Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

se me hace sopa de letras

English translation:

it's like alphabet soup // the letters whirl around

Added to glossary by Yvonne Becker
Jan 3, 2007 15:54
17 yrs ago
3 viewers *
Spanish term

se me hace sopa de letras

Spanish to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
En una canción:

"El libro entre mis brazos
Clama por mi atención
**Se me hace sopa de letras**
Sin signos de puntuación"

¿Hay una manera más poética de decirlo que "to me, it's just a word search"?

La traducción la hago para una cantante quien le quiere hacer llegar el sentido de su canción a su productor quien no habla español. Por esta razón, no es indispensable la rima

Discussion

Yvonne Becker (asker) Jan 5, 2007:
Disculpen, se me escapó la selección antes de poder agradecerles a todos sus excelentes sugerencias. Muchas gracias
Noni Gilbert Riley Jan 3, 2007:
Yes, I had thought about that, although wasn´t too unhappy with breaking the metaphor. However, both Ormiston and Patricia´s suggestions seem to do the job most satisfactorily
Yvonne Becker (asker) Jan 3, 2007:
Me parece buena tu propuesta, pero, lamentablemente, deja guindando la frase que sigue

Proposed translations

+6
10 mins
Selected

it's like alphabet soup

I don't see what's wrong with retaining the metaphor -- I never thought about the fact that alphabet soup doesn't have punctuation marks included!
Peer comment(s):

agree Noni Gilbert Riley : Just love that dog too
13 mins
thank you (he's very lovable!)
agree Roxanna Delgado
15 mins
thanks!
agree mrunde : I like alphabet soup, sounds good
19 mins
Does the soup sound good, or my answer? "mmm, mmm, good!" (Campbell's Soup jingle)
agree Claudia Luque Bedregal
47 mins
thank you!
agree Robert Copeland
1 hr
thanks, Robert!
agree Silvia Brandon-Pérez : how about, it becomes alphabet soup?
9 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
1 min

goes blurred in front of my eyes

I think that does it.
Something went wrong...
+2
10 mins

becomes a jumble of letters

por falta de ponctuacion ?!
Peer comment(s):

agree Noni Gilbert Riley
12 mins
agree Claudia Luque Bedregal
47 mins
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32 mins

dancing letters is what I see

Is this too way off the mark?
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41 mins

the letters dance before my eyes

In the constant dusk of the windowless cell the letters dance before my eyes, now forming fantastic figures, now dissolving into corpses and images of death ...
dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/bright/berkman/prison/chapter3ii.html - 24k - En caché - Páginas similares

Feedmarker:- [ Traduzca esta página ]Published 570 days ago. At last she sent me a mail saying she would be mine. I keep seeing letters dance before my eyes. ...
www.feedmarker.com/feeds/show/21592 - 46k - En caché - Páginas similares

The Idler Magazine, Vol. 3. Feb 1893.- [ Traduzca esta página ]That was the note, and wildly did the letters dance before my eyes. GASPING FOR BREATH. Having saved myself from fainting by finishing the B. and S., ...
www.gutenberg.org/files/12223/12223-h/i13s10.html - 27k - En caché - Páginas similares

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Idler, Volume III., Issue XIII ...- [ Traduzca esta página ]That was the note, and wildly did the letters dance before my eyes. [Illustration: FOUR REMARKABLY FINE KITTENS.] [Illustration: GASPING FOR BREATH. ...
www.gutenberg.org/files/12223/12223.txt - 232k - En caché - Páginas similares
[ Más resultados de www.gutenberg.org ]

Soulful Journeys and Heartfelt Dreams- [ Traduzca esta página ]The letters dance before my eyes and the words magically seep into my tired mind. My muscles, pulled taut, start to relax. My racing heart and breatheless ...
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Becky's Billowing Blogs: Beams, Giraffes, and Too Much Fun!- [ Traduzca esta página ]... a couple of brackets, but at least I will now be able to teach my morning classes without having those lines of descending letters dance before my eyes. ...
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JSTOR: Wasted Lives: Tuberculosis and Other Health Risks of Being ...- [ Traduzca esta página ]When I try to read, the letters dance before my eyes, because my spirit is boxed in. I live like a little bird in a cage, like a dog chained up.
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46 mins

it looks all jumbled up

An option.
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9 hrs

but it's just Scrabble to me

"Alphabet soup" is more literal but "Scrabble" might be a more appetizing (!) alternative and it might fit the meter better.
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16 hrs

the letters whirl around

It's a variation on "the letters dance before my eyes" which is okay too. Forget about the "wordsearch" reading, I don't think that is what the author particularly has in mind. Remember that "alphabet soup/sopa de letras" also used to be a kind of soup!!

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Note added at 16 hrs (2007-01-04 08:37:38 GMT)
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That was already said before, sorry.
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