Spanish translation: tener los días contados (México, Chile, España, Perú, Venezuela, Argentina); estar más cerca del arpa que de la guitarra (Argent
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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:
be (living) on borrowed time
Spanish translation:
tener los días contados (México, Chile, España, Perú, Venezuela, Argentina); estar más cerca del arpa que de la guitarra (Argent
English to Spanish translations [PRO] Social Sciences - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / United States
English term or phrase:be (living) on borrowed time
I have decided to compile a somewhat thorough English-Spanish glossary, a long-standing goal I have had for many years but never actually done. In approximately 10% of the cases, I am recurring to you, my colleagues on Proz, to ask you to help me get appropriate translations into Spanish of a number of idioms.
I want to assure everyone that ALL TRANSLATIONS WILL BE SHARED on the open forum we have in Proz. The way I guarantee this is by choosing “one answer” to which I incorporate many of the other answers, and then I click to save the question and answer on the open Proz forum.
Selection criteria: 1) extensive usage throughout the Spanish-speaking world. I am counting on your help, and since usually colleagues simply agree without adding where they know the translated term to be used, I am not able to specify this in the answers. This is not a commercial enterprise, but rather an informal exercise for the benefit of all of us. 2) Many times there are really creative idioms that are used which, although not used necessarily through the Spanish-speaking world, would be readily understood by all. I am particularly happy to include these in the open forum so that we can all enjoy them in our use, whether literally, or perhaps with an adaptation to the degree that each translator deems appropriate for that particular target population.
Please, when you agree with an answer, mention the countries in which you know such idiom to be used, if not already mentioned by another colleague. Since this project is so time-consuming and endless, and since, like you, I have such a heavy load of translations and interpreting jobs to do and cannot spend umpteen million hours on it, I must count on your help. And although simply listing countries because another translator say so is in no way scientific, at least it is an interesting start.
Finally, I know context is everything. Quite often I will give the meaning(s) in which I am interested, and I will attempt to include a sample. Some sources, such as the Random House Dictionary, already have an example, so there is no need for me to do this, since time is of essence.
Thank you for your help.
example:
Baby boomers, you're living on borrowed time
March 31, 2004
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A lifetime of spending is catching up with those who never planned their future, writes Ross Gittins.
I would never expect anyone to feel sorry for the baby boomers - they always feel sorry enough for themselves. But there may be something to learn from their plight. After a lifetime of yielding to the capitalist system's blandishments to borrow and spend, they now have capitalists berating them for their failure to save for retirement.
Compared with previous generations, the baby boomers have lived lives of indulgence. But they've been products of their affluent times. Everything around them has encouraged them to live it up.
For one thing, they've lived through a progressively more effective and pervasive effort by advertisers and marketers to persuade them that everything their heart desires - beauty, success, good friends, a happy family, even escape from boredom or unhappiness - can be attained by buying something.
There's nothing new about buying stuff, of course, but in the olden days we often had to save up for it. What changed for the baby boomers was a revolution in easy access to consumer credit.
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +10