Spanish Word of the Day

I challenge anyone to find an English to Spanish dictionary that doesn't list perro caliente as a translation of "hot dog."

Quote: Wizard

I challenge anyone to find an English to Spanish dictionary that doesn't list perro caliente as a translation of "hot dog."

Do you recall the scene in "Eight Men Out" when the kid goes up to Shoeless Joe and tells him "Refute these calumnies, Joseph."

Oh, wait. A kid in early XX Century America would not use language like that, though it would be a lot more proper, according to every dictionary and grammar book than saying "Say it ain't so, Joe."

Quote: Wizard

I challenge anyone to find an English to Spanish dictionary that doesn't list perro caliente as a translation of "hot dog."

I take it back, I did find an image, but it was from Venezuela.

Quote: Pacomartin

I take it back, I did find an image, but it was from Venezuela.

Odd looking dictionary ;)

And to quote Philip J. fry: "All right! Crazy theories one. Normal theories one billion."

Let's go through with this once more: the way a language is used varies widldly when writen as opposed to spoken. Asimov maintained that writen English was a different language than spoken English, for example, and wondered how true that was for other languages. Therefore what you find written, in any form but especially in books, is not how people use language in everyday contexts.

I've said before, too, that a literal translation, word for word, is often terrible and can even be meaningless. So, sure, the literal translation of hot dog is perro caliente. But that means nothing in Spanish. Literally one would wonder "is this man talking about horny dogs, or warm dogs," in every case dog meaning the common household pet. Figuratively there is no meaning. None. There is no tradition of referring to a sausage as a dog, as there was in English (at least American English).

Now, 99.999999999999999% of all Spanish speakers will use "hot dog" but just about as many will know what "perros calientes" means. They'll just think it's hilarious you're using a term reserved for very old cartoons and extremely pedantic speakers.

You can learn a lot about speaking a language by reading books, yes, but common usage won't be it. more so when usage changes over time. For that you want TV and movies, if you can stomach the content (I can't). Or you can listen when someone who's been using Spanish every day for decades tells you "That's not the term commonly used." Will you find examples to the contraty? Mabe. But looking for exceptions isn't the point.

Quote: Nareed

Let's go through with this once more: the way a language is used varies widldly when writen as opposed to spoken.

I agree with you there. Once I was a luncheon speaker to a large group. My speech was later transcribed into writing by the group hosting the talk. Seeing what I had pretty much ad-libbed put in writing was horrifying.

Quote: Wizard

I agree with you there. Once I was a luncheon speaker to a large group. My speech was later transcribed into writing by the group hosting the talk. Seeing what I had pretty much ad-libbed put in writing was horrifying.

Did they know they were supposed to redact all the "um" "ah" "er", awkward pauses, mispronunciations, false starts, and so on ;)

That's.. that's why I don't, you know, um, read, ah, transcripts.

Quote: Nareed

Did they know they were supposed to redact all the "um" "ah" "er", awkward pauses, mispronunciations, false starts, and so on ;)

That's.. that's why I don't, you know, um, read, ah, transcripts.

It was done by a machine and it captured EVERYTHING.

Quote: Wizard

It was done by a machine and it captured EVERYTHING.

Google has a machine stenographer on Google Voice. It's supposed to save you the trouble of playing back messages, but often, like Google translate, it only gives you the gist of what they are saying. Here is two lines from a recent call.

You can see that in particular with the problems with prepositions, that you can easily change the meaning of a sentence.

Quote: Google Voice machine transcript

Hi Frank, My name is Mary and I'm calling from Aaron resources. 4. Staffing services now entails.
I just doing a reference check on NAME DELETED and I know you called me back and I think.
I believe I missed your call and I'm not sure if you would never spoke...

Quote: Google Voice personal transcript

Hi Frank! My name is Mary and I'm calling from Aaron resources, we're a staffing service in Allentown.
I just doing a reference check on NAME DELETED and I know you called me back and I believe I missed your call and I'm not sure if you and I have ever spoke....

Quote: Wizard

It was done by a machine and it captured EVERYTHING.

I was joking. I'd no idea people could be that stupid.

To be fair rendering a transcript readable can be quite a chore. Still, a word-for-word transcript can be worse than useless.

BTW, this makes you appreciate the effort that goes on in audiobooks to get a flowing narrative, and more so in taped lectures like those in The Great Courses or in podcasts like The History of Rome.

Quote: Pacomartin

You can see that in particular with the problems with prepositions, that you can easily change the meaning of a sentence.

The robot takeover of the world will be hampered when the machines discover they cannot talk comprehensively to each other. :D