Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Spanish term or phrase:
podría ser un ciego por seguir viviendo...
English translation:
he might as well be blind, the way he was going on, continuing to live...
Added to glossary by
Bubo Coroman (X)
Feb 7, 2008 14:52
16 yrs ago
Spanish term
podría ser un ciego por seguir viviendo...
Spanish to English
Art/Literary
Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
It's from a speech on an exhibition of Fernand Leger.
TIA
Preocupado por lo que no tienen los otros, por las siluetas desesperadas y los ojos abiertos, expectantes, de la “pobre gente” que encuentra en el camino, piensa en los rastros que todos dejamos en nuestro paso por la vida. Un mundo, el suyo, fuerte e interior, que está muy ligado a las necesidades instintivas, esenciales... Los sentidos más primarios y sutiles lo llevan a pensar que **podría ser un ciego por seguir viviendo** a través de las manos y los olores.
TIA
Preocupado por lo que no tienen los otros, por las siluetas desesperadas y los ojos abiertos, expectantes, de la “pobre gente” que encuentra en el camino, piensa en los rastros que todos dejamos en nuestro paso por la vida. Un mundo, el suyo, fuerte e interior, que está muy ligado a las necesidades instintivas, esenciales... Los sentidos más primarios y sutiles lo llevan a pensar que **podría ser un ciego por seguir viviendo** a través de las manos y los olores.
Proposed translations
(English)
Change log
Feb 15, 2008 11:57: Bubo Coroman (X) Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
1 hr
Selected
refers to the senses of a) sight and b) touch+smell//possible allusion to artist's colour-blindness
I think it basically means that the artist lives through his sense of touch (hands) and smell, therefore he doesn't really use his vision.
A loose translation might be: "the artist might as well be blind, the way he was going on, continuing to live through his other senses of touch (the hands) and smell".
The allusion to the sense of touch (the hands) may refer to the artistic practice of painting in a darkened room. Here it is described in a text where Léger's name is mentioned:
if we’re to believe the artist’s own P.R., the canvases were painted "blind" inside a darkened room
http://www.observer.com/node/49979
The reference may also partly allude to the artist's colour blindness:
They quote artists such as Constable (1776-1837), Turner or
the cubist Fernand Leger (1881-1955) [4] and many others (though their disability is not actually demonstrated).
http://www.tarrega.com/colors/dades/paper_aic.pdf
A loose translation might be: "the artist might as well be blind, the way he was going on, continuing to live through his other senses of touch (the hands) and smell".
The allusion to the sense of touch (the hands) may refer to the artistic practice of painting in a darkened room. Here it is described in a text where Léger's name is mentioned:
if we’re to believe the artist’s own P.R., the canvases were painted "blind" inside a darkened room
http://www.observer.com/node/49979
The reference may also partly allude to the artist's colour blindness:
They quote artists such as Constable (1776-1837), Turner or
the cubist Fernand Leger (1881-1955) [4] and many others (though their disability is not actually demonstrated).
http://www.tarrega.com/colors/dades/paper_aic.pdf
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Deborah, your answer really helped me to understand this...the key was in the color-blindness, I think, and painting in a darkened room. Thanks."
10 mins
María Anabella Rocchi
Argentina
Argentina
Native in Spanish
Argentina
Responsibility and proffesionalism.
Native in: Spanish 
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English
he might as well be blind just to live...
sólo una idea... suerte!!
18 mins
Robert Copeland
United States
United States
Native in Spanish
&
English
United States
Organized, Deadline-Oriented, Reliable
Native in: English , Spanish
Works in: Spanish to English, English to Spanish
Related KudoZ points
:
10
he could be a blind man just to live...
another option
+3
20 mins
...he could well become a blindman in order to live...
I think you could go many directions with this, but the basic meaning is he would give up sight in order to live through his other senses.
The most primal and subtle senses led him to think that he could well become a blindman in order to live though his hands and through odors.
or:
...that he would gladly go blind in order to live through touch and through smell.
The most primal and subtle senses led him to think that he could well become a blindman in order to live though his hands and through odors.
or:
...that he would gladly go blind in order to live through touch and through smell.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Marisa Raich
: Absolutetly!
13 mins
|
| agree |
Monica Corrigan (X)
32 mins
|
| agree |
Cecilia Welsh
: to live or to keep on living through his other senses...
6 hrs
|
+1
6 hrs
Sandra Rodriguez
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Native in Spanish
Specializes in field
Puerto Rico
Related KudoZ points
:
28
He could be blind and still go on living through his acute sense of touch and of smell.
It means these senses are so heightened in him, he might be able to do without sight.
8 hrs
he could be living blindly
por seguir viviendo makes me think that he contiues living, or simply put, living blindly. I recall hearing the phrase "living blindly" when people refer to others as living through their senses, or other stimuli from their surrounding environment. Also there is reference in the text to insticts, necesities, and primary senses; these would lead another to live blindly. At any rate, good luck!
12 hrs
Lydia De Jorge
United States
United States
Native in Spanish
&
English
Works in field
United States
Don't just say it, say it right!
Native in: Spanish , English
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English, English, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
64
he would not mind being blind just to continue living through...
es lo que entiendo
Discussion