Thread: Conversational Translations #1

Danny is a former prison inmate. Not quite 40. White guy, originally from Nebraska. He spent 15 years in a California prison, and picked up some street Spanish there.

Maria is 19, born in southern Mexico and immigrated to the US when she was about 7 or 8. Her parents both still speak Spanish at home. She's been trying to work with Danny on his Spanish. Yes, Danny is her boss, but they are friends as much as employee-boss.

My tagline for each of these is "Colloq Spanish," but that's just for my use. I'm looking for colloquial or idiomatic versions of what follows that tag, not a perfect translation.

I'll keep it to three or four scenes in each post. There are perhaps a dozen scenes.

*****
In this scene, Danny has just found out that an affair 15 years ago produced a daughter, and that daughter was murdered a few years ago. Maria doesn't know all this, but Danny's parole officer warned her that he had just given Danny some pretty serious news.

I nodded, aware of Dom leaving, but semi-focused on the manila folder in front of me. After about five minutes, nothing had really changed. I had heard the front door chime, then what sounded like Maria working on outbounds. Still I watched the folder. I reached for it once or twice, but couldn’t quite get around to actually opening it. I finally realized Maria was watching me from the door.
(Colloq Spanish) “How are you?”

*****
In this scene, Maria has laid out Chinese takeout on the desk for everyone (3 people), all friends.

Maria unpacked the carryout, and turned my desk into a lunch table.

(Colloq Spanish) “Food’s ready/let’s eat,” Maria announced.

*****
Danny's just gotten some great news:

Maria got there about 10 minutes after I got off the phone, and smiled when she saw me. (Colloq Spanish) “You look like you’re in a good mood!”

For the first one, it is simply: ¿Cómo andas? or ¿Cómo va?

For the second one: Ya está la comida lista. ¡Comamos!

And for the last one: Se te ve de buen humor or Luces de buen humor