KudoZ home » Spanish to English » Tourism & Travel

Un personaje para olvidar

English translation: Someone or something best forgotten

Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs
(or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Spanish term or phrase:	Un personaje para olvidar
English translation:	Someone or something best forgotten
Entered by:	Adam Burman

Options:
- Contribute to this entry
- Include in personal glossary

15:06 Nov 14, 2006

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Marketing - Tourism & Travel / Interview

Spanish term or phrase: Un personaje para olvidar

More from the interview:

Un personaje para recordar
El subcomandante Marcos.

Un personaje para olvidar
La falange española.

How would personaje be best dealt with here?

TIA

Adam Burman KudoZ activity Questions: 1315 (1 open) (6 closed without grading) Answers: 375 United Kingdom
Local time: 03:53

Someone or something best forgotten

Explanation:
since in one case it is a person and the other a group thereof

Selected response from:

xxxCMJ_Trans
Local time: 04:53

Grading comment

Great - thanks again CMJ_Trans!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +7

Someone or something best forgotten

xxxCMJ_Trans

4 +2

Someone to forget

Margarita M. Martínez

A character {to forget}/{best forgotten}

Carol Gullidge

an (entirely) forgettable character

Stuart Allsop

something we should forget

Barbara Cochran

An historical figure (entity) to forget

Gad Kohenov

A person to remember

George Rabel

a forgettable personality.

yolanda Speece

a well-known entity (that would be) better forgotten.

Refugio

something to forget

neilmac

A presence to forget (remember)

Ronnie McKee

A power to forget

Patricia Rosas

Answers

3 mins confidence:

A power to forget

Explanation:
Just a suggestion:
Subcomandante Marcos: a power to reckon with.
The Spanish Falange: a power to forget...

Since the latter is a force or organization, "personaje" seems like a misnomer to me...

Patricia Rosas
United States
Local time: 19:53
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 64

4 mins confidence:

a forgettable personality.

Explanation:
:)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 mins (2006-11-14 15:12:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A forgettable force. Non-descript....

yolanda Speece
Local time: 21:53
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

8 mins confidence:

a well-known entity (that would be) better forgotten.

Explanation:
another option

Refugio
Local time: 19:53
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 63

21 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +7

Someone or something best forgotten

Explanation:
since in one case it is a person and the other a group thereof

xxxCMJ_Trans
Local time: 04:53
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 48

Grading comment

Great - thanks again CMJ_Trans!

20 mins confidence:

something to forget

Explanation:
Someone to remember -> Col. Marcos
Something to forget -> La Falange Española

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 mins (2006-11-14 15:27:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

This is the best way for this type of "tick list" text, in my opinion.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 21 mins (2006-11-14 15:28:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

All the other suggestions sound rather awkward or odd to me, but maybe that's just me...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 mins (2006-11-14 15:30:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Except for CMTJ's...

neilmac
Spain
Local time: 04:53
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 57

3 mins confidence:

A person to remember

Explanation:
I would put it just like that.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 35 mins (2006-11-14 15:42:22 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A person to forget

I made a mistake the first time. I´d still phrase it this way

George Rabel
Local time: 22:53
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Spanish
PRO pts in category: 20

1 hr confidence:

A presence to forget (remember)

Explanation:
Since it seems like it would be best to use the same word in both cases, i.e "a presence to remember" and "a presence to forget", I like the word presence because it can be used for either a person or and organization or group (the falange).

Ronnie McKee
Spain
Local time: 04:53
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

59 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

Someone to forget

Explanation:
This is what it says. When the question is posed nobody knew the answer. They are not asking for "something" but "someone" (despite the answer). And maybe it is "part" of the intention of the answer to answer with an organization (that includes quite a lot of "someones")...

It is my opinion.

Good luck and best regards, mmm

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2006-11-14 17:38:35 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Something I "feel" is that even all the other ways to make the question are right and could be answered in exactly the same way they have been answered, they make loose (or lose) the force of reaction the answerer is putting in the answer. If the question is not as "free" as the previous one, the reader will think the interviewer is "forcing" a specif ic answer. (And it does not seem to be the case).

Let's supose they are interviewing a politician (or someone serious that you would expect to talk about serious matters). You would probably as kas Alinka says for "someone to remember" and "someone to forget" (as in fact says in the original) and then this person says, after a predictible question (the second one) an umpredictible answer (let's imagine it is Garfield! Nobody expected such an answer. He/she hates Garfield! Why? Everybody will probably laugh and someone probably would think: Or is it that he/she is trying to say: "Hey! I am getting tired of the interview", or something else? Here, everybody expects a name and they find a whole institution. What is he/she trying to say? It is much more impactant. If the question were "Which is the Spanish political group during xxxx-xxxx (years) that should be forgotten in your opinion? Hey, you are forcing an answer. There is not much interest in the answer. An interviewer should not put the questions so predectible but give some freedom.... I insist, it is my opinion. :(

Margarita M. Martínez
Local time: 23:53
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Spanish
PRO pts in category: 16

3 hrs confidence:

A character {to forget}/{best forgotten}

Explanation:
or "a character you would prefer to forget"

I think that the responder has chosen to personalise the Falange (rightly or wrongly), which means that it would be quite feasible to translate "personaje" as "character/person/someone"

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 03:53
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 168

6 hrs confidence:

an (entirely) forgettable character

Explanation:
.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 hrs (2006-11-14 21:23:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

For Marcos, I would say "A totally memorable character", which contrasts nicely with "forgetable".

Stuart Allsop
Chile
Local time: 22:53
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

12 hrs confidence:

something we should forget

Explanation:
No se refiere a una persona.

Barbara Cochran
Local time: 22:53
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English

4 hrs confidence:

An historical figure (entity) to forget

Explanation:
Sucomandante Marcos - an historical figure to remember.
The Spanish Phalanx - an historical (figure) entity to forget

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 19 hrs (2006-11-15 10:57:18 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

* A historical figure* - of course.

Gad Kohenov
Local time: 05:53
Works in field
Native speaker of:

French,

Hebrew
PRO pts in category: 8

Return to KudoZ list

KudoZ™ translation help
The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

Overview

Latest translation questions

Ask a translation question

See also:

ProZ.com term search

Search millions of term translations

Un personaje para olvidar

English translation: Someone or something best forgotten

Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

Answers

Sign in to your ProZ.com account...

Or create a new account

ProZ.com ideas

KudoZ™ translation help
The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

Un personaje para olvidar

English translation: Someone or something best forgotten

Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

Answers

Sign in to your ProZ.com account...

Or create a new account

ProZ.com ideas

KudoZ™ translation helpThe KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

KudoZ™ translation help
The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.