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Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings | | English term or phrase: Eat the cold porridge | Hi, I'm trying to translate the prologue to the book "One for my baby", by Tony Parsons, and it's all about this Chinese expression that reads "eat the cold porridge". It means working so hard at something that when you get home there is nothing left to eat but cold porridge. Here you have a context where it is used:
"That’s how you get good at anything. You eat the cold porridge.
You work at it when the others are playing. You work at it when the others are watching television. You work at it when the others are sleeping.
To become the master of something, you must eat the cold porridge."
I'm trying to translate it into Spanish but I can't find a good equivalent. The literal translation would be: "tómate las gachas frías", but "gachas" is not something normally eaten in Spain any more. I had thought of "tómate la cena fría", but I'm restricting it to the evening meal, when in reality it could be any time during the day.
Can anyone think of a better translation?
Thanks beforehand. |
| anabuenoKudoZ activityQuestions: 1 (none open) Answers: 0
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| | Spanish translation:hacer grandes sacrificios | Explanation:
Quizá sea mejor no tomar la expresión tan literal e interpretarla para lograr que se entienda mejor.
Según mi opinión y basándome en la descripción que hiciste de la frase, una opción puede ser "trabajar duro y hacer grandes sacrificios". A lo mejor no tenga el mismo impacto o misterio que la frase original, pero de todas maneras puede servir como una traducción y en español esas expresiones son bastante utilizadas.
Ojalá te sirva!
Saludos :) |
| Selected response from:
Natalie Toledo
Local time: 11:41
| Grading comment Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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| Discussion entries: 0 |
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Automatic update in 00:
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2 hrs confidence:   peer agreement (net): -1 | eat the cold porridge la veganza es mejor servida fria
Explanation:
Just a as oats sets when cooled and is easier to eat, so is a calmly and long calculated vengence with no recorse.
Common proverb "porridge is best served cold" o en españo "la veganza es mejor servida fria"
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2 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +3 | eat the cold porridge hacer grandes sacrificios
Explanation:
Quizá sea mejor no tomar la expresión tan literal e interpretarla para lograr que se entienda mejor.
Según mi opinión y basándome en la descripción que hiciste de la frase, una opción puede ser "trabajar duro y hacer grandes sacrificios". A lo mejor no tenga el mismo impacto o misterio que la frase original, pero de todas maneras puede servir como una traducción y en español esas expresiones son bastante utilizadas.
Ojalá te sirva!
Saludos :)
| Natalie Toledo
Local time: 11:41
Native speaker of:  Spanish
PRO pts in category: 4
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| | Grading comment | Selected automatically based on peer agreement. |
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