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manifestaciones hemorragíparas
factura guía
Aug 19, 2021 04:10
2 yrs ago
43 viewers *
Spanish term

Con perseverancia se gana a veces la carrera.

Spanish to English Other Poetry & Literature Literature
I would like to know the best translation of this phrase from Spanish into American English. Translator colleagues from Spain, feel free to send me your suggestions in European Spanish. It's okay to translate it as" You can win sometimes the race with perseverance""

It's a translation about literature. This phrase is from the story of The turtle and the rabbit from Aesop.

Here is the full paragraph:

Moraleja:

Con perseverancia se gana a veces la carrera.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +7 slow and steady wins the race
4 Softly softly catchee monkey
3 Sometimes the race is won by persevering

Discussion

Marcelo González Aug 24, 2021:
No problem, Yugoslavia. :-) The translation you've chosen as 'most helpful' may indeed be useful, hence my agree. I just think it's worth underscoring that the source text here is really a comment ABOUT Aesop's fable (rather than a quote from it), as you explain yourself when you say, "It's a translation about literature." I think if we searched (on sites ending in .es, .pe, .ar, .mx, etc.), we'd likely find a variety of 'morals of the story' in Spanish. In this case, it's 'con perseverancia se gana a VECES la carrera' --- not exactly the widely heard 'moral' David's is in English. And this ('con perseverancia') statement is our source text, which yields, I hasten to add, just two hits on Google. In short, this is not 'literary translation' but rather a commentary about popular literature, written in simple, unadorned, rather colloquial Spanish. De hecho, con algunos cambios, se oye como cualquier comentario de esquina: A veces, [hasta las] carreras se ganan con [la] perseverancia (hence my suggestion).
yugoslavia (asker) Aug 24, 2021:
Thanks Marcelo. I appreciate it. I apologize. David has many professional translators that agreed with him.
Marcelo González Aug 24, 2021:
@Yugoslavia - my pleasure Certainly David's suggestion comes to mind as being included among often-said 'morals' or lessons to be learned from Aesop's fable; however, it does not come 'from' Aesop's fable, at least not any online English version I have seen, which may have been abridged versions??? I may be wrong, of course. Cheers from Vietnam :-)
yugoslavia (asker) Aug 19, 2021:
Thanks for your help David, Tamasso and Marcelo.
Marcelo González Aug 19, 2021:
@Tamasso - agreed I hadn't seen your 'sugerencias' (here in Discussion) when I posted mine. :)) Unless I'm missing something, the source text is a statement (and not necessarily a widely used one) about the moral of the story, which, of course, can be expressed in numerous ways (in both languages). The source text writer chose a rather simple, direct statement, so one approach would be to have this simplicity reflected in the translation. Another approach, David's, would be to find an often-used phrase in English. Both approaches may be fine.
David Hollywood Aug 19, 2021:
"a veces" is "sometimes" not "often"
Tomasso Aug 19, 2021:
surgencias Son solamente surgencias.....Perserverance alone will win the race. Races sometimes are won purely by persevering. (Gerundio, verbo activo) Wiki may be interesting...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tortoise_and_the_Hare Only suggestions, depends who you are writing to and why. ( i am not sure Where one should put sometimes, (muchas veces?? Often the race is won by perserverance??
David Hollywood Aug 19, 2021:
don't forget the "sometimes" to complete your full version

Proposed translations

+7
12 mins
Selected

slow and steady wins the race

As the saying goes, slow and steady wins the race, but where does this term come from? The origin is believed to be from one of Aesop's fables. Aesop was a Greek fabulist, and it's believed that he lived around the time of 620 to 560 B.C.E. He wrote numerous fables that are known collectively as Aesop's Fables.

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Note added at 13 mins (2021-08-19 04:24:52 GMT)
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One of the stories credited to his name is one that you’ve probably heard before—The Tortoise and the Hare. In this story, a hare makes fun of a tortoise for being slow. The tortoise then challenges the hare to a race. Amused by the idea, the hare accepts. He believes there is no way he could possibly lose to a slow turtle. With the course set and ready to go, the race begins and the hare quickly darts down the path, leaving his fellow green contender in the dust.

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Note added at 15 mins (2021-08-19 04:26:08 GMT)
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you could add "sometimes" to complete your full context

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Note added at 18 mins (2021-08-19 04:29:11 GMT)
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It’s not long before the hare builds a strong lead. In fact, his lead is so strong that he decides to take a nap! Meanwhile, the tortoise continues plodding along, running at a slow and steady pace until he eventually catches up and even passes the napping hare! Shortly after, the hare wakes up only to see the tortoise moments away from finishing the race. He desperately tries to catch up, running as fast as he can, but it’s too late, the tortoise crosses the finish line and wins the race.

That’s pretty much the story. Indeed, the tortoise ran all the way to the finish, and even though he was slow, he was persistent. Thus, it’s believed the moral of the story is ‘slow and steady wins the race’ and that this is where the phrase comes from.



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Note added at 45 mins (2021-08-19 04:56:26 GMT)
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no need for the "Mister" and always glad to help
Note from asker:
Thanks for your help Mr. Hollywood. The Spanish is different than the English. I noticed this. Yugoslavia
Thanks again for your help David.
Peer comment(s):
agree Andrew Bramhall
2 hrs
agree Marcelo González
2 hrs
agree neilmac : First thing that sprang to mind. Classic :-)
2 hrs
agree Carol Gullidge : This is the classic expression, derived from the well-known children’s fable. No point in “retranslating“ it!
2 hrs
agree Rebecca Breekveldt
3 hrs
agree Francois Boye : Americans would never say 'you win the race by being slow and perseverant'. Is the proverb English?
21 hrs
agree professtrans (X)
8 days
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you so much for your help David. You were very helpful!"
2 hrs

Softly softly catchee monkey

An alternative to David's;
Note from asker:
Thanks for your help Oliver but this translation is different than the Spanish original.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Marcelo González : The ST is not especially creative, is it? It's a simple statement, so I'm not so sure I see this as the 'closest natural equivalent,' hence my comment about 'over translation.'
8 mins
???? Don't get your point sorry;
neutral Carol Gullidge : No point in REtranslating such a well-known catch phrase from Aesop
59 mins
Just putting it in a more modern idiom!
Something went wrong...
51 mins
Spanish term (edited): Con perseverancia se gana a veces la carrera

Sometimes the race is won by persevering

"As the tortoise illustrates, The Race is won by persevering thru one small, slow & painstaking baby step at a time..."
https://www.pinterest.com/triciarc25/

Or maybe 'sometimes you can win [the race/the day] by persevering' (as seen in the link below).

"Sometimes you can win by persevering..." - Chris Eubank Sr.
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/chris_eubank_sr_1123066

I also like David's suggestion.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2021-08-19 06:56:30 GMT)
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Though the source-text comes from "The Tortoise and the Hare," it's rather straightforward, containing zero in terms of stylistic effects that must conveyed in the translation; thus, a similarly straightforward rendering would appear to be appropriate here, hence my suggestions above, which convey the idea or essence of the original while using the associated present participle, i.e., persevering, which sounds natural in this sentence --- as an alternative to the literal 'perseverance.'

Sometimes the race is won by persevering // through perseverance

or

Sometimes you can win the day by (simply) persevering

I hope this helps :-)

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Note added at 2 hrs (2021-08-19 06:58:03 GMT)
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Excuse me: "... zero in terms of stylistic effects that must BE conveyed in the translation"
Note from asker:
Thanks for your help Marcelo.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Andrew Bramhall : Not idiomatic, unfortunately;//your version isn't an adage, but merely a description!
1 hr
Well, is the source text 'idiomatic'? Remember, it's not anything terribly catchy in Spanish, is it?
neutral neilmac : The Spanish looks like a backtranslation from English. The Aesop fable is usually summed up in idiomatic English by David's solution.
2 hrs
Agreed that it is often summed up by what David has suggested, hence my agree there (and my agree in my comments as well)
neutral Carol Gullidge : Sorry but the Asker clearly states that the phrase comes from the very well-known fable by Aesop, so it can only refer to the equally well-known “moral of the story”. /Your translation is literal rather than literary
2 hrs
Yes. The ST is NOT literary, even if it's ABOUT literature >True, but the moral can be expressed in more than one way. We're not translating anything formulaic in Spanish. If we were, then perhaps we'd firmly suggest something equally formulaic in English
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