Spanish: "seguía con mis afanes"English translation: I carried on with what I was doing 
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| GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | | Spanish term or phrase: | "segu�a con mis afanes" | | English translation: | I carried on with what I was doing | | Entered by: | reubenius |
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Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / use of word \ | | Spanish term or phrase: "seguía con mis afanes" | I can´t tell from this passage whether "afanes" means that the girl keeps unpacking, or that she keeps doing sthg else (worrying?). This is from a contemporary novel in which a 17-yr old girl is pregnant and has gone to stay at the house of her much-older lover until she gives birth. She has just arrived and he´s led her to what is to be her room.
CONTEXT
"Me acompañó a mi habitación. Dijo que al día siguiente me llevaría para escoger algún otro mueble que pudiese necesitar dado que mi estancia iba a ser larga....Sonrió recuperando por un instante su expresión habitual de persona sin demasiadas dudas. Sonreí incrédula de que aún en ese trance lo acompañara su obsesión. Continué ***con mis afanes*** mientras él se acercaba a la ventana y miraba al jardín, pensativo." |
| ldillmaKudoZ activityQuestions: 19 (all closed) Answers: 0
United States
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| Clarification request(s) and responseldillma: 7:51am Nov 29, 2005: Hm. I think I agree with the concept (of busying herself), but in English we busy ourselves WITH SOMETHING, no? And she has just walked into the room and there´s no mention of what she might be doing (despite the use of "continué"). Re: the comment below, she definitely IS worried, bec. she´s 17 and pregnant by a 40-something, the "sonrisa incrédula" here is not a happy one - she can´t believe her lover is still obsessed by another woman (didn´t know how much detail I should go into in the orig. explanation, sorry if I caused confusion). Any ideas how to make it sound natural, and yet vague, in English - without expressing what she might be busying herself with?
Susana Galilea: 7:56am Nov 29, 2005: How about "I focused on my task" -- vague enough? -
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| | I carried on with what I was doing | Explanation:
An alternative phrasing for you
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Note added at 1 hr 6 mins (2005-11-29 08:16:06 GMT)
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Just a 'thought' -she seems to be doing a lot of thinking. Couldn't you say something like 'I continued my train of thought' |
| Selected response from:
 reubenius
United Kingdom
| Note from asker to answererThanks, everyone. I think the train of thought expresses it very well - cheers. xlisa
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2
