Thread: Ayuda con una frase!

Hola, me gustaría saber como traducir correctamente esta pequeña frase:

"Por una mirada, un mundo;
por una sonrisa, un cielo;
por un beso... yo no sé
qué te diera por un beso."

Gracias! y saludos.

Hi Bambii,

Well, there's a couple of ways to do this. First a very literal translation:

"For a glance, a world;
for a smile, a heaven
for a kiss... I don't know
what I would give you for a kiss."

(mirada could also be "look")

More loosely:

For just one look, I'd give you the world
for just one smile, I'd give you heaven
for just one kiss... I don't know
what I would give you for a kiss."

Thanks Vincente.

This little poem helps point out one of the basic issues in translation: do we translate literally, or do we translate meaning? Not that it is always either / or.

Because both of these can work, depending on the style you like. (BTW, I like the loose version better too.)

Thanks a lot everyone