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Una paradoja que se comprende por la tradicional idea en nuestro país, y otros como Portugal o Grecia, de que los helados, como las bicicletas, son para el verano.
A paradox which is understood by the traditional idea in our country, and in others like Portugal and Greece, that ice-creams, like bicycles, are for summer.


Is se comprende por accurately translated here?
Thanks.

A paradox which is understood as a traditional idea.....

Exactly it!

:)

That would be translated as "...como...(as/like)..."

I think so too, but the sentence translated that way doesn't seem like English.

Do you mean that "A paradox which is understood by the traditional idea..." doesn't seem like English?

:thinking:

The words are English, but the meaning is fuzzy at best. Any anglo will instinctively know that an idea cannot understand a paradox. Only animate things are capable of understanding.

OK, thank you.

I think this "por" might be better translated as "through"... it is because of this traditional idea that the paradox is understood. :thinking:

I've concluded that it isn't very good Spanish either.
Anyway, I would avoid translating it word for word and write something like:
The paradox is that it is taken as a given that in our country, and in other countries like Greece and Portugal as well, ice cream is considered summertime food.

Hmmm... I'm not sure about that, Poli... We don't know what the paradox is, since it seems to be stated in a previous sentence. :thinking:

That's true. What's so paradoxical about assuming that ice cream is a summer treat. It's more logical than paradoxical.

Many thanks for your help, guys. For a little extra context, below is the previous paragraph. I can't seem to figure out what the actual paradox here is, though.

"Más de la cuarta parte de los españoles consume helados semanalmente, según la Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Helados (AEFH), que representa al 78 por ciento del mercado nacional. En verano la cifra se dispara, y más del 55 por ciento de los mayores de dieciséis años toma dos o tres helados a la semana. Este consumo está más extendido entre la población joven. Pero los datos van más allá. Cada español toma seis litros de este producto al año.

Una paradoja que se comprende por la tradicional idea en nuestro país, y otros como Portugal o Grecia, de que los helados, como las bicicletas, son para el verano. Pero esto está cambiando. En los últimos años hay una mayor información sobre los beneficios nutricionales que comporta el consumo de helados, asociado a una mayor concienciación – con campañas de publicidad incluidas - de que los helados se pueden disfrutar en cualquier época del año."

The paradox is although people seem to think that ice-cream can only be eaten during the Summer, the season consumption itself doesn't add up the whole six liters per year that every Spaniard is said to eat.

So I still think that the translation of "por" as "through" could make the sentence clearer, and avoid the interpretation that it is the traditional idea who understands the paradox. :)