Oct 16, 2013 18:48
10 yrs ago
10 viewers *
Spanish term

novio / novios

Spanish to English Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
The problematic word is "novios" in the following excerpt from a eulogy of a mine worker who was killed in a mining incident with heavy machinery. What would be the best translation of "novios" in this context?

Nos fuimos criados juntos, en la misma rancha....... Pues cuando había chance, salía de la escuela, vacaciones, o en fin de semana me iba yo con él a pichonear. A los quince, dieciséis años me iba yo a pisonear con él en la carretera. Y ahora que entrar a la mina, pues ya, ya tenía noción de cómo se operaba una máquina.....
Porque él siempre me daba un beso… siempre… o llegaba y nosotros le dábamos un beso. Nosotros nos tratábamos como si hubiéramos sido novios. Y siempre parecíamos novios, y somos novios amores de siempre. Somos novios todavía aunque tengamos tantos años juntos, me dice, pero somos novios todavía.
Sé que para muchos nunca se van a olvidar de ............ La familia de ........... siempre van a tener ese vacío en su vida, que no va a regresar a casa.
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (2): Translator Rose, AllegroTrans

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Discussion

Beatriz Ramírez de Haro Oct 17, 2013:
pichonear y pisonear no son sinónimos.

Pichonear: actividad de ocio (después de la escuela, fines de semana, vacaciones) http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110325145528AA...

Pisonear = apisonar: trabajar con apisonadora en las carreteras. Por eso dice que al entrar en la mina ya sabían manejar máquinas.
Janice Giffin Oct 17, 2013:
Are the eulogizer and the deceased both men? I'm glad to have read this discussion. They grew up together, they hung out together to 'pichonear' and then to 'pisonear'; both verbs seem to be used as slang to indicate something that male buddies would do...and probably get into trouble for (correct me if I'm wrong). Nothing in the passage suggests that the eulogizer is female. I vote for the suggestion of Beatriz Ramirez de Haro: this heartfelt eulogy is about love, sexual or not.
Susan Andrew Oct 17, 2013:
Brothers? With the context you've given could you change it a bit and say they were like brothers? That might work.
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro Oct 16, 2013:
Love Why not use the word love? (like lovers, we loved each other, etc.)
Heather Drake (asker) Oct 16, 2013:
In this case the two parties are the same gender, and I am not convinced that "dating", "sweetheart", etc., would be the correct translation. Yes, of course I know the usual translation of "novio", folks!
Since the speaker is a miner, talking very openly to the rest of the mining crew in a eulogy, in Mexico, I am not convinced that the reference is to a gay relationship between the speaker and the deceased. And yes, that quite likely IS the meaning. However, my question was aimed more at the possibility of a local or regional, little-known usage of the term "novios" IN THIS CONTEXT to portray feelings of endearment, of close friendship without sexual overtones.
I may not have explained the intent of my question very well , but I consider it is still classified as PRO, since I am trying to eliminate obscure, poetic or very localized usages within the context of close friendship, before deciding to employ the otherwise obvious translation. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Proposed translations

+9
4 mins
Selected

sweethearts

this is what I would say.

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Note added at 5 minutos (2013-10-16 18:54:16 GMT)
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That is to say:
We'll be sweethearts forever....
Peer comment(s):

agree Charles Davis : Exactly what I was going to suggest. After years of marriage (I presume), they're still like young sweethearts, like a courting couple.
4 mins
Thanx Charles, salu2!!
agree Lucia Samayoa : This one is the better answer because "we were dating" cannot be used in all of the sentences because of the context
25 mins
thanks a lot :)
agree Henry Hinds : Claro que sí.
26 mins
gracias henry :)
agree Jenni Lukac (X)
42 mins
gracias Jenny ;)
agree Estela Quintero-Weldon : Estoy de acuerdo con sweethearts, Alberto.
1 hr
Muchas gracias, Estela. Saludos :)
agree AllegroTrans : can be found in any dictionary - hardly a PRO term!
1 hr
agree teresa quimper
2 hrs
agree Isamar : It fits perfectly with the text
18 hrs
agree Marina56 : sí. y por qué no fianceé
21 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+2
4 mins

we were dating

Así lo diría yo...
¡Suerte!
Peer comment(s):

agree Tamara Abeldaño : Coincido con Cecilia "as if we were dating"
17 mins
Gracias, Tamara
agree Giovanni Rengifo
36 mins
¡Gracias!
neutral AllegroTrans : I really think a noun is needed
1 hr
Something went wrong...
+1
7 mins

A couple

..

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Note added at 7 mins (2013-10-16 18:56:32 GMT)
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An alternative to sweethearts,which I think sounds good too
Peer comment(s):

agree Giovanni Rengifo : Your suggestion works well too and helps avoid repeating the same word over and over.
34 mins
Something went wrong...
3 hrs

boyfriend and girlfriend

An alternative to "sweethearts" and "couple".
Something went wrong...
16 hrs

we were always "like brothers"

I think he is using the term colloquially, to signify how close they really were, etc. "Novios" can mean different things in different South American countries, i.e. in Peru in means fiancee.
Something went wrong...
20 hrs

boyfriend/girlfriend - dating

Both work well in this context. As in "somos novios todavía" you can say we still dating. And "parecíamos novios" - we look like boyfriend/girlfriend. Might seem long, but that happens sometimes even from English to Spanish though generally English is shorter than Spanish.
Example sentence:

We always looked like boyfriend/girlfriend, and we are dating--forever loves.

Something went wrong...
+1
9 days

sweethearts

In some latin countries the word "novio" means fianceé, in others means sweetheart. In this context "novios" means sweetheart. It means they had a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. In Chile we use "pololos", novio is used when you are engaged. In this context says they will always be sweehearts even he is not present.

I hope this will help.
Peer comment(s):

agree Jeffrey Jankowski : I don't understand why Alberto Montpellier is getting all of the points when you suggested this answer 9 day before he did...
3 days 10 hrs
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

1 day 1 hr
Reference:

novio / novios

I feel that Beatriz' suggestion 'like lovers/we loved each other' (see discussion) is the best solution for this context.
Something went wrong...
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