Translate to English please...

[Waitforme]

Hi All - could you please help translate.....

I have looked up what Encanta means – but I have discovered it can mean many things in different many contexts.

So I will try an explain the background/ situation first:


• I have a French acquaintance, lets call her Anne - she also speaks fluent Spanish (she used to live in South America).

• It was her birthday recently and so we wished her well for the day, especially as she was not happy with the current restrictions about not going out.

• A few days later it was my birthday and Anne messaged to wish me a happy birthday & Easter and wished me a good day.



• Later that evening I replied : Thank you Anne - like yours, it was a nice but also a very different birthday. Stay safe, look after yourself and have a Happy Easter!

• 2 days later - Anne sent the following message to me by mistake (I think she meant to send it to her Spanish friend, as I don't speak Spanish) -

Le encanta "Thank you Anne - like yours, it was a nice but also a very different birthday. Look after yourself, stay safe and have a Happy Easter!"



Can somebody please explain what you think Anne means as she is quoting my message to her friend.

What is Anne saying to her Spanish friend about my message to her?

In case it makes a difference - I am male.

I would appreciate all translations and comments please - thank you.

[Rusty]

'Le encanta' means 'likes'. The message that was liked appears in quotation marks.

[Waitforme]

'Le encanta' means 'likes'. The message that was liked appears in quotation marks.

Hi and thanks - but who do you think is liking the message in this case

[Rusty]

Anne liked/loved it, would be my guess. It would also be my guess that Anne was using Facebook, or some social media, and that she had selected Spanish as her viewing language. When she liked/loved the message, the media app placed the message in quotes and added 'le encanta'.

[Waitforme]

Anne liked/loved it, would be my guess.

Would that not have been written as 'Me encanta'

[Rusty]

You're correct to assume that, but the app developer has 'likes/loves' in English, and that translates as 'le encanta'. I don't view social media sites in Spanish, so can't be too certain, but if a friend likes/loves something I've sent to them, FB tells me that a friend 'likes/loves' the message they were sent.

[Waitforme]

Hi Rusty – firstly many thanks for your responses. I have a few more queries to try and get a better understanding – hope that’s ok.

My text to Anne and the text she sent by mistake to me were both via SMS texts.

So do you think she copied the words from Social Media into SMS and that’s how the quotes and wording ‘Le encanta’ originated from?

Also – I found this link http://www.visualmagnetic.com/html/fb-like-83-languages/

Which says Facebook uses 'Me gusta' for the like button in Spanish, based on that do you still think that a ‘liked’ comment would still possibly say ‘Le encanta’

Then I also thought – if Anne posted my message on SM – can she then like it herself and would she also get notification that she liked her own posted comment.

Hope you don’t mind me asking the – I am one of the few who don’t use facebook etc…so just want to try and understand more as the online translators were not much help with my example.

I hope all my comments above make some kind of sense to you and appreciate your help.

Thanks.

[Rusty]

Yes, 'Me gusta' is the wording used for the icon in FB (viewing it in Spanish). If a user presses this icon, they then have a couple of icons they can press, like 'thumbs up' and 'love'. A user that selects 'love' has essentially said, "Me encanta'."
What we're talking about is what a person likes/loves, however. After the selection has been made (after the icon has been pressed), the originator of the message will be notified, and the message will say that the receiver loves ('Le encanta') the message they received.

I don't know the answer to the question you've asked about SMS texts.

[Waitforme]

Yes, 'Me gusta' is the wording used for the icon in FB (viewing it in Spanish). If a user presses this icon, they then have a couple of icons they can press, like 'thumbs up' and 'love'. A user that selects 'love' has essentially said, "Me encanta'."
What we're talking about is what a person likes/loves, however. After the selection has been made (after the icon has been pressed), the originator of the message will be notified, and the message will say that the receiver loves ('Le encanta') the message they received.

I don't know the answer to the question you've asked about SMS texts.

Thanks –just to clarify – would that then mean that Anne may have posted my message on FB for example – and it was someone else who read it and liked it rather than Anne liking it.

[Rusty]

Perhaps. In FB, you see a little 'thumbs up' or 'loves' icon when someone has pressed the icons I mentioned. You don't see any message formulated like the one in your original post. So, I don't know the source of that message. It looks like it could be an SMS version of the text, though, and if so, it's a notification of sorts, since it is prefixed with 'Le encanta'. It would read that way whether it was Anne or not, who loved it. But, since you know this came from Anne (or so I suppose), it was she that loved it. She is a third-person. That's why the third-person indirect object pronoun 'le' appears in front of the message.

While addressing someone, in first-person, we say, "Me gusta/encanta el mensaje que me enviaste (the message you sent me)". But if you are being notified that someone said this, you would receive it in third-person form: "Le gusta/encanta el mensaje que le envió".

I believe you're are being notified. Anne isn't responding to the message. The notification was computer-generated, and third-person is the proper way to render a notification.
If Anne were responding, you'd be reading a newly composed message, not a repeat of what she received.

[Waitforme]

Thanks for taking the time to explain, I think I understand what you are meaning.

one last thought – if we now take this out of the Social Media context totally

and assume Anne typed the text herself as an SMS to another Spanish friend

and added the words ‘Le encanta’ followed by my original text in quotation marks:

Le encanta "Thank you Anne - like yours, it was a nice but also a very different birthday. Look after yourself, stay safe and have a Happy Easter!"

– in this scenario/context what do you think she could possibly be trying to say about my original text message.

[Rusty]

If Anne added "Le encanta", put quotation marks around your original text message, and sent it to another person, the Spanish opening would be asking the recipient if they like/love the message, but it would be poorly written because there are no opening and closing question marks. I don't think it happened that way, do you?

Perhaps you should just ask Anne why you got this message. ;)

[Waitforme]

Thanks…

I did text Anne at the time– but didn’t get a reply back (wonder if she is embarrassed) …which is when I thought I would try and google it to try and work it out.

May be there was a previous message to that one – which did go to the correct person…and this one came to me in error:)

From all I read on various online translators and example sentances, I thought ‘Le encanta’ meant things like: ‘she loves’, ‘he loves’, ‘he loves it’



So not sure what to make of it all…please do let me know if you any more thoughts.

[Rusty]

Correct translations for third-person address. I haven't included a subject pronoun because none existed in the opening remark.
The opening remark, because it wasn't formulated as a question, was most likely a computer-generated notification rather than something a person would write to another individual.

[Waitforme]

Correct translations for third-person address. I haven't included a subject pronoun because none existed in the opening remark.
The opening remark, because it wasn't formulated as a question, was most likely a computer-generated notification rather than something a person would write to another individual.

ok, thanks..I didnt quite understand the first part of your post so will try and read again later - i'm not very famliar with the terms like pronoun etc (but happy to learn)

I guess my main concern (and reason for opening this thread) was - to work out if anything bad was being said about my original text....

[Waitforme]

I read the whole thread again last night and just had a couple of thoughts I wanted to ask your opinion on to help my learning please.

And I apologise first, if I am just not grasping what you have previously said.

I see why you think its most probably computer generated, but a couple of things then raised more questions in my mind

Firstly, I don’t use any form of social media at all

Second, my text to Anne and her reply were using normal/standard text messages and not on any SM

So, I was wondering how my text would have got on SM (unless Anne was sharing it with someone on her SM),

but even if that were the case – how or why would I have got a text notification from her SM that she liked/someone else liked my text – so just a bit confused as to why/how I would receive the notification via text.

When I first received the message and used a couple of online translations – I thought Anne was trying to say to her friend that ‘He loves Easter’ or ‘He loves’ something else from within my original message. But based on your explanation on how the actual Spanish language works, I think I would be wrong to think that.

Look forward to your thoughts when you get time…thanks again (and sorry if I am not being too clever).

[Rusty]

I know nothing more than you, my friend, as to what really happened.
The translation you found all by yourself is correct. It is what someone would say to someone else, expressing that (he/she) loves something. The something that was liked a lot was the message you sent to Anne, enclosed in quotation marks.
That's it.
I tried a couple of scenarios in my mind, but ultimately you'll need to ask Anne what happened. :D

[Waitforme]

Thanks Rusty, I hear you ;) - hopefully when/if Anne replies all will become clear....but it has been fun learning something new.

Hopefully my final question for you, where you say 'expressing that (he/she) loves something'

Am I correct in that the 'he/she' in this scenario would then be me and not Anne....

but then to me her saying to someone that 'He likes his text' seems a bit odd too.


Thanks again.

[Rusty]

It would be Anne that likes/loves the text in quotation marks.

Under the covers the Spanish phrase means "someone loves something" (here, 'love' means 'taking delight in something' - do not confuse this with affection). The "someone" isn't provided (there is no person mentioned). The "something" is your message.
Here is the Spanish phrase model (the model is not conjugated, and must be in order to convey meaning): encantarle algo a alguien

No one would compose the SMS text you received. That's why I believe it was computer-generated. It isn't the way a native speaker would write.

The conjugated phrase that you received (which doesn't contain all of the components of the model):
le = (to) someone (the word 'le' stands in for, or represents, the person indirectly liking the "something" - 'le' was tacked onto the end of 'encantar' in the model, but when the phrase is conjugated, it is moved prior to the verb)
encanta = loves (likes a great deal - delights in)
algo = something (that something is provided in your text (enclosed in quotation marks))

Missing from your text:
a alguien = (to) someone (this is where "a Anne", or "a ella" could have appeared) (This missing part could have preceded 'le' or followed the verb, prior to or following the 'algo' part of the message. It's not a requirement to have this missing piece, especially when both involved in the conversation know who is indirectly affected by the "something".) (It's also not a requirement to specify the "something" part. In English we have to say "it". That little word isn't used in Spanish (not in this case, at least). So, 'le encanta', all by itself, is translated into English as 'Someone loves it'.)

I hope this information helps.

[Waitforme]

Thank you Rusty - for your patience and time in explaining it to a novice. I have read your last post a few times and think I am getting there.

I now have a desire to learn a bit more.

I think what you are saying is

a) If the message was computer generated it means ‘Anne Liked it’ – as in Anne liked the sentiment of my text message.

b) If Anne had typed the message herself (‘Le encanta’ followed by my text in quotation marks) – whilst grammatically incorrect, it means ‘Anne likes it’ – as in Anne likes the sentiment of my text

So in either case a or b - it has a nice meaning about my text – would you agree?





Where I get a bit lost is here:


Previously, before I posted on this forum - I had looked at links like this: https://context.reverso.net/translation/spanish-english/Le+encanta


Which gave me examples like:

Le encanta comer melón y le encanta pintar. He loves to eat melon and he loves to paint.

Le encanta hablar de cosas técnicas. He loves to talk about technical stuff, particularly rendezvous.

Le encanta cada minuto de ello. He loves every minute of it.

Le encanta trabajar en la casa. He loves working on the house.

Le encanta, es su show favorito. He loves it, it's his favorite show.

Le encanta Pedro y el lobo. He just loves Peter and the Wolf.

Which is what made me think Anne is telling her friend that it’s me who likes something within my own text, whether it be Easter or my birthday etc. and so I thought Anne is quoting my message and saying to her friend ‘he loves it’

Could you please explain what the difference is between a), b) - and what the context.reverso site is translating to, as it looks like I am still missing some nuance of the language.


Thanks again.