a cuenta gotas - in dribs and drabs / little by little / a few at a time ( translation glossary) Source text from Colombia,Idioms / Maxims / Sayings,Social Sciences

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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Spanish term or phrase:	a cuenta gotas
English translation:	in dribs and drabs / little by little / a few at a time
Entered by:	Myriam S

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11:27am Apr 22, 2008

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / Source text from Colombia

Spanish term or phrase: a cuenta gotas

The article deals with forced displacement in regions of armed conflict, and the text uses several idiomatic expressions, ¨a cuenta gotas¨ is one of them.

Here's how it appears in the sentence in quesiton:

XYZ es uno los departamentos donde históricamente el conflicto social y armado ha generado el mayor número de desplazados del país; especialmente en la región del XYZ donde no existe un censo confiable del total de desplazados; sólo es posible conocer aquellos sitios en los cuales ocurre el desplazamiento de manera masiva, pues hay lugares en los cuales este se da a cuenta gotas y de manera muy discreta y que difícilmente son catalogados como tal por la entidades encargadas de ello.

Myriam S

KudoZ activity
Questions: 130 (all closed)
Answers: 97

United States

in dribs and drabs / little by little / a few at a time

Explanation:
-

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Note added at 3 hrs (2008-04-22 14:52:39 GMT)
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Here are articles, some similar in context to your text, using DRIBS AND DRABS:

However, instead of arriving as expected en masse[1] Iraqi refugees **have arrived in dribs and drabs** – threatened both by bullets and loss of livelihoods – as the situation in Iraq has continued to deterioratehttp://www.fmreview.org/text/FMR/23/17.htm

http://www.economist.com/research/Backgrounders/displaystory...

Local staffer: In that sense it’s every day. They go to churches looking for help separately, in dribs and drabs.
http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com/2006-1-interview.htm

It would be wrong to say there were two clear and
organised camps. Most were making up their minds as
individuals and people left in **dribs and drabs**.
http://www.liberator.org.uk/media/lib-1204.pdf

Selected response from:

LisaMac
Spain

Note from asker to answerer

Thank you also for providing the reference links.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +4

in dribs and drabs / little by little / a few at a time

LisaMac

4 +3

little by little

Fabio Descalzi

4 +2

trickle in

cgowar

in a restrained manner

John Rawlins

pues hay lugares en los cuales este se da a cuenta gotas

Sagitario

very slowly, little by little, bit by bit

Olga Shabarina

Sparingliy

desertfox

only snippets of it

eloso

Answers

13 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

little by little

Explanation:
Little by little - that is the most common translation for "con cuentagotas" (literally "with eye-dropper", i.e. "drop by drop")

Fabio Descalzi
Uruguay
Native speaker of:

Spanish

8 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

trickle in

Explanation:
discreetly...
Una idea :-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 13 mins (2008-04-22 11:40:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry should have specified that it would be "refugees trickle in..."

cgowar
United Kingdom
Native speaker of:

Spanish

18 mins confidence:

Sparingliy

Explanation:
This is the figurative translation. In French it's the same: "au compte-gouttes".

desertfox
Israel
Native speaker of:

English,

Hebrew

19 mins confidence:

pues hay lugares en los cuales este se da a cuenta gotas

Explanation:
la expresión en inglés es "in drips and draps"

year-they have finally started to give them to me in drips and draps but they refuse to indicate what time frame they are paying me for. ...

También podríamos decir:

trickle...

Sagitario

22 mins confidence:

very slowly, little by little, bit by bit

Explanation:
A cuenta gotas = a cuentagotas = gota a gota = muy lentamente

Olga Shabarina
United States
Native speaker of:

Russian

1 hr confidence:

in a restrained manner

Explanation:
I believe the point of the expression 'a cuenta gotas' is that the information is being delivered in small packets - on purpose. This is an intentional rationing of information.
--------------

From Oxford Spanish

cuentagotas m (pl cuentagotas) dropper; dar algo con cuentagotas (fam): los permisos los
dan con cuentagotas it’s very difficult to get a permit out of them, they’re very mean with
the permits; nos van dando la información con cuentagotas they just keep feeding us tiny snippets of information
------------------
From Maria Moliner

Con cuentagotas (inf.). Aplicado a la manera de dar o recibir algo, con tacañería o muy poco a poco.
-----------------

From Shorter Oxford

restrained /rstrend/ a. L16. [f. RESTRAIN + -ED1.] That has been restrained; repressed; kept under control or within bounds; confined; held in place, as by a safety belt or harness; characterized by restraint or reserve, not excessive or extravagant.restrainedly /-ndli/ adv. in a restrained manner, with restraint
-----------------

John Rawlins
Spain
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

13 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

in dribs and drabs / little by little / a few at a time

Explanation:
-

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2008-04-22 14:52:39 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Here are articles, some similar in context to your text, using DRIBS AND DRABS:

However, instead of arriving as expected en masse[1] Iraqi refugees **have arrived in dribs and drabs** – threatened both by bullets and loss of livelihoods – as the situation in Iraq has continued to deterioratehttp://www.fmreview.org/text/FMR/23/17.htm

http://www.economist.com/research/Backgrounders/displaystory...

Local staffer: In that sense it’s every day. They go to churches looking for help separately, in dribs and drabs.
http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com/2006-1-interview.htm

It would be wrong to say there were two clear and
organised camps. Most were making up their minds as
individuals and people left in **dribs and drabs**.
http://www.liberator.org.uk/media/lib-1204.pdf

LisaMac
Spain
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

Note from asker to answerer

Thank you also for providing the reference links.

17 hrs confidence:

only snippets of it

Explanation:
One more option

eloso
Argentina
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

German,

Spanish

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Spanish: a cuenta gotas

English translation: in dribs and drabs / little by little / a few at a time