Please Translate this email I received
Con respecto a Alex, yo no se si hice bien en no pedirle su telefono y esperar a que el se lo pida a Rick o a mi, yo se que ya el se lo a pedido a Rick, pero me dio pena, tu sabes...
Entonces estaba pensando mandarle un email, como de saludo, no vaya a ser que piense que es que yo no estoy interesada en el, pero no se si sera una buena idea o un atrevimiento mio. Que crees???
Rush Translation
Please, someone edit this!!:
(Im not sure about the phone thing, whose phone?)
As regards Alex, Iīm not sure If I did well not asking for his telephone number (?), but waiting for him to ask Rick or me; I know he asked Rick already, and I felt sorry, you know...
So, I thought of writing an e-mail to him, just to say hi, so that he doesnīt think Iīm not interested in him; but Iīm not sure whether itīs a good idea or itīs too sassy(?). What do you think?
Con respecto a Alex, yo no se si hice bien en no pedirle su telefono y esperar a que el se lo pida a Rick o a mi, yo se que ya el se lo a pedido a Rick, pero me dio pena, tu sabes...
Entonces estaba pensando mandarle un email, como de saludo, no vaya a ser que piense que es que yo no estoy interesada en el, pero no se si sera una buena idea o un atrevimiento mio. Que crees???
With regard to Alex; I don't know if I did the right thing by not asking him for his phone number, and waiting for him to ask either Ricky or me for it. I know he has already asked Ricky, but I was shy/sad, you know..
Then I thought I would send him an Email, just to say Hi. In case he might think I am not interested in him. But I don't know if this a good idea or if I am been too forward. What do you think?
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con respecto a Alex, yo no se si hice bien en no pedirle su telefono y esperar a que el se lo pida a Rick o a mi, yo se que ya el se lo a pedido a Rick, pero me dio pena, tu sabes...
Entonces estaba pensando mandarle un email, como de saludo, no vaya a ser que piense que es que yo no estoy interesada en el, pero no se si sera una buena idea o un atrevimiento mio. Que crees???
Originally Posted by kellymellars
Hola, mira, isn't she saying:
I don't know if I did the right thing by not asking him for his phone number, and waiting for him to ask either Ricky or me (for mine). I know he has already asked Ricky for it, but I was embarrassed, you know..
So, I thought of writing an e-mail to him, just to say hi, so that he doesnīt think Iīm not interested in him; but Iīm not sure whether itīs a good idea or too daring. What do you think?
vicente
So, cfletcher80...
what do you think?
vicente,
That is true if you are trying to translate word by word as it is said in Spanish. However, the second "for it" becomes redundant as you have already etablished it in the previous sentence.
Embarrassed or shy? I would still choose shy as it is closer to what a female's feelings would be in this instance.
Embarrassment is a feeling that comes as a result of an action.
I have found that pena is used in Latin America to mean shyness, or sadness.
N'est pas?
Last edited by kellymellars; 04-10-2008 at 11:46 AM.
mmm, I wouldnīt say pena
"pena" is when you feel sorry for something, yes, you feel sad... itīs not this emotion here...
When I lived in Venezuela, pena was used to mean to be shy about doing something, as in:
Me da pena pedirle el dinero.
In Peru, however, pena is also used to demonstrate sadness:
Me dio mucha pena escuchar lo de tu hermano.
You could use embarrassed and everybody would understand what you mean, but the feeling that produces the awkwardness about doing something is shyness.
Look at it the other way round; the opposite of shyness is boldness. Because you are bold you do things. If you are shy you don't.
I think that the person writing the email means shy rather than sad. But that is just my opinion.
Que piensas?
Last edited by kellymellars; 04-10-2008 at 12:22 PM.
Hello Kelly!vicente,
That is true if you are trying to translate word by word as it is said in Spanish. However, the second "for it" becomes redundant as you have already etablished it in the previous sentence.
Embarrassed or shy? I would still choose shy as it is closer to what a female's feelings would be in this instance.
Embarrassment is a feeling that comes as a result of an action.
I have found that pena is used in Latin America to mean shyness, or sadness.
N'est pas?
If you read your and analaura's translations of this line: "I don't know if I did the right thing by not asking him for his phone number, and waiting for him to ask either Ricky or me for it." it sounds like he would be asking them for his own phone number which does not capture the complete context of what she is saying and after all, that's what we are trying to do. Maybe in Spanish that would sound sensible but not in English.
That's why I inserted the "for mine"
"I don't know if I did the right thing by not asking him for his phone number, and waiting for him to ask either Ricky or me (for mine). I know he has already asked Rickyfor it, but I wasembarrassed, you know.."
And certainly you could omit the "for it" in my translation but in the U.S. most people would write it that way.
As for embarrassed vs. shy, (pena also means embarrasment), again in the U.S., the word shy is seldom used in this context. Here a girl would say she was "too embarrassed to ask" a boy something, not that she was shy. Shy is a word used to describe a person, like a shy child. Another person might say she was too shy to ask.
Look at it this way, she would be embarrassed because she is a shy girl.
You are correct that either word would be understood so choosing the best one, I guess, depends on the country for which this English translation is intended. In that regard I believe my version would be better understood in the U.S.
By the way Kelly, it seems you have lived in various places. Where are you from?
vicente
vicente from the US,
Would you be very surprised if I told you I am also writing from the US?
I was born in Lima, Peru, but have lived most of my life in English speaking countries. 13 yrs in England and 13 yrs in US. I have also lived in Athens, Greece, and in Venezuela. In fact I am both a British citizen, and an America resident.
My husband is English, a writer, and fluent in spanish. In fact, after your critique of my last email I discussed the translation with him, and with a US writer. They both agreed that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the English in the translation.
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Wow, your email is quite long, but since you asked for it here goes my reply,
I think your translation is good, and so is mine.
Translating such a badly written email was amusing to say the least.
The poor girl must have been in such a state that she did not know who was asking who for telephone numbers.
Having said that let the battle commence...
I tend to agree with you about been too embarrassed to send the email.
But, let's have a look at the email:
As I said before the email is not well written in Spanish. It is ambiguous, so I am not surprised that there is more than one opinion in the English translation.
The email literally means ... I don't know if I did the right thing by not asking him for his phone number, and waiting for him to ask Rick or me for it.
I don't care which way you look at it this is what the English translation for the text is. That's perhaps why Laura and I have translated it that way.
whose phone number ?
1. Alex is obviously not going to ask for his own phone number. Although by the way cfletcher8's friend writes you could think that Alex is, because that is what she is saying literally.
2. Alex could ask for the friend's phone number, or
3. Alex could ask for Rick's phone number
Now, if you want to take the liberty to edit it according to what you think she might have said, that's OK. I assume that's why you added your opinion in brackets.
I don't want to go that way as that would only be presumption, since there are two or even three possible answers. And although I have a strong idea that she means her own phone number, I can not say for certain.
And just for the sake of an argument I could even conclude from what she wrote that Alex has v. bad memory and he does not remember his own phone number. Hey Alex could be over 55 yrs old! She could even be saying "I don't know if I did the right thing by not asking Alex for his phone number (as he doesn't remember it, anyways) and waiting for him to ask Rick or me for it (as he doesn't remember it). I know he has already asked Rick, but I was very sad, you know (that he could not even remember his own phone number)
Far fetched? perhaps, but by the unclear way she wrote she left us open to many conclusions.
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You said:
In that regard I believe my version would be better understood in the U.S.
I say:
Shall we take a vote?
I did not agree with the 'American Idol's elimination of Michael Johns
My favourites are: David Archuleta, Carly Smythson, and Jason Castro, which are yours?
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