English translation: a hot topic or (all) hot air?
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Spanish to English translations [PRO] Tourism & Travel /
Spanish term or phrase:un tópico cierto, o un cierto tópico?
This is an interview, talking about the AVE now going to Valencia.
A translation is not going to work in English without tackling it from another angle. Any suggestions as to how to deal with it would be welcome :) For a UK audience.
Interviewr: ¿Lo del antes y el después del AVE es un tópico cierto, o un cierto tópico?-
Interviewee: Cuando el metro llegó por fin a la calle Colón y al centro de la ciudad, también vinieron los Reyes. Cualquier infraestructura importante, y el AVE lo es, supone un antes y un después. Las sociedades están avanzando a gran ritmo en un mundo globalizado en el que me parece que no hay que sacralizar nada, sino aprovecharlo, utilizarlo y sacarle el máximo rendimiento.
You can post more than one answer if you want, though you're not supposed to make a habit of it. If you wish you hadn't posted an answer and want to make it invisible, you can do so with the "Hide" option at the bottom of the box, but I don't think you can actually remove it from the system entirely.
Cheers Charles, I am relatively new to this so I didn't know I could post more than one answer. I am learning that as discussions and ideas evolve I sometimes wish I could retract previous answers!
Dr Neil, when I saw your answer you had still not corrected the grammar, which was why I did not vote for it. The reason that I liked it was that it did not add something to the meaning, something which many of the others others seemed to do in an attempt to maintain the wordplay.
Patrick, if my idea was so good why didn't you vote for it? ;@)
But seriously thank you for your comments, it's good to know that as a relatively inexperienced translator I'm on the right lines....
Actually, thinking about it again, surely tópico needs to be in the noun form rather than the adjective form here, therefore discounting trite/not newsworthy/a dead letter/pointless talk?
Explanation: 'Un tópico cierto' could be described as a 'truth/fact', but I am not convinced that 'un cierto tópico' can be described as a 'myth/fiction'.
One definition of 'tópico' is 'trite', which could be expressed as 'a dead letter/hot air', but I can not see how it could ever mean 'still in play/hot topic'.
I do not think the interviewer was trying to use wordplay to oppose the phrases. Instead they seem to be asking if the difference in life is an accepted fact or if it is still open for debate.
As such I would say that Dr Neil has the best approach so far since the question seems to accept that there is a difference but asks the extent to shich it is felt.
This solution essentially keeps the meanings but changes the logical mechanism of the question from wordplay to a contrast of idioms. If it doesn't seem right then making a slight alteration to Dr Neil's answer is probably the best solution.
Patrick Jones United Kingdom Local time: 17:22 Meets criteria Specializes in field Native speaker of: English
The translation workplace 
