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Out will your strong-willed teenager

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College 48
March 21, 2012, 11:33 AM
how can i say this in spanish out will your strong willed teenager

Rusty
March 21, 2012, 12:27 PM
How can I say this in Spanish?
"Out will your strong-willed teenager."

I corrected the English to set the stage for a better translation.

The word 'strong-willed' modifies 'teenager', so it acts like an adjective (even though its components are an adjective and a noun). That's why it needs to be hyphenated.

The rest of the corrections were spelling and punctuation problems.


As an adjective, 'strong-willed' can be translated as:
tenaz
tozudo
terco
porfiado
de convicciones férreas
mucha fuerza de voluntad
Some of these have negative connotations. Some do not. Which sense of the adjective is being used in your sentence?

'Teenager' is generally 'adolescente'.

'Out will' is not a common or standard phrase, but I suppose it means to take on a greater will or have a stronger will than another. Is that the meaning you understand?
If so, it's a verb. It can be translated as:
superar
sobrepujar
sobresalir
Each of these have slightly different meanings and we'll need to know more about the intended meaning of your sentence before we can choose. There may even be better choices once we get an idea what you are trying to say.

aleCcowaN
March 21, 2012, 05:22 PM
There's no exact translation. One could try: "Cómo imponerse a un hijo adolescente de fuerte temperamento", but it depends heavily on the context.

wrholt
March 21, 2012, 07:42 PM
Adding to what Rusty and aleC have said: I agree with Rusty that "out will" is neither common nor standard. However, it fits the pattern of several other verbs such as "outdo", "outrun", "outsell", and "outrival", all of which mean to do something better in some way than someone or something else.

micho
March 22, 2012, 10:10 AM
¿ ¡Imponte al terco de tu hijo adolescente! ?

poli
March 22, 2012, 08:29 PM
¿ ¡Imponte al terco de tu hijo adolescente! ?
Sí, pero out will significa superar. Entonces, tal vez, puede decir: superar la tercquedad de su hijo adolescente.

aleCcowaN
March 23, 2012, 01:20 AM
imponer.
...

9. prnl. Dicho de una persona: Hacer valer su autoridad o poderío.
10. prnl. Dicho de una cosa: Hacerse necesaria, ser imprescindible. Se impone salir pronto.
11. prnl. En certámenes deportivos, ganar, vencer, superar.
12. prnl. Predominar, aventajar.

Source: DRAE
These ones are the parts applicable to the example, depending on context.

Superar may be a practical translation in some cases:

Corny Collins: -"It is my ... obligation ... to announce that Amber von Tussle ..."
Tracy Turnblad: -"Is about to get out-danced"
Corny Collins: - "Tracy Turnblad!!!"

From Hairspray (2007)while it'd be a poor translation in other cases, like Nigel Litgow remarks in So You Think You Can Dance that can be "superar" or "opacar" depending of how much out-dance was there and how they looked the outdanced people.

This out-(verb) form as a language element is not easy to match in Spanish, like in this praise of late Michael Jackson:

"Michael rose to the top, he outsang his cynics, he outdanced his doubters, he outperformed the pessimists. Every time he got knocked down he got back up. Every time you counted him out he came back in."

My try: "Michael se elevó hasta la cima; acalló a sus detractores con el brillo de su canto; su danza superó las expectativas de quienes de él dudaban; sorprendió a los pesimistas con su calidad de estrella. Cada vez que lo tumbaron, se puso de pie. Cada vez que lo dieron por ido, regresó."