"Wanna-be"

[Elaina]

Good Morning Everyone!

How would you translate "wanna-be" into Spanish? I know there are some idioms or expressions that don't have a direct translation but maybe there is one in Spanish that comes close to its meaning?

Thanks for your help!

[poli]

A wannabe is someone who aspires, so my guess would be aspirante.
I don't know if there is a catchy term like wannabe though

[Elaina]

Originally Posted by poli

A wannabe is someone who aspires, so my guess would be aspirante.
I don't know if there is a catchy term like wannabe though

Maybe we should start our own. We have so many creative people in these forums that we could come up with something "catchy".

Let's see what others might say.....

[poli]

I think an older term for wannabe is the less-precise climber.
There's a French term that some anglos have incorporated into English. It's arriviste that resembles the term climber.I wonder if there is a Spanish equivalent to arriviste like arrivista or something like that.
Arriviste is kind of derrogatory. It's shaded and may translate to English as opportunistic social climber. Wannabes aren't necessarily evil.

[Elaina]

Well, for what I need the translation of "wannabe".... "a wannabe Christian"............ se podría decir .... un "supuesto" Cristiano?

What do you think?

[aleCcowaN]

Exactly! aspirante. Also "supuesto", "presunto", "con ínfulas de", "con ganas de ser", "candidato a", "creído de", "...en sus pinitos", "arribista" and many more, all of them with different values (as a description, a criticism, an irony, etc.). Here in Buenos Aires we'd say "pichón de ..." when "aspirante" applies.

[Elaina]

¡Gracias Poli y Alec!

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Elaina

Well, for what I need the translation of "wannabe".... "a wannabe Christian"............ se podría decir .... un "supuesto" Cristiano?

What do you think?

That makes little sense to me. I always understood 'wannabe' as somebody who aspires to something which needs a quality, say, talent, but either has none or has difficulty getting started. Such as a wannabe actor or wannabe singer, or wannabe politician. That last example is a bad one. Anyway, as far as I know, you can easily be a Christian if you want to.

Oxford:

wannabe noun (colloquial & pejorative) aspirante masculine and feminine; all the showbiz wannabes will be there todos los que quieren pertenecer al mundo del espectáculo estarán allí

[Elaina]

I guess I would say "a true Christian".....yes, you can be a Christian if you want but not all are "true" Christians.....they are "wannabe" christians.

[poli]

...like those true Christian missionaries in Uganda spreading their holiness. Sometimes the term good Christian takes on a double meaning. Among all religious groups I am familiar with, there is a sense that they feel a superiority to those who do not share their beliefs--even among pious types with the best intentions. I don't know how good that is. I think its best to be alturistic just to be altruistic with no godly purpose.

[Elaina]

You are correct. So I guess what I really meant was ....

self-proclaimed true Christians -vs- wannabe Christians

I myself don't have a certain viewpoint but this translation I am doing needs to be done as accurate as possible.

[Caballero]

Originally Posted by Elaina

I guess I would say "a true Christian".....yes, you can be a Christian if you want but not all are "true" Christians.....they are "wannabe" christians.

Hmm. I wouldn't use the word "wannabe" in that context. Most people who are not "true Christians" don't really want to be a Christian, they just call themselves something that they don't practice.

[Elaina]

Originally Posted by Caballero

Hmm. I wouldn't use the word "wannabe" in that context. Most people who are not "true Christians" don't really want to be a Christian, they just call themselves something that they don't practice.

Well I wouldn't either but this is what the book says and I am translating it.

Translation is so much easier when the original language is written as it should.

But alas, that would be in a perfect world.

[aleCcowaN]

Come to think to it, it looks like those wannabe Christian are "gente que se las da de cristianos", people who want to be regarded as Flanders-like when in fact they are pretty much the Homer type. This "dárselas de" is pretty colloquial -maybe in some countries is more colloquial than in others-.