...que quién mandaba,

English translation: and I was like, who\'s in charge here, what\'s going on, where\'s the adult here?

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Spanish term or phrase:	...que quién mandaba,
English translation:	and I was like, who\'s in charge here, what\'s going on, where\'s the adult here?
Entered by:	Teressa Weaver

01:31 Jun 9, 2017

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / Idiomatic Usage

Spanish term or phrase: ...que quién mandaba,

This is a witness interview at a police station. The speaker is a long-term resident in California, probably from Mexico.
She is talking about a kid hitting a little girl.

No, él le decía “hey, shut up, shut up, stupid shut up” y la niña... Y yo decía que quién mandaba, entonces se oyó cuando él, como si le pegara no sé si con un zapato, no sé si con un cable; porque se oyó como cuando chicotea y le pega, ya cuando ta-ta, así duro, ...

And I said ????, then you could hear when he, like if he was hitting her I don't know if with a shoe or a cord; because you could hear like whipping and he hits her, like so "ta-ta", that hard, --- this is on video and she strikes the table as she says "ta-ta".

Teressa Weaver KudoZ activity Questions: 47 (none open) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 38
Local time: 04:38

and I was like, who's in charge here, what's going on, where's the adult here?

Explanation:
I'm pretty sure it's her own reported speech or thoughts, i.e., her reaction to the situation.

Selected response from:

12316323 (X)
Local time: 04:38

Grading comment

This is perfect. Thank you.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +5

and I was like, who's in charge here, what's going on, where's the adult here?

12316323 (X)

to the guy asking the questions

David Hollywood

who says?

Heidi Newby-Rose

Discussion entries: 5

Charles Davis

Spain

decía

09:12 Jun 9, 2017

As John says, this is a rhetorical question. To put it another way, "decía" here means "was thinking" rather than "was saying". This use of "decir" is very common when describing one's reaction to a situation, and in Spain it's usually in the historical present: "Y yo digo: 'pero ¿esto qué es?'". for example, meaning "And I was thinking 'what the hell's going on here?'". This is why "I was like" seems to me just right here.

"I was like" in this sense is extremely common nowadays among British speakers under the age of about 50, but it's only been common in UK English for about 25 years or so.

"Estaba como que" as a calque of "I was like" in this sense is not, to my knowledge, used in Spain, but it does seem to be used quite regularly in American Spanish. In Spain, "estaba como que" is commonly used with the same meaning as "estaba como si", and is sometimes followed by the indicative rather than the subjunctive.

12316323 (X)

03:55 Jun 9, 2017

The oh-so-common (in real life, not textbooks), grammatically questionable "estaba como que..." rings in my ears as I read this.

The asker shared in a comment that she was hearing all of this through an apartment wall (wish it had been shared at the beginning). So, I can easily imagine someone getting worried as they realize that a child is hurting another child, and thinking, where are the adults? Is she seriously being hurt? Do I step in? Do I call 911? It looks like she may have.

I understand it as a literal and serious question-- Where are the parental authorities? Is anyone going to step in and stop this boy?

JohnMcDove

United States

Accent over the "quién" as it has an interrogative

03:48 Jun 9, 2017

value. "Y yo decía: ¿quién mandaba (aquí)?" It's like a rhetorical question, if you wish. Y yo decía que "who do you think is boss here?". At any rate, it would be very good to listen to the audio... :-)

Teressa Weaver

ASKER

01:53 Jun 9, 2017

It is transcribed from a video as quién, with the accent. But one can't see accents when listening, so it would be the transcriptionist's choice to include the accent.

Reed James

Chile

Accent or no accent

01:51 Jun 9, 2017

Is it quien or quién. If it's quién, then how do we know she knows who she's talking about?

Answers

5 mins confidence:

to the guy asking the questions

Explanation:
in this context

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 mins (2017-06-09 01:38:08 GMT)
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I would say this fits in line with the register required

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 16 mins (2017-06-09 01:47:48 GMT)
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or just: and I said to him

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Note added at 18 mins (2017-06-09 01:49:53 GMT)
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but better to include some level of subserviance here

David Hollywood
Local time: 06:38
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 190

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thank you, this is helpful.

23 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

and I was like, who's in charge here, what's going on, where's the adult here?

Explanation:
I'm pretty sure it's her own reported speech or thoughts, i.e., her reaction to the situation.

12316323 (X)
Local time: 04:38
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

This is perfect. Thank you.

Notes to answerer

Asker: I like this. Makes sense.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Marcelo González: My pleasure. And the feeling is definitely mutual :-) >That's my understanding as well.

6 mins

-> Thanks, Marcelo. My impression is that you definitely have an "ear" for Spanish and colloquial speech patterns (which tend to be ungrammatical and intuitive- can be hard to explain). So, I always value your insights :)

agree

JohnMcDove: Fully agree with "who's in charge here". The girl uses "indirect" style. Literally, "...and I was like THAT who's in charge here"... The "THAT", so unnatural in English, is used in Spanish, instead of the colon.

1 hr

-> Thank you, John. I don't have enough space to respond to you here like I'd like, so I'm going to write it in the discussion space.

agree

neilmac

4 hrs

-> Thanks, Neil.

agree

franglish

6 hrs

-> Thank you.

agree

Charles Davis: Normal colloquial Spanish, not open to any other reading, in my opinion. Nonsensical if "quien" is not interrogative. And "I was like, who's in charge here?" is an ideal colloquial equivalent. NB speaker hears attack: children are not in her presence.

6 hrs

-> Thanks, Charles, for your thoughtful explanations. Completely agree.

2 hrs confidence:

who says?

Explanation:
It seems she is talking to the person who is saying "shut up" and challenging him on who gets to tell the girl to shut up.

Example sentence(s):

and I said "who says?"

Heidi Newby-Rose
South Africa
Local time: 11:38
Native speaker of:

Afrikaans,

English

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...que quién mandaba,

English translation: and I was like, who\'s in charge here, what\'s going on, where\'s the adult here?

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...que quién mandaba,

English translation: and I was like, who\'s in charge here, what\'s going on, where\'s the adult here?

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