Sep 29, 2019 21:41
4 yrs ago
Spanish term

ojos grises que siempre parecían estar de broma

Non-PRO Spanish to English Art/Literary General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters Romance Novel
Contexto:

Se quedó boquiabierta, como les ocurría a todas las mujeres cuando lo conocían, porque era muy atractivo. Tenía el pelo castaño y unos chispeantes ojos grises que siempre parecían estar de broma, además, al igual que Cam, adoraba a las mujeres. Y ellas lo notaban.

I know that there are plenty of references on the Internet for the expression "estar de broma", but right now I'm at a loss about how to tie it in with the guy's eyes.

Muchas Gracias,

Barbara
Change log

Sep 30, 2019 08:53: Carol Gullidge changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (3): AllegroTrans, Michele Fauble, Carol Gullidge

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Proposed translations

+8
28 mins
Selected

gray (grey) eyes that twinkled with mischeviousness/humor (humour)

There are plenty of ways to translate this one. I would definitely go for "twinkled with X", as is common in literature. It's not a perfect linguistic match for the original, but I think it captures what the source wants to convey perfectly. I think that a more literal translation here would subtract from the meaning. Just my take on it.
Peer comment(s):

agree philgoddard
23 mins
Thank you, Phil!
agree Helena Chavarria
49 mins
Thanks, Helena!
agree Muriel Vasconcellos : Maybe 'twinkled with mischief' - a little less labored.
1 hr
I do like this option a lot, definitely fits here. Thanks so much for the suggestion, Muriel!
agree AllegroTrans : 'twinkled with mischief'
1 hr
Yes! Thank you!
agree Michele Fauble
8 hrs
Thank you, Michele!
agree franglish
8 hrs
Thanks, franglish!
agree neilmac : Nice work getting "twinkled" in there, but I also prefer the brevity of "mischief"...
8 hrs
Thanks, Neil! I definitely agree that "mischief" is a great option for the X.
agree Andrea Sacchi
16 hrs
Thanks, Andrea!
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3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
7 days

gray/grey eyes that glinted with mischief

Glint strongly implies that his eyes convey mischief. The alliteration with gray/grey could be nice.
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