Thread: Enjoying Life

Hi everybody!
I once translated "Enjoying Life" as "Disfrutando la vida"... An editor corrected me and said that it wasn't correct, he said the correct translation was: Cómo disfrutar la vida...or... Disfruta la vida...
I am not convinced of this... I would like to hear this from experts.
Can you help me please?
Thank you in advance,

The exact translation of that phrase is indeed Disfrutando la vida. Since you are not giving any context, it is not possible to try to figure out why he thought the phrases he provided were better.

Sometimes, the context forces you to make drastic changes in wording to suit the whole framework better. Titles of books or articles also require a different angle of looking at words, since they have to be catchy and convey ideas rather than words.

Regards,

Hi all,
I will have to agree with the editor on this one. The rule of thumb is that, in English, gerunds not expressing a continuous action in the present should not be translated as such in Spanish - "Cómo disfrutar la vida o "Disfrutar de la vida", etc. are the correct translations in this case.

Hope it helps!

I don't see how you got that since no contextual clues are given as to infer that it isn't a continuous action after all. I do not like to make assumptions that cannot be supported by any other contextual information.

Hi Cotty and mvictoria,
Thank you for your comments. The content of the book infers that the actions suggested in it should be taken in a continuous effort in every-day life. So, "Disfrutando la vida" would be alright.

Thinking about Cotty's comment: "[words] have to be catchy and convey ideas rather than words" if I see the title "Disfrutando la vida" it makes me think about simply getting an insight which will help me get the best in life in order to simply enjoy it... If I see "Cómo disfrutar la vida", it instantly makes me think about rules which maybe difficult to follow... Besides that, I think that if the author would have meant it, he would have called his book "How to enjoy life". In this case the translation would have undoubtedly been "Cómo disfrutar la vida"...

I think that "Disfrutar la vida" would be a suitable option too.

Maybe someone else could give his/her opinion, as with these two opposite answers the dilemma remains still the same... ... doesn't it?

Thank you again,

Hahaha Shiny, you are definitely back to square one