Translating a simple paragraph (Exercise 1-18)

[laepelba]

I have been working through a book of basic Spanish grammar exercises, in an attempt to fill in some of the "holes" in the learning that I've done so far. It has been (I believe) very fruitful so far. :)

One of the exercises in the section on "present tense verbs" asks me to translate a simple paragraph from English to Spanish. I did okay for the most part - only needed to look up a small handful of words, and the majority of the errors I made (according to their "answer" in the back of the book) were prepositions, etc.

I want to ask some questions, though. So I'm going to include here (1) the original English paragraph, (2) my original translation, and (3) the "corrected" translation. I will indicate my questions at the bottom of this post.



{||}Original English paragraph | My first attempt at translation | The "corrected" translation
{|}Every day I leave my house at seven. I drive my car to the office, and there I work hard. When I come home, I do the household chores. Thank heavens for electrical appliances! I convince my children and my husband to help, and we all share the work. My husband vacuums the floor. I put the clothes in the washing machine and later my daughter Mati dries them in the dryer and puts the clothes in the closets. I assign the household chores. Then I propose a plan for dinner. My son Rob comes into the kitchen and listens to my instructions. The microwave oven is Rob's favorite appliance and he prepares quick meals. After dinner, Rob and Mati load the dishwasher. Now I deserve a break, and I watch my favorite TV programs! | Todos los días, salgo la casa a las siete. Conduzco la coche a la oficina, y allí trabajo duro. Cuando vuelvo a casa, hago los quehaceres de la casa. ¡Gracias a Dios por los aparatos electrodomésticos! Convenzo a mis hijos y mi esposo a ayudarme, y todos compartimos el trabajo. Mi esposo pasa la aspiradora el suelo. Pongo la ropa en la lavadora y después mi hija Mati la seca en la secadora y la pone en los armarios. Asigno los quehaceres de la casa. Entonces, propongo un plan para cena. Mi himo Rob entra en la cocina y escucha mis instrucciones. El horno de microondoas es el aparato favorito de Rob y prepara comidas rápidas. Después de la cena, Rob y Mati cargan la lavavajillas. ¡Ahora, merezco un descanso, y miro mis programas favoritos en el televisor! | Todos los días, salgo (1) de casa a las siete. Conduzco (2) mi coche (3) hasta la oficina, y allí trabajo duro. Cuando vuelvo a casa, hago los quehaceres domésticos. ¡Gracias a dios por los aparatos electrodomésticos! Convenzo a mis hijos y mi esposo (4) a ayudarme, y todos compartimos el trabajo. Mi esposo pasa la aspiradora (5) el suelo. Pongo la ropa en la lavadora y (6) después mi hija Mati la seca en la secadora y (7) la pone la ropa en los armarios. Asigno los quehaceres domésticos. Entonces, propongo un plan para la cena. Mi hijo Rob (8) viene en la cocina y escucha mis instrucciones. El horno de microondas es el aparato (9) preferido de Rob y prepara comidas rápidas. Después de la cena, Rob y Mati (10) ponen los platos en la fregadora de platos. ¡Ahora, merezco un descanso, y (11) veo mis programas (12) favoritos en el televisor!


My questions are as follows:
(1) Does "salir" always have to be followed by "de" or "a" (leaving "from" or "to" somewhere)?
(2) In English I would say "my car", but I thought in Spanish that if it's obvious whose car I'd be driving, you use the definite article instead of the possessive. ??
(3) Hasta? Really?
(4) I'm not sure why they dropped this phrase. Is it okay to be there? :thinking:
(5) Ditto question #4 - why did they not use "el suelo"? There are lots of things in a house that one can vacuum... Is it okay to be there?
(6) Luego o después ... does it matter which?
(7) "la pone en ..." or "pone la rope en..." Are they also the same? Does it matter?
(8) Someone once told me that you "entrar" a room, but they use "venir". Is there a difference?
(9) Favorito o preferido? The same in this context?
(10) I had to look up the word for dishwasher. The original English made it sound like "cargar" was an appropriate word. But their translation is quite different. Are both okay?
(11) Ver el televisor or mirar el televisor? Does it matter?
(12) Again, I'm not sure why they left out this entire phrase. Is what I wrote okay? Does it work?

Answers to these questions and all other thoughts/comments are most welcome!

As always, thank you immensely!!

[Perikles]

For what it's worth, I'll add my few thoughts before somebody else does who knows better:

1) In your case yes - salir de = to leave from something. Salir on its own = to go out

2) The use of el and la is usually restricted to parts of the body. (Some would claim that a car is exactly that, especially for young men :whistling:)

3) Yes - hasta used spacially = to, right up to. (a la oficina could mean in the direction of the office :thinking:, but hasta says you actually arrived there)

5) ? Perhaps you only vacuum floors in Spain, so it's redundant.

6) same to me

8) My dictionary agrees with you. To come in = entrar

11) Again mirar televisión to watch television

:)

[chileno]

My questions are as follows:
(1) Does "salir" always have to be followed by "de" or "a" (leaving "from" or "to" somewhere)? YES
(2) In English I would say "my car", but I thought in Spanish that if it's obvious whose car I'd be driving, you use the definite article instead of the possessive. ?? You can use el carro
(3) Hasta? Really? o puedes decir a la oficina, como Perikles dijo, en dirección a la oficina
(4) I'm not sure why they dropped this phrase. Is it okay to be there? :thinking: It should be there as per original phrase in English
(5) Ditto question #4 - why did they not use "el suelo"? There are lots of things in a house that one can vacuum... Is it okay to be there? Usualmente se usa la aspiradora en el suelo, pero también se puede usar en los muebles, no?
(6) Luego o después ... does it matter which? Cualquiera de los dos, incluso "más tarde" también puede ser usada.
(7) "la pone en ..." or "pone la rope en..." Are they also the same? Does it matter? depende de la frase.
(8) Someone once told me that you "entrar" a room, but they use "venir". Is there a difference? Come to the room is different to Come in to the room, no?
(9) Favorito o preferido? The same in this context? Yes
(10) I had to look up the word for dishwasher. The original English made it sound like "cargar" was an appropriate word. But their translation is quite different. Are both okay? Yes, although you could use "meter=put in"
(11) Ver el televisor or mirar el televisor? Does it matter? It does matter, ves televisión is correct.
(12) Again, I'm not sure why they left out this entire phrase. Is what I wrote okay? Does it work? You are correct with what you wrote.

Answers to these questions and all other thoughts/comments are most welcome!

As always, thank you immensely!!

This is my correction from what you got.

Todos los días salgo de mi casa a las siete. Conduzco mi/el carro/auto a/hasta la oficina y allí trabajo duro. Cuando vuelvo a (la) casa, hago los quehaceres de la casa. ¡Gracias a Dios por los aparatos electrodomésticos! Convenzo a mis hijos y mi esposo a ayudarme, y todos compartimos el trabajo. Mi esposo pasa la aspiradora por el suelo. Pongo la ropa en la lavadora y después mi hija Mati la seca en la secadora y la pone en los armarios. Asigno los quehaceres de la casa. Entonces, propongo un plan para cena. Mi hijo Rob entra en la cocina y escucha mis instrucciones. El horno de microondas es el aparato favorito de Rob y prepara comidas rápidas. Después de la cena, Rob y Mati cargan la lavavajillas (lavaplatos). ¡Ahora, merezco un descanso, y leo mis programas favoritos en el televisor!

[ookami]

(4) "a ayudarme" for me is correct, if not is quite and inexact translation. Not clear at all.
(7) The same in meaning. (if you want, while saying twice "ropa" you are giving it more emphasis, but they are the same practically)
(9) Same.
(10)
lavavajilla.
1. amb. Arg. lavaplatos (http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltObtenerHtml?origen=RAE&LEMA=lavaplatos&SUPIND=0&CAREXT=10000&NEDIC=No#0_3) (‖ máquina).

As you see, for me is ok your phrase, I would translate it as you have done (but here we use it with masculine gender and in plural, "el lavavajillas"). But I think in other countrys would be more common to say lavaplatos or even to explain it as the book has done. So "cargar", if you don't know how the machine is, maybe would be confusing. In conclusion, I belive that yours is a more accurate translation than the book one, but it depends on the country and if you want to be neutral or not, taking in account that is a relative "new" machine.
(12) Yours.

Edit: chileno won, but I left my post equally. (how can I say "pero dejo mi mensaje de todas maneras"?)

[Here4good]

I have been working through a book of basic Spanish grammar exercises, in an attempt to fill in some of the "holes" in the learning that I've done so far. It has been (I believe) very fruitful so far. :)

One of the exercises in the section on "present tense verbs" asks me to translate a simple paragraph from English to Spanish. I did okay for the most part - only needed to look up a small handful of words, and the majority of the errors I made (according to their "answer" in the back of the book) were prepositions, etc.

Answers to these questions and all other thoughts/comments are most welcome!

As always, thank you immensely!!

Very interesting - such a simple basic text, but so many questions that come from it!

I tried translating the text myself and would like to know if these phrases are right (taking into account I’m using Spanish from Spain and English from the UK!!)

I drive my car to the office = I don’t think people here normally say I drive my car (conducir mi coche) . I would translate that as conduzco hasta la oficina. (If we were going to include car I would say el coche)
Los quehaceres domésticos = Las tareas domésticas/ de casa??
Mis hijos y mi esposo = Marido is more usual in Spain??
The microwave is Rob’s favorite appliance= Can we use favorito in the translation?
Load the dishwasher = Here we say poner el lavavajillas

I used
Pasar la aspirardora = el suelo is redundant
entrar en la cocina

I would live to hear your comments if you have time!

[irmamar]

Very interesting - such a simple basic text, but so many questions that come from it!

I tried translating the text myself and would like to know if these phrases are right (taking into account I’m using Spanish from Spain and English from the UK!!)

I drive my car to the office = I don’t think people here normally say I drive my car (conducir mi coche) . I would translate that as conduzco hasta la oficina. (If we were going to include car I would say el coche) I agree :)
Los quehaceres domésticos = Las tareas domésticas/ de casa?? Los quehaceres o las tareas (to me is the same, more common here: el trabajo de casa).
Mis hijos y mi esposo = Marido is more usual in Spain?? Yes, it is.
The microwave is Rob’s favorite appliance= Can we use favorito in the translation? Preferido can be more common, but favorito is equally good.
Load the dishwasher = Here we say poner el lavavajillas I agree

I used
Pasar la aspirardora = el suelo is redundant Bueno, yo paso la aspiradora por los sofás, por las ventanas, por algunos muebles, por los sillones, por los colchones, por los aparatos de aire acondicionado,... (well, I have five hoovers:love::D )
entrar en la cocina Why not? :thinking:

I would live to hear your comments if you have time!

Chileno, ¿lees los programas de la tele? :thinking: :)

Lou Ann, there are things which are corrected and I think you did a good translation :)

Y la pone en los armarios (why repeating "la ropa" again?). I understand perfectly that you're talking about clothes. To avoid redundancy: y la guarda en los armarios.

You can say: convenzo a... para que me ayuden.

Why not "después de la cena"? :thinking:
Other things have been already commented.

:)

[chileno]

(4) "a ayudarme" for me is correct, if not is quite and inexact translation. Not clear at all.
(7) The same in meaning. (if you want, while saying twice "ropa" you are giving it more emphasis, but they are the same practically)
(9) Same.
(10)
lavavajilla.
1. amb. Arg. lavaplatos (http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltObtenerHtml?origen=RAE&LEMA=lavaplatos&SUPIND=0&CAREXT=10000&NEDIC=No#0_3) (‖ máquina).

As you see, for me is ok your phrase, I would translate it as you have done (but here we use it with masculine gender and in plural, "el lavavajillas"). But I think in other countrys would be more common to say lavaplatos or even to explain it as the book has done. So "cargar", if you don't know how the machine is, maybe would be confusing. In conclusion, I belive that yours is a more accurate translation than the book one, but it depends on the country and if you want to be neutral or not, taking in account that is a relative "new" machine.
(12) Yours.

Edit: chileno won, but I left my post equally all the same. (how can I say "pero dejo mi mensaje de todas maneras"?) "but I left/leave my post anyway"


:):):)

[Here4good]

Irmamar,
Thank you so much for your comments; I appreciate it.

[chileno]

Chileno, ¿lees los programas de la tele? :thinking: :)
:)

No se por qué lo dices, pero leo la programación de la tele como también la veo en la misma tele.

Tú no?

[laepelba]

Why not "después de la cena"? :thinking: - I didn't mark it as a question, because I figured that it's okay with or without it, so I don't have an issue with what I wrote vs. what they have in the "answer".
Other things have been already commented.

:)

Thanks all for the answers! It helps a lot!!

[ookami]

Thank you chileno.

[irmamar]

y leo mis programas favoritos en el televisor!

No se por qué lo dices, pero leo la programación de la tele como también la veo en la misma tele.

Tú no?

Lo decía por lo que habías comentado antes. ;)

[Perikles]

(how can I say "pero dejo mi mensaje de todas maneras"?)But I left my post there anyway. :)

[chileno]

But I left my post (there) :?: anyway. :)

;););)

[Perikles]

But I left my post there anyway. :)

;););)there is optional, but I would put it in. :)

[chileno]

there is optional, but I would put it in. :)

Ah, an interpreter at heart! :)

[Suavemente]

Laepelba, tengo el libro mismo que puede. Se llamó "Practice Makes Perfect:Complete Spanish Grammar."

Compré otro libro que da grandes explicaciónes de la gramática española y se contiene ejercicios así se puede practicar y mejora su español. El nombre de este libro se llama "Spanish Now:Level 1 by Barron's. Barron también hacen los grandes libros de la conjugación verbo. "501 Spanish Verbs" deba ser un libro muy utíl para ti.

[laepelba]

Thanks, Suavemente! I have 501 Spanish Verbs ... and some other exercise books (maybe even the Barron's you mention). I like the set up in these "Practice Makes Perfect" books, so for now I'll work through them. I need stuff that's really systematic!!

[chileno]

I need stuff that's really systematic!!

Funny you say this. I took life itself as being systematic. :);)

[laepelba]

Funny you say this. I took life itself as being systematic. :);)

Life is in no way whatsoever systematic........:eek: