in Spanish.

So under what circumstances would one say "bailo" versus "estoy bailando"?  Is it roughly the same as in English, or are there some circumstances -- or specific verbs -- when one would use a present progressive ("be" + present participle) in one language and just straight present indicative in the other?

This page says that one doesn't use present progressive in Spanish for future things (such as "I am studying with Mary tonight"), but are there other usage differences?

For example, how would the following exchange be translated?
"Where are they going"?"
"They're going to the theater."
Would it be "¿Dónde van ellos?  Van al teatro." or "¿Dónde están yendos?  Están yendos al teatro."?



Bonus:
"Me llamo Ange, y sobreviviré, aunque tenga que matar."

Spoiler:

"My name is Ange, and I will survive, even if I have to kill."

(desde el episodio primero de Cross Ange)

Stormtroper

I can't really think of many instances where the Spanish or English forms aren't equivalent. Thinking it a bit, maybe you're more likely to use the infinitive in Spanish, but I can't really think of an instance were it's downright wrong (besides the case that website points out).

'¿Adónde van ellos? Van al teatro' and '¿Adónde están yendo? Están yendo al teatro' are both equally right.

vandro

No es desde el primer episodio.

Es, del primer episodio.

glennmagusharvey

vandro wrote: »

No es desde el primer episodio.

Es, del primer episodio.

Gracias. Todavía no entiendo totalmente la diferencia entre "desde" y "de".



(...and was that word order just now more natural?

vandro

Desde es lugar, de es origen. Es confuso lo sé.

glennmagusharvey

> Es confuso lo sé.



"It is confusing, I know that."?

vandro

It's confusing, I know. Would be more idiomatic. But you are still accurate.

glennmagusharvey

> episodio ocho de Cruz Anye

Bueno, no esperaba que el episodio "traje de baño" contuviera drama serio.

glennmagusharvey

How would you translate the interjection meaning of "see"?

For example:
"See, on one hand I feel bad for what you've gone through but on the other hand I'd like to yell at you."
"See?  That's why you don't open that door!"

Alternatively, it's basically short for "you see", which is used in the same way.

Strictly speaking it could be thought of as a second-person imperative or second person indicative ("See this door!" "Do you see this door?" "As you can see,..."), but it can also be used to just introduce a sentence, the same way "well" can:

"Well, on one hand I feel bad for what you've gone through but on the other hand I'd like to yell at you."
"Well, that's why you don't open that door!"

"Well" as an interjection has a translation, as "bueno".  But I don't know if "see" has a direct translation as an interjection, or if it's just customary to use some other filler-word (i.e. some other interjection) in Spanish for such a purpose -- basically as a spacer to introduce a thought.

Stormtroper

The 'see?' in situations such as the door one simply translates literally as '¿ves?', for the reason you mentioned.

The other example, I guess it depends on what you're getting at. The literal translation would be 'mira' as imperative (or 'como puedes ver' or 'como puede observarse' depending on formality), but an interjection such as 'bueno' also works there.

vandro

Yo no uso ¿Ves?, yo uso ¿Viste?

glennmagusharvey

En este momento escucho un versión de "Piano Man" en español y en fa mayor.

Ahora es un versión de "Right Here Waiting" en español; esta es en si bemol mayor.  Y ahora es un versión de "Little Drummer Boy" en la bemol mayor.  Me pregunto si esta estación de radio o esta programa sea para versiones en español de canciones originalmente en inglés.

glennmagusharvey

Acabo de ver episodio 9 de Cross Ange.

Parece que al menos en MyAnimeList opiniones sobre esta programa están muy divididas.

glennmagusharvey

So apparently there's a third "be" verb, quedar.  Though it seems to have the sense of "to be situated", as in permanent locations, so a more context-specific version of estar?

vandro

quedar is to remain