This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
poco interesantes
porton levadizo
This question was closed without grading. Reason: Answer found elsewhere
Oct 14, 2008 17:44
15 yrs ago
Spanish term

See phrase below

Spanish to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
From the biography of a Panamanian boxer. He's had to marry a girl he spent the night with, and she's insanely jealous of his female fans, who often approach him on the street. She gets into fights with them, and also scratches, punches and insults her husband, the boxer.

Siempre me decía que yo tenía la culpa, por ser muy coqueto and le seguía la correinte a esas coquetonas, que solo *tenían la mente carcomida por el germen de la naturaleza, del espacio.*

Okay, it's the last part, starting with "tenían" that has me perplexed...

Any ideas?
Proposed translations (English)
5 +1 who just had their minds corroded by the nature and space germ
3 +2 female territoriality (see below)
5 See sentence below. tenían = had
5 ..... whose minds were empty
3 whose minds had been polluted by nature and wide open spaces
3 whose minds, since the beginning of nature as we know it, were consumed by nothing but empty space.
2 whose minds had been eaten away by the seeds of nature, of space.

Discussion

Elizabeth Joy Pitt de Morales (asker) Oct 21, 2008:
Hi Cinnamon! I just stuck with my provisional translation: They were just following their empty-headed instincts.
Cinnamon Nolan Oct 20, 2008:
Hi, Elizabeth. Could you tell us what the answer you found was? And perhaps where you found it? Thanks.
Ricardo Galarza Oct 14, 2008:
I don't understand.
Ricardo Galarza Oct 14, 2008:
I'm not frustrated in any way, Kate; I'm sorry if it came across like that. As for my tone, read my comments more thoroughly and you’ll even find a “sincere apology” about it. I didn’t get one from you; and you did attack me personally, and in a way still
Kate Major Patience Oct 14, 2008:
Look, maybe you just don't understand how your tone sounded. I understand the point you made, but not why you used that tone. This section should not end up being a space for frustated "for God's sake" style commentaries. That's all.
Ricardo Galarza Oct 14, 2008:
I don't have to reread them to know that I don't insult people and that I'm not rude. And I don't think is fair for you to go around blaming people for things they did not do... talking about rudeness.
Elizabeth Joy Pitt de Morales (asker) Oct 14, 2008:
About this text This piece has been written with a lot more love than skill. Besides switching indiscriminately between first and third person, sometimes in the same sentence (creating a lot of ambiguity in the imperfect tense), one of its major characteristics is the author´s struggle between trying to sound "literary" and just telling the story in his own simple words...hence enigmatic sentences like the one in this kudoz consultation.
Kate Major Patience Oct 14, 2008:
Re-read your commetaries on your implied street smarts vs everyone else assumed college education. Leave your personal issues with other professionals ways of thinking/backgrounds at home. Thanks.
Ricardo Galarza Oct 14, 2008:
my comments as aggresive, I sincerely apologize. But don't call me rude and insulting because I know I'm not, and I wasn't in any part of my comments today.
Ricardo Galarza Oct 14, 2008:
I'm sorry, Kate, but I don't understand your accusation at all. And I do take offence when you blame me of something I did NOT do. Who did I "insult?" When did I do insult them? It is not like me to "insult"anyone, anywhere, not just here. If someone took
Kate Major Patience Oct 14, 2008:
Ricardo, again, please, I am trying to help you understand that there are better ways f getting your point across: there is no need to be so aggressive. By the way, it's "crack UP". Your point of view would be taken more seriously if you weren't rude.
Ricardo Galarza Oct 14, 2008:
talking nonsense, a set of words with no meaning whatsoever, that she would probably use with her girlfriends. You have think OUT of the translator bilingual-educated box. Not everybody goes to high school; and in those environs, I'd say most don't.
Cath St Clair (X) Oct 14, 2008:
That's a nice way around it, Elizabeth. And it could even be just what the author intended, but which of us really knows...?!
Kate Major Patience Oct 14, 2008:
those who have taken the time to post their answers are somehow, due to their college education, or whatever other reason, not capable of thinking outside the box. Your tone is out of order, to be frank. Please make your comments in a less aggresive way.
Elizabeth Joy Pitt de Morales (asker) Oct 14, 2008:
Provisional translation I have to send this in for editing, so I'm going to say "They were just following their empty-headed instincts" for now, and wait and see if anyone comes up with something better.
Kate Major Patience Oct 14, 2008:
Ricardo: there is absolutely no need to insult people, OK. You just get on with your thing, and if you want to make a comment that says "I really think it's about X rather than Y", then that is the way you should do it, rather than suggesting that
Ricardo Galarza Oct 14, 2008:
mind frame. She is the young girlfriend of a boxer, for God sakes. Most probably, she didn't attend middle school, and she doesn't know what a metaphor is, much less use one. Don't think of it with your college-educated reasoning. She is just
Ricardo Galarza Oct 14, 2008:
I think you guys are overintelectualizing here. Maybe some street smarts are needed to understand it. Don't look for a metaphor. She is not trying to use metaphor to mean territoriality, addiction to drugs or anything else. You have to set in her
Ricardo Galarza Oct 14, 2008:
Just for the record: "El germen de la naturaleza del espacio" don't mean anything at all. Just a silly talk. What makes it so funny is that he would put it in writing.
Margarita Ezquerra (Smart Translators, S.L.) Oct 14, 2008:
Creo que primero habría que descifrar lo que el autor pretende decir con esa frase. A mí me sugiere algo así como que las "fans" del susodicho se sentían totalmente seducidas/hechizadas por el ambiente y que tenían lavado el cerebro. No sé si voy muy mal
Elizabeth Joy Pitt de Morales (asker) Oct 14, 2008:
No and... Hi Kate! No, it should be "y le seguía la corriente...", yes, "tenían" refers to the flirtatious girls.
Kate Major Patience Oct 14, 2008:
Hi again Elizabeth. Does the "and" appear in the original sentence? "tenian" refers to the "coquetonas"...

Proposed translations

+1
21 mins

who just had their minds corroded by the nature and space germ

Your doc. so funny!! I'm cracking down here :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 25 mins (2008-10-14 18:09:35 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I'm mean, "cracking out," ha ha ha!! This guy is hilarious!
Note from asker:
He is pretty funny; I'm really enjoying this translation, despite the unusual language.
Peer comment(s):
agree Sandra Cravero
21 hrs
Something went wrong...
28 mins

whose minds had been polluted by nature and wide open spaces

You will need to play around with it, but this is roughly how I interpret it.
Something went wrong...
+2
25 mins

female territoriality (see below)

A shot in the dark: "...that their minds were rotten with animal urges and female territoriality."

I enjoy following the novel in episodes...


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 33 mins (2008-10-14 18:17:42 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

... those terrible flirts, whose minds were rotten with animal urges and female territoriality.
Note from asker:
Sounds to me like you're on the right track. I can't wait myself to see what happens next! What a life this man has led.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Ricardo Galarza : I think that's a reach. "El germen de la naturaleza del espacio" doesn't mean anything, much less territoriality. It's just a childish nonsense. There're absurd phrases like that in Spanish (mainly used by teenagers) which don't mean a thing but baloney.
23 mins
agree franglish : / your rendering makes sense, Domonique, though I'd maybe use 'devoured' rather than 'rotten'/sorry, I mean Dominique!
1 hr
that's very sweet of you, really. I appreciate it
agree De Novi
3 days 20 hrs
Something went wrong...
1 hr
Spanish term (edited): mente carcomida por el germen de la naturaleza

whose minds had been eaten away by the seeds of nature, of space.

Is it possible that the "seeds of nature, of space" could refer to drugs? Or to Mother Nature and the base human desires?

Remember that "germen" also means embryo, root, seed, origin...

"... ,whose minds had been eaten away/eroded/wasted/destroyed by the seeds of nature, of space."
Something went wrong...
3 hrs

See sentence below. tenían = had

En este caso según referido "tenían" se refiere al verbo "had". In the sentence below you will see a typical way of translating the complete sentence without losing context meaning.
Example sentence:

Was always told that I was to be blamed, because I was too charming and by persuing those flirtuous women, that had their brain washed by natures germ and outer space.

Something went wrong...
10 hrs

..... whose minds were empty

You cannot translate this literally, or cloes to the source text; it is better to 'interpret' the meaning of the sentence in order to maintain a good flow with the rest of the text.
Something went wrong...
1 day 21 hrs

whose minds, since the beginning of nature as we know it, were consumed by nothing but empty space.

basically, the ST is using a sophisticated way to say "Airheads".

could be,
"...teases, to whom nature had bestowed (granted/given) a head full of nothing but wasted space"
Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search