Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
It was an accident waiting to happen.
Spanish translation:
Sólo era cuestión de tiempo que ocurriera un accidente.
English term
It was an accident waiting to happen.
Ayer se me rompió la cosa de plástico que conecta la cadena dentro del inodoro con la cosa afuera del inodoro que empujas para que funcione.
This is hard for me to explain in Spanish. Yesterday, the plastic thing that connects the handle outside of the toilet that you push down on to flush the toilet broke, so now the plastic thing is unable to pull the chain up high enough inside of the toilet so that it flushes. Now I have to pull the chain up manually until I repair this. In Spanish it seems like to "flush the toilet" is just "tirar la cadena" but that would just create confusion, and that lead me to explain this in English.
Ok, so how do you say "It was an accident waiting to happen?" meaning that the plastic thing was already in bad condition and that it could have broken at any moment?
¿Sería "Solo era cuestión de tiempo."?
Muchas gracias por su ayuda.
Feb 19, 2009 14:55: Noni Gilbert Riley changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"
PRO (3): Cristina Heraud-van Tol, Margarita Ezquerra (Smart Translators, S.L.), Noni Gilbert Riley
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Proposed translations
Peru
Accuracy and Commitment
Native in: Spanish (Variants: Peruvian, Latin American) 
Works in: English to Spanish, French to Spanish, Spanish to English, and 5 more.
sólo era cuestión de tiempo que ocurriera un accidente
| Me gusta tu traducción, Cristina. Muchas gracias. |
| agree |
Natalia Pedrosa (X)
4 mins
|
|
gracias
|
|
| agree |
Ivannia Garcia
: this is good. Not necessarily dramatic, the type of accident...
12 mins
|
|
gracias
|
|
| agree |
Noni Gilbert Riley
19 mins
|
| agree |
Alex Lago
2 hrs
|
| agree |
Aïda Garcia Pons
3 hrs
|
Accurate & Reliable
Native in: Spanish 
, English
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English, French to English, and 2 more.
era un accidente en potencia/era una bomba de tiempo (....que iba a explotar)
| Gracias, Carmen. Me gusta "accidente en potencia" :-) |
| agree |
Beta Cummins
1 min
|
|
gracias
|
|
| agree |
Mariana T. Buttermilch
: si me gustó lo de accidente potencial!
29 mins
|
|
gracias
|
Spain
Margarita Ezquerra (Smart Translators, S.L.)
Accredited translators 20 yrs experience
Native in: Spanish
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English, French to Spanish
el accidente era inminente / era previsible que se rompiera / lo previsible era que se rompiera
| Eres muy buena. Me gustan tus opciones. |
| agree |
Leticia Colombia Truque Vélez
15 mins
|
|
Gracias Colombia
|
|
| agree |
MariCarmen Pizarro
43 mins
|
|
Gracias MariCarmen
|
spanish
| Qué bueno. No se me había ocurrido. |
Uruguay
Public Accountant and Sworn Translator
Native in: Spanish
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English, Spanish
se veía venir
| Bien pensado. |
| agree |
Jairo Payan
: También es acertado. Las respuestas son acertadas y todo es cuestión de estilo
15 mins
|
| agree |
Noni Gilbert Riley
: Sí, también.
19 mins
|
| agree |
Laura Serván
29 mins
|
| agree |
Cor Stephan van Eijden
: de acuerdo: un accidente que se veía venir
7 hrs
|
Peru
Native in: Spanish
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English, French to Spanish
Era un accidente que se veía venir
| Gracias teresa. :-) |
United States
Also a researcher in nutrition
Native in: Spanish
Works in: English to Spanish, Italian to Spanish
Iba a suceder en cualquier momento
| Otra opción muy buena. |
Spain
The translator people turn to
Native in: English (Variant: UK)
Works in: Spanish to English, French to Spanish, English, and 1 more.
estaba cantado (que iba a suceder)
Cristina's rather less dramatic solution sounds good to me too, but I was looking for something which didn't get too wordy.
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Note added at 22 hrs (2009-02-20 13:22:54 GMT)
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Sí, OTT = over the top. Perdón.
| Gracias aceavila - Noni. By OTT, do you mean over the top? |
| agree |
Jairo Payan
: Así se dice coloquialmente. Me gusta esta opción
35 mins
|
|
Gracias Jairo.
|
|
| agree |
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
49 mins
|
|
Gracias Bea.
|
Uruguay
Native in: Spanish
Works in: English to Spanish, French to Spanish, Spanish to English, and 1 more.
iba a suceder en cualquier momento
| Muy bien pensado, ninalib. |
Discussion
Si, "solo era cuestión de tiempo" está bien y es más que suficiente.