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En un momento de trance callejero

English translation: As I walked lost in thought through the city

14:16 Dec 21, 2014
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
Spanish term or phrase: En un momento de trance callejero
A friend of mine would like to know how to translate the following sentence:

"En un momento de trance callejero, la polilla me destruyo"

My friend is a painter and she's thinking of adding this sentence in a painting. I don't have more details.

I thought of: " In a moment of street crisis, the moth killed me"

but I'm not too happy with my idea. What do you think?
Christophe Delaunay
France
Local time: 01:02
English translation:As I walked lost in thought through the city
Explanation:
As I walked lost in thought through the city,
the moth destroyed me, with no pity
--------------------------------
The moth got me as I was daydreaming in the street
--------------------------------
Lost in thought in the street, the moth got the best of me

...or any combination of the above
Selected response from:

George Rabel
Local time: 19:02
Grading comment
Thank you!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1In a moment of street trance
TravellingTrans
4 +1in the street lost in thought, / in an 'unaware of my surroundings' moment in the street
bcsantos
5In a moment of street extasy
Diego Sibilia
4In a stray trance; while daydreaming ;while lost in revery
Andrew Bramhall
4Frozen in urban rapture, the common moth shatters me.
Michael torhan (X)
3As I walked entranced
Anna Brown
3As I walked lost in thought through the city
George Rabel


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
In a stray trance; while daydreaming ;while lost in revery


Explanation:
I think the idea here is being unaware of what's going on in your surroundings; not an actual 'crisis' as such;

Andrew Bramhall
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:02
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 70

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  David Ronder: I think you mean 'reverie'
1 day 23 hrs
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16 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
In a moment of street trance


Explanation:
callejero means street, and the word trance being untranslated leaves it as trance
it's a term that exists in a lot of references
it's also a term in English which refers to quickly putting someone into a hypnotic state, often as a form of performance
you can search both trance callejero, and street trance



TravellingTrans
United States
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Gisela Bocco
1 min
  -> cheers
neutral  Andrew Bramhall: problem is though, it sounds too unidiomatic; "I was daydreaming on the street", sounds fine, but " street trance", even if mesmerised by someone or something, doesn't sound idiomatic to me somehow;
30 mins
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
in the street lost in thought, / in an 'unaware of my surroundings' moment in the street


Explanation:
2 other alternatives.

bcsantos
Gibraltar
Local time: 01:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 36

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Joel Schaefer: yes, lost in thought
6 hrs
  -> Thanks.
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
As I walked entranced


Explanation:
This is a more poetic translation of what your friend was saying. This might work better for art.

Anna Brown
United States
Local time: 16:02
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
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15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Frozen in urban rapture, the common moth shatters me.


Explanation:
It's what came to mind. Actually, your artist friend's caption reminds me of the style in which Joan Miró titled his works.

What I'm most used to seeing in captions like this is the use of the present tense to suggest movement in the painting or sculpture.

Michael torhan (X)
United States
Local time: 16:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  David Ronder: But who is frozen in urban rapture - the moth or the author? This looks like a confusingly dangled participle to me./Is it Art or is it a dangling modifier? And what's with the trellis? I thought we were translating not gardening.
1 day 8 hrs
  -> art is boring when explained precisely; this is purposeful and trellis on the image to disambiguate, or not//haha my android phone..was "relies"
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23 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
As I walked lost in thought through the city


Explanation:
As I walked lost in thought through the city,
the moth destroyed me, with no pity
--------------------------------
The moth got me as I was daydreaming in the street
--------------------------------
Lost in thought in the street, the moth got the best of me

...or any combination of the above

George Rabel
Local time: 19:02
Native speaker of: Spanish
PRO pts in category: 83
Grading comment
Thank you!
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1 day 42 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
In a moment of street extasy


Explanation:
An instant of street extasy

Diego Sibilia
Italy
Local time: 01:02
Native speaker of: Italian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  David Ronder: The correct spelling is 'ecstasy' and I don't see any indication in the context that this is an ecstatic trance
23 hrs
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