Más oraciones... (Ejercicio 6-2)

[laepelba]

Another exercise in my current workbook. These sentences were given in English and I needed to translate to Spanish. The sentences complete a little story about something someone used to do on Sundays, and something that happened on one particular Sunday. I will give (1) the original English sentence, (2) my first attempt at translation, (3) their translated sentence from the answers section in the back of the book, and (4) my question about the correction to my translation.

Exercise #1:
Original English: Sunday was my favorite day of the week. I would wake up late and read the newspaper in bed.
My first attempt at translation: El domingo era mi día favorito de la semana. Me despertaba tarde y leía el periódico en cama.
Their "correct" sentence: El domingo era mi día favorito. Me levantaba tarde y leía el periódico en la cama.
My questions:
*Why levantarse instead of despertarse? I thought that the first means to get up and the latter means to wake up. Their original English says "wake up". ??
*Why did they eliminate the phrase "de la semana"?
*Will someone please explain to me why it's "en la cama" instead of "en cama"? Thanks!

Exercise #3: (NOTE: Sentence #2 references ONE particular Sunday, thus the use of the preterit.)
Original English: I got up early, got dressed quickly, and left to ride my bike around the neighborhood.
My first attempt at translation: Me levanté temprano, me vestí rápidamente, y salí para andar mi bicicleta acerca del parrio.
Their "correct" sentence: Me levanté temprano, me vestí rápidamente y salí a montar mi bicicleta por el barrio.
My question:
*Admittedly, I guessed at what word would correlate to "ride a bike", and the book didn't give any hints about that one. But "mandar" doesn't really seem to make sense to me. If anything, "manejar" would make more sense. Is "mandar" essentially the most common word used when saying "ride a bicycle"?

Exercise #4:
Original English: It was a beautiful morning. It was chilly, too.
My first attempt at translation: Era una mañana hermosa. Era frío también.
Their "correct" sentence: Era una mañana bonita. Hacía frío también.
My question:
*Are "hermosa" and "bonita" interchangeable in this context?

Exercise #6:
Original English: Two young women were jogging while a dog followed them.
My first attempt at translation: Dos mujeres jóvenes eran corriendo mientras un perro las siguió.
Their "correct" sentence: Dos mujeres jóvenes hacían jogging mientras un perro las seguía.
My questions:
*So, I figured that "correr" might not correspond well to "jogging". But who would have thought that "jogging" in English translates to "jogging" in Spanish. Surely there is a BETTER word?
*Why is the verb "hacer" when referring to said "jogging"?

Exercise #7:
Original English: An older gentleman exercised in the park and two children played.
My first attempt at translation: Un hombre más viejo ejercitaba en el parque y dos niños jugaban.
Their "correct" sentence: Un señor mayor hacía ejercicio en el parque y dos niños jugaban.
My questions:
*"Un hombre más viejo..." and "un señor mayor..." - are they interchangeable?
*Same question about the use of the verb "hacer" with the idea of exercise as I asked in #6.

Exercise #8:
Original English: Suddenly, so much activity made me feel tired.
My first attempt at translation: De pronto, tan mucha actividad me hizo sentir cansada.
Their "correct" sentence: De repente, tanta actividad me hizo sentir cansada.
My question:
*Are "de pronto" and "de repente" interchangeable in this context?

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Another exercise in my current workbook. These sentences were given in English and I needed to translate to Spanish. The sentences complete a little story about something someone used to do on Sundays, and something that happened on one particular Sunday. I will give (1) the original English sentence, (2) my first attempt at translation, (3) their translated sentence from the answers section in the back of the book, and (4) my question about the correction to my translation.

Exercise #1:
Original English: Sunday was my favorite day of the week. I would wake up late and read the newspaper in bed.
My first attempt at translation: El domingo era mi día favorito de la semana. Me despertaba tarde y leía el periódico en cama.
Their "correct" sentence: El domingo era mi día favorito. Me levantaba tarde y leía el periódico en la cama.
My questions:
*Why levantarse instead of despertarse? I thought that the first means to get up and the latter means to wake up. Their original English says "wake up". ?? Those are the wonders of translating vs interpreting.
*Why did they eliminate the phrase "de la semana"? Think, could you eliminate "of the week" in the English version? In Spanish too.
*Will someone please explain to me why it's "en la cama" instead of "en cama"? Thanks! Either is used, but I guess "en cama" is better.

Exercise #3: (NOTE: Sentence #2 references ONE particular Sunday, thus the use of the preterit.)
Original English: I got up early, got dressed quickly, and left to ride my bike around the neighborhood.
My first attempt at translation: Me levanté temprano, me vestí rápidamente, y salí para andar en mi bicicleta acerca alrededor del barrio.
Their "correct" sentence: Me levanté temprano, me vestí rápidamente y salí a montar mi bicicleta por el barrio.
My question:
*Admittedly, I guessed at what word would correlate to "ride a bike", and the book didn't give any hints about that one. But "mandar" doesn't really seem to make sense to me. If anything, "manejar" would make more sense. Is "mandar" essentially the most common word used when saying "ride a bicycle"? There is no "mandar" in there. As for montar is all about regionalism.

Exercise #4:
Original English: It was a beautiful morning. It was chilly, too.
My first attempt at translation: Era una mañana hermosa. Era Estaba/hacía frío también.
Their "correct" sentence: Era una mañana bonita. Hacía frío también.
My question:
*Are "hermosa" and "bonita" interchangeable in this context? Yes

Exercise #6:
Original English: Two young women were jogging while a dog followed them.
My first attempt at translation: Dos mujeres jóvenes eran corriendo mientras un perro las siguió.
Their "correct" sentence: Dos mujeres jóvenes hacían jogging mientras un perro las seguía.
My questions:
*So, I figured that "correr" might not correspond well to "jogging". But who would have thought that "jogging" in English translates to "jogging" in Spanish. Surely there is a BETTER word?
*Why is the verb "hacer" when referring to said "jogging"? It refers to the activity...

Dos jovencitas trotaban mientras un perro las seguía

Exercise #7:
Original English: An older gentleman exercised in the park and two children played.
My first attempt at translation: Un hombre más viejo ejercitaba en el parque y dos niños jugaban.
Their "correct" sentence: Un señor mayor hacía ejercicio en el parque y dos niños jugaban.
My questions:
*"Un hombre más viejo..." and "un señor mayor..." - are they interchangeable? I will leave this to Angelica.
*Same question about the use of the verb "hacer" with the idea of exercise as I asked in #6. hacer ejercicios and ejercitar is the same thing. (in general, I guess it would depend on contex)

Exercise #8:
Original English: Suddenly, so much activity made me feel tired.
My first attempt at translation: De pronto, tan mucha actividad me hizo sentir cansada.
Their "correct" sentence: De repente, tanta actividad me hizo sentir cansada.
My question:
*Are "de pronto" and "de repente" interchangeable in this context? Yes, and súbitamente, as well. (súbito)

You know I hate, don't you?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Original English: Sunday was my favorite day of the week. I would wake up late and read the newspaper in bed.
My first attempt at translation: El domingo era mi día favorito de la semana. Me despertaba tarde y leía el periódico en cama.
Their "correct" sentence: El domingo era mi día favorito. Me levantaba tarde y leía el periódico en la cama.
My questions:
*Why levantarse instead of despertarse? I thought that the first means to get up and the latter means to wake up. Their original English says "wake up". ??

I too would be grateful for an explanation here. To me, levantarse is definitely illogical - she did NOT get up, because she stayed in bed and read the newspaper! And she did not get up to fetch the newspaper because the butler brought it in with the breakfast tray. So there.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by chileno

You know I hate, don't you?

What is it that you hate? (You need a direct object for that one, right? )

Originally Posted by chileno

Exercise #1:
Original English: Sunday was my favorite day of the week. I would wake up late and read the newspaper in bed.
My first attempt at translation: El domingo era mi día favorito de la semana. Me despertaba tarde y leía el periódico en cama.
Their "correct" sentence: El domingo era mi día favorito. Me levantaba tarde y leía el periódico en la cama.
My questions:
*Why levantarse instead of despertarse? I thought that the first means to get up and the latter means to wake up. Their original English says "wake up". ?? Those are the wonders of translating vs interpreting.
So, please help me to understand the differences in usage of those two terms....
*Why did they eliminate the phrase "de la semana"? Think, could you eliminate "of the week" in the English version? In Spanish too.
I suppose, but I would probably never say "my favorite day" without "of the week"....
*Will someone please explain to me why it's "en la cama" instead of "en cama"? Thanks! Either is used, but I guess "en cama" is better.

Exercise #3: (NOTE: Sentence #2 references ONE particular Sunday, thus the use of the preterit.)
Original English: I got up early, got dressed quickly, and left to ride my bike around the neighborhood.
My first attempt at translation: Me levanté temprano, me vestí rápidamente, y salí para andar en mi bicicleta acerca alrededor del barrio. So my translation using "andar" was okay?
Their "correct" sentence: Me levanté temprano, me vestí rápidamente y salí a montar mi bicicleta por el barrio. I typed this exactly as they have it in the answers in the back of the book. What is wrong () with it?
My question:
*Admittedly, I guessed at what word would correlate to "ride a bike", and the book didn't give any hints about that one. But "mandar" doesn't really seem to make sense to me. If anything, "manejar" would make more sense. Is "mandar" essentially the most common word used when saying "ride a bicycle"? There is no "mandar" in there. As for montar is all about regionalism. I meant "montar" instead of "mandar". But if you say that "andar" is okay, too, then that's the answer to my question.

Exercise #4:
Original English: It was a beautiful morning. It was chilly, too.
My first attempt at translation: Era una mañana hermosa. Era Estaba/hacía frío también. Yeah - this was my sentence before correcting it....
Their "correct" sentence: Era una mañana bonita. Hacía frío también.
My question:
*Are "hermosa" and "bonita" interchangeable in this context? Yes

Exercise #6:
Original English: Two young women were jogging while a dog followed them.
My first attempt at translation: Dos mujeres jóvenes eran corriendo mientras un perro las siguió.
Their "correct" sentence: Dos mujeres jóvenes hacían jogging mientras un perro las seguía.
My questions:
*So, I figured that "correr" might not correspond well to "jogging". But who would have thought that "jogging" in English translates to "jogging" in Spanish. Surely there is a BETTER word? Dos jovencitas trotaban mientras un perro las seguía "Jovencitas"? Would that not mean teenagers or something? Thanks for the word "trotaban" - much better than imagining that Spanish speakers say "jogging"...
*Why is the verb "hacer" when referring to said "jogging"? It refers to the activity... Nope - I still don't understand....


Exercise #7:
Original English: An older gentleman exercised in the park and two children played.
My first attempt at translation: Un hombre más viejo ejercitaba en el parque y dos niños jugaban.
Their "correct" sentence: Un señor mayor hacía ejercicio en el parque y dos niños jugaban.
My questions:
*"Un hombre más viejo..." and "un señor mayor..." - are they interchangeable? I will leave this to Angelica. Oh, Angelica....
*Same question about the use of the verb "hacer" with the idea of exercise as I asked in #6. hacer ejercicios and ejercitar is the same thing. (in general, I guess it would depend on contex)

Exercise #8:
Original English: Suddenly, so much activity made me feel tired.
My first attempt at translation: De pronto, tan mucha actividad me hizo sentir cansada.
Their "correct" sentence: De repente, tanta actividad me hizo sentir cansada. But I wrote "tanta" when I typed it. Didn't I??
My question:
*Are "de pronto" and "de repente" interchangeable in this context? Yes, and súbitamente, as well. (súbito)

Thanks for your answers, Hernán! I'll keep chasing the things I still don't get....

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Perikles

I too would be grateful for an explanation here. To me, levantarse is definitely illogical - she did NOT get up, because she stayed in bed and read the newspaper! And she did not get up to fetch the newspaper because the butler brought it in with the breakfast tray. So there.

Perikles - you are so cool!!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I'll add a couple of comments, and the assignment Hernán just gave me:


1) Levantarse/despertarse: Ok. It's plain wrong, but they're often used as synonyms.
So keep your own answer. If it says "wake up", use "despertarse".
They erased "de la semana" for some unknown reason. If it's a day, it must be in the week in both languages, I guess.
"En cama" is generally used for someone who's sick and can't get up.
"En la cama" is used for a more "ephemeral" situation.

3) Mandar/montar confusion has been clarified by Hernán.
But: "Salí para andar en mi bicicleta" would have been correct.
Btw, "manejar" is used for motors: Manejar un coche, una motocicleta, un camión.

4) Mostly. We use "bonita" much more often than you use "pretty".

6) The way foreign words live in local languages has its own mystery.
As Hernán said, "trotar" is a better verb, but I think newer generations won't understand.
"Correr" is a sport by itself, but a dog was following them, so the sentence had to be clear enough to show that they were running for sport and with the dog and not that they were running because the dog was following them.
"Hacer un deporte"/"hacer (un) ejercicio" is the standard construction. "Hacer jogging", "hacer pesas", "hacer kick-boxing". But never "hacer correr".

7) NO! They are definitely not interchangeable.
"Más viejo" is a disrespectful expression.
"Una persona mayor" is what you have to say.
"Un hombre mayor" = "un señor mayor" ("señor" adds more respect)
Also to be careful with "anciano", which is now considered politically incorrect, and one has to say "adulto mayor".

8) Yes.
Btw, you did type "tanta" in the correction but used "tan mucha" in your own sentence, and those words don't fit together.

[laepelba]

Thanks, Malila!!