Tienen el valor o les vale

English translation: Are you brave enough, or you just do not care

17:32 May 13, 2015
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Spanish term or phrase: Tienen el valor o les vale
Someone is writing a complaint letter to a school Principal, and uses this phrase as a header of each page. The author is probably Mexican, and I can see that it´s a phrase used on TV, but cannot figure out what it really means, let alone how to find an equivalent in English.
Any help will be most appreciated.
Susie Rawson
Argentina
English translation:Are you brave enough, or you just do not care
Explanation:
Basically it is a play of words...
Valor means in one sense value and in another valor or bravery.

"Les vale"... is a somewhat vulgar phrase "les vale madre" or " me vale madre".... meaning in a vulgar sense they/I do not care about anything....

So the meaning to me is Are you brave enough, or you just do not care.
Selected response from:

José J. Martínez
United States
Local time: 13:07
Grading comment
Gracias José.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1Are you brave enough, or you just do not care
José J. Martínez
4Are they brave enough or do they not care
Luke Mersh
4Is this important to you , or not?
Yvonne Gallagher
3Are they worth it or not
David Hollywood


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Are you brave enough, or you just do not care


Explanation:
Basically it is a play of words...
Valor means in one sense value and in another valor or bravery.

"Les vale"... is a somewhat vulgar phrase "les vale madre" or " me vale madre".... meaning in a vulgar sense they/I do not care about anything....

So the meaning to me is Are you brave enough, or you just do not care.

José J. Martínez
United States
Local time: 13:07
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Gracias José.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Karen Dinicola: Yes, this is a Televisa slogan promoting universal values. Another option might be, "Do you have values, or don't you care?"
35 mins
  -> gracias
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8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Are they brave enough or do they not care


Explanation:
Tienen= 3rd person plural--> ellos.

Luke Mersh
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:07
Works in field
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Monica Colangelo: "tienen" is also second person plural across the Americas. We do not use "vosotros" but "ustedes" (son, van, fueron, verán, etc.)
6 mins

neutral  José J. Martínez: this is a Mexican phrase
32 mins
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Are they worth it or not


Explanation:
my ideas

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Note added at 7 hrs (2015-05-14 01:01:46 GMT)
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don't think it has anything to do with bravery

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Note added at 8 hrs (2015-05-14 02:21:27 GMT)
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Do they make the grade?

more colloquial

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Note added at 8 hrs (2015-05-14 02:23:44 GMT)
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covers bravery and quality

David Hollywood
Local time: 17:07
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 190
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15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Is this important to you , or not?


Explanation:
it has to look like English and I don't think it's to do with "bravery" here but the value or weight (importance) being put on it.

I also think someone writing to the school is not going to use anything vulgar (like give a shit/give a damn).

Some other possibilities (among many)

Are you just going to close your eyes to all this (and ignore it/hope it goes away)?

Do you really care nothing at all about this?

So, do you care about this (at all) or not?

So, are you going to do anything at all about this?

Is this important to you or do you just not care (at all)?

Does this carry no weight at all for you?

What are you planning to do about this?

Do you place any importance on this, or not care at all about it?


Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 21:07
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 19
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