Spanish Word of the Day

Quote: Nareed

Traveler, it's your steps and nothign else that are the path
When you walk you blaze a trail, and when you look back
You see the road that can't be trod on.
Traveler, there are no paths, only wakes upon the seas!

I think it is very accurate and compares well with The professional translation.

Quote: "Proverbios y cantares XXIX" (Proverbs and Songs 29), Campos de Castilla (1912);
trans. Betty Jean Craige in Selected Poems of Antonio Machado (Louisiana State University Press, 1979)

Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino, y nada más;
Wanderer, your footsteps are
the road, and nothing more;

caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
wanderer, there is no road,
the road is made by walking.

Al andar se hace camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
By walking one makes the road,
and upon glancing back

se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
one sees the path
that must never be trod again.

Caminante, no hay camino,
sino estelas en la mar.
Wanderer, there is no road—
Only wakes upon the sea.

Betty Jean Craige received her
B.A. in Spanish Literature from Pomona College (1968) and her
M.A. (1970) and Ph.D. (1974) in Comparative Literature from the University of Washington.
She has taught at the University of Georgia since 1973.

Dr. Craige has published books in the fields of Spanish poetry, modern literature, history of ideas, politics, ecology, and art.

Her work as a Hispanist included
* a study of Federico García Lorca’s surrealist poetry, titled Lorca’s Poet in New York (1977), and

five book-length translations,
* Selected Poems of Antonio Machado (1978),
* The Poetry of Gabriel Celaya (1984),
* Manuel Mantero: New Songs for the Ruins of Spain (1986),
* Poems for Josefina, by Marjorie Agosín (2004), and
* Mother, Speak to Us of War / Madre, Háblanos de la guerra,, by Marjorie Agosín (2006).

Quote: Pacomartin

I think it is very accurate and compares well with The professional translation.

Actually I like mine better:

Quote: "Proverbios y cantares XXIX" (Proverbs and Songs 29), Campos de Castilla (1912);
trans. Betty Jean Craige in Selected Poems of Antonio Machado (Louisiana State University Press, 1979)

Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino, y nada más;
Wanderer, your footsteps are
the road, and nothing more;

I'll leave it at this.

1) Wanderer is the wrong term. it feels like someone aimlessly ambling through time with no reason or purpose
2) The way it's worded, it seems one's footsteps are only the road. The poem says the path is made only by one's steps (why footsteps anyway? what does the longer word bring to the translation?), not that one's steps are a mere piece of some road.

But this does clear something up. Serrat's song is made up of Machado's poem and his own addition. people argue incessantly about whehter the middle part is Machado's or Serrat's. now I know. (well, they argued a lot when Serrat was popular, sic transit gloria mundi)

Quote: Nareed

Actually I like mine better:
But this does clear something up. Serrat's song is made up of Machado's poem and his own addition. people argue incessantly about whehter the middle part is Machado's or Serrat's. now I know. (well, they argued a lot when Serrat was popular)

There are several translations but I don't think they are published on the internet.


In the notes, the person who posted this video, makes it clear which words are Machado's . The book of poetry was published 100 years ago, and the song was published in 1969.

Simple Spanish Lesson



?? gato hace miuw .

What is he saying at the beginning? Is "hace" the most common verb to use here?

Spanish-speaking countries made out very well in a recent ranking of the 20 happiest countries. Here is where they can be found in the top 20:

1. Panama
2. Paraguay
3. El Salvador
4. Venezuela
7. Guatemala
9. Ecuador
10. Costa Rica
12. Columbia
20. Honduras

I'd be interested in Nareed's thought on why so many Central American's countries made the list, but Mexico didn't. Not surprsingly, the US didn't make the top 20 either.

You have probably heard the old joke, where the American businessman on vacation goes to Honduras and is watching a fisherman come into the docks every day at noon. He strikes up a conversation with the man, and asks him how his life is going. Well, you know I make just enough to get by, but every day at noon I go home and spend the rest of the day with my family. We sit in the sun, have a beer and tacos, and I play with my children so I am very happy.

The American begins to tell him how with a reasonable capital investment, and a few more hours a day, he can increase his catch. A few employees, and he can purchase a second boat, but he may have to work 14 hours a day. He can then afford a car, a bigger house, and some electronics. After 20 years he can sell the business and retire. What then asks the fisherman? Then you can spend time with your family, sit in the sun, have a beer and tacos, and play with your grandchildren.

It all depends on how the study defines happiness, assuming it even bothers to do so. If they simply asked people "are you happy?" the answers are largely meaningless.

Quote: Nareed

If they simply asked people "are you happy?" the answers are largely meaningless.

That is basically what they do in those surveys. So the poor person who says "We live to see another day, my wife loves me and the sun is shining" and the comparatively wealthy person who says "I worry all the time if I will have enough retirement income to keep up my standard of living" might be graded very different on a happiness scale.

I was reading an essay written by a wealthy retired gringa living alone in Mexico. Her maid worked a full week, and the gringa was thinking how tough her life must be raising children and working all day while her husband was in the USA earning money. The maid invited her to a party, and the gringa was shocked to find out that the maid was feeling sorry for her living alone with no husband and only rare visits from children and friends.

I just back from a week in San Jose del Cabo. If I find the time, I'll write about my trip later. This post touches on some topics we've discussed before.



At some point I think it was discussed how to say "pancake" in Spanish. I hope the above sign shed some light on that question.



Note the "hot dogs" on this sign. As I was taking a picture a guy who worked there walked by and we discussed the issue. He let me take a video on how to say "hot dog" in Spanish, which I just uploaded to YouTube.



When I was in Cabo and getting ready to go on a snorkeling trip the proprietor asked me my name. I said "Miguel." He replied "¡Miguelito, mucho gusto!" I was a little put off by this and reminded him that I was taller than he was. So he indicated a bunch of his friends standing nearby and introduced them, each of them with an "ito" at the end of his name. So, I suppose his point was that if you tack on an "ito" to the end of the name it becomes a term of endearment. A couple days later I noticed this Internet cafe.



I noticed lots of small convenience stores calling themselves a "mini super." Is it just me, or is this a contradiction in terms?



Yet another "hot dog" sign. I also saw two "hot dog" stands, but didn't have my camera with me at the time.

Overall, I felt a great deal of improvement in my Spanish since my trip to Argentina 14 months ago. Maybe it was just buttering me up, but I received many compliments, and had some lengthy conversations entirely in Spanish.

Fecha: 9-1-13
Palabra: Resbalar

Today's SWD means to be slippery.

Until I change my mind, instead of creating my own examples, which are always replete with errors, I will just quote from the book where I found the word.

Ejemplo time

Pooh intentó lavar el piso, ¡pero el jabón lo puso muy resbaloso! = Pooh tried to wash the floor. But the soap made it very slippery!