No podían hacer otra cosa mejor

English translation: who had no better alternatives

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Spanish term or phrase:	No podían hacer otra cosa mejor
English translation:	who had no better alternatives
Entered by:	Eileen Brophy

21:15 Sep 12, 2009

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Journalism / War

Spanish term or phrase: No podían hacer otra cosa mejor

Hi, I'm having trouble translating the the final bit of the following sentence, which refers to soldiers serving in the British and American armies in Iraq who aren't even born in these countries: "No se les puede calificar de mercenarios pero sí de peones de unos estados mayores y de unos gobiernos que han enviado a la guerra a los que no podían hacer otra cosa mejor en sus lugares de origen". At the moment I have "who couldn't do anything better in their birthplaces" but I think this sounds awful! Thank you so much for reading this!

Kerry Taylor KudoZ activity Questions: 54 (1 open) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 8 Spain
Local time: 23:36

who had no better alternatives

Explanation:
Another option

Selected response from:

Eileen Brophy
Spain
Local time: 23:36

Grading comment

Thank you very much!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +3

... who had nothing better to do ...

Rosa Paredes

4 +1

...who could not do better for themselves/progress in their...

Lydia De Jorge

who were not able to do something better

Patricia Rosas

who couldn't do anything better...

margaret caulfield

who had no better alternatives

Eileen Brophy

who could do nothing better

Emilio Schulder

(...a los que), so to speak, were born doomed, with nothing better to expect (from the beginning)...

delveneto

Who had no other/better opportunities/Whose countries of origin offered them no better opportunities

Edward Tully

Who had minimal life chances back home

Evans (X)

Answers

12 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

... who had nothing better to do ...

Explanation:
Enjoy your weekend.

Rosa Paredes
Canada
Local time: 17:36
Native speaker of:

English,

Spanish

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thank you so much for replying! Yes I had "nothing better to do" first but to my mind (and maybe I'm wrong) it doesn't capture the involuntary nature of the soldiers' position because it's so often used in a derogatory way or to describe laziness ("Have you nothing better to do?", "they had nothing better to do than sit around...", etc) I assume that here they can do nothing productive because of the society in which they live?

18 mins confidence:

who were not able to do something better

Explanation:
in their countries of origin.

As I understand it, it is saying that these people, not finding gainful employment at home, migrated and then enlisted in the armies in their destination countries because their work opportunities were so limited. The US military does not conscript people, so it is a choice, but one constrained by limited options.

Patricia Rosas
United States
Local time: 14:36
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12

22 mins confidence:

who couldn't do anything better...

Explanation:
.

margaret caulfield
Local time: 23:36
Native speaker of:

English,

Spanish

26 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

...who could not do better for themselves/progress in their...

Explanation:
sugg

Lydia De Jorge
United States
Local time: 16:36
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Spanish,

English
PRO pts in category: 12

38 mins confidence:

who had no better alternatives

Explanation:
Another option

Eileen Brophy
Spain
Local time: 23:36
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12

Grading comment

Thank you very much!

45 mins confidence:

who could do nothing better

Explanation:
similar to Margaret's version

Emilio Schulder
Chile
Local time: 17:36
Native speaker of:

English,

Spanish

1 hr confidence:

(...a los que), so to speak, were born doomed, with nothing better to expect (from the beginning)...

Explanation:
An out-of-the-usual alternative.

:-)

delveneto
United States
Local time: 17:36
Native speaker of:

Portuguese

13 hrs confidence:

Who had no other/better opportunities/Whose countries of origin offered them no better opportunities

Explanation:
another option!

Edward Tully
Local time: 23:36
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 33

20 hrs confidence:

Who had minimal life chances back home

Explanation:
another possibility

Evans (X)
Local time: 22:36
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

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No podían hacer otra cosa mejor

English translation: who had no better alternatives

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