Dar de baja/alta

[Tyrn]

Hi,

Looks like both expressions mean more or less the same. Besides, dar de alta means the opposite things at the same time, like enlist and discharge.

Also I got a vague suspicion that dar de alta is never used with inanimate objects, but my primary feeling is deep confusion

[Rusty]

Enlist and discharge are antonyms in English, just as dar de baja and dar de alta can be.
I've never encountered a case when these two verbal locutions mean the same thing.

They can mean different things, according to the context, but they never mean the same thing.

Perhaps you'd like to cite some examples where you think these terms mean more or less the same thing.

[Tyrn]

https://context.reverso.net/traducci...es/dar+de+alta

I hope you'll see the same sentences I do.

I suppose the useful commentary would be "dar de alta can never be this or that; dar de baja can never be ..."

[Rusty]

Remember first that English verbs can have more than one meaning, depending on the context. This also happens in Spanish. The English and Spanish meanings may not coincide at all.

In a job context, 'dar de alta' means that your boss has given you a leave of absence (or has waived you from working for a time) so that you can attend to a medical need.
The staff at a hospital or doctor's office will use the exact same verbal locution when they let you return to your normal workload.
In both of these cases, you're being dismissed, but can return to what you were doing.

If you are fired from your job (also said: dismissed, let go, axed, canned, sacked, booted out, pink-slipped, etc.), that is said differently ('despedir a' or 'echar a'), because you can't return to what you were doing.

In a job context, 'dar de baja' means that your position is no longer necessary or that you were let go because there is no more work for you to do.

'Dar de alta' may mean 'register', when talking about receiving goods, or 'enter/input (add)', information-technology-wise.

'Dar de alta' could mean 'join' (a club), 'register' (make an account), or 'subscribe'. Utilities-wise, it can mean 'turn on', 'switch on', or 'activate'.

Conversely, 'dar de baja' can mean 'turn off', 'shut off', 'cut off', or 'deactivate', when talking about utilities.

It can mean 'unregister, deregister' or 'delete'.

As you can see, context is very important when trying to drum up an English equivalent.
The examples I saw on reverso are, for the most part, good translations (the third one I saw was not translated correctly).
Be careful, 'enlist' has more than one meaning in English (it doesn't always mean 'join'), so you can't just use 'dar de alta' in every case.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

As Rusty said, context is everything.

If you say "dar de alta" in a hospital, it means the patient can be sent home. If you use "dar de alta" in another context for example willing to be a part of a community, then it means to make that person a member.
With the examples you quoted:
- Es parte del proceso de dar de alta. -> Since there is no context here, it could mean you are annoyed having to apply or sign papers to be a part of a community, or that you can't go from hospital because the doctor didn't authorize your discharge.
- Pierce preguntó si podía dar de alta al triple A... -> No explicit context, but most likely the "guys were working on" a patient that doesn't need hospital care anymore.
- Dice que va a dar de alta la cooperación de... -> (Note: The sentence does need the article I inserted, and also I'm not sure that you can enlist someone's cooperation instead of the person themselves). Anyway, here, it's understood that we are welcoming Salim's cooperation, we're making him a formal part of the project. Same case about detective Bell.
- ...no nos obliga a dar de alta. -> It seems we're hiring new personnel, but our community is not the one for which this sentence uses "dar de alta". When a company hires new workers, they have to pay taxes for them, and we would have to set up their data in the government's lists. Yet, if it's only guards, we don't have to do that.

And as Rusty said too, "dar de baja" may have different meanings, but it's always the same idea: to remove from a list or community.
- Me di de baja de la universidad. -> I'm not attending college anymore.
- Vamos a dar de baja a este paciente -> This patient is no longer a client of the hospital. (Note it's not the same as a patient who is going home after being hospitalized, because he may still be a client there.)
- A Juan lo dieron de baja del ejército. -> Juan is no longer a soldier in the army.