https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english-to-spanish/general-conversation-greetings-letters/3095567-it-was-an-accident-waiting-to-happen.html
This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
  1. KudoZ™ Top
  2. English to Spanish
  3. General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

It was an accident waiting to happen.

Spanish translation: Sólo era cuestión de tiempo que ocurriera un accidente.

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.
Entered by: hfp

14:35 Feb 19, 2009
English to Spanish translations [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
English term or phrase: It was an accident waiting to happen.
Buenos días:

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.
hfp
United States
Local time: 19:58
sólo era cuestión de tiempo que ocurriera un accidente
Explanation:
Sí, muy bien!
Selected response from:

Cristina Heraud-van Tol
Peru
Local time: 18:58
Grading comment
Sin duda, una traducción estándar. Muchas gracias.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +5sólo era cuestión de tiempo que ocurriera un accidente
Cristina Heraud-van Tol
4 +4se veía venir
Stella Lamarque
4 +2era un accidente en potencia/era una bomba de tiempo (....que iba a explotar)
Carmen Schultz
4 +2el accidente era inminente / era previsible que se rompiera / lo previsible era que se rompiera
Margarita Ezquerra (Smart Translators, S.L.)
5 +1Era un accidente que se veía venir
teresa quimper
5spanish
andrea piunn (X)
3 +2estaba cantado (que iba a suceder)
Noni Gilbert Riley
4Iba a suceder en cualquier momento
Gabriella Maldonado
4iba a suceder en cualquier momento
T.P. Nina Liberman


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


0 min   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +5
it was an accident waiting to happen.
sólo era cuestión de tiempo que ocurriera un accidente


Explanation:
Sí, muy bien!

Cristina Heraud-van Tol
Peru
Local time: 18:58
Native speaker of: Spanish
PRO pts in category: 136
Grading comment
Sin duda, una traducción estándar. Muchas gracias.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Me gusta tu traducción, Cristina. Muchas gracias.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
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
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 min   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
it was an accident waiting to happen.
era un accidente en potencia/era una bomba de tiempo (....que iba a explotar)


Explanation:
dos opciones que pueden funcionar

Carmen Schultz
Local time: 18:58
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 56
Notes to answerer
Asker: Gracias, Carmen. Me gusta "accidente en potencia" :-)


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Beta Cummins
1 min
  -> gracias
agree  Mariana T. Buttermilch: si me gustó lo de accidente potencial!
29 mins
  -> gracias
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
it was an accident waiting to happen.
el accidente era inminente / era previsible que se rompiera / lo previsible era que se rompiera


Explanation:
Más opciones

Margarita Ezquerra (Smart Translators, S.L.)
Spain
Local time: 01:58
Native speaker of: Spanish
PRO pts in category: 402
Notes to answerer
Asker: Eres muy buena. Me gustan tus opciones.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Leticia Colombia Truque Vélez
15 mins
  -> Gracias Colombia
agree  MariCarmen Pizarro
43 mins
  -> Gracias MariCarmen
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
it was an accident waiting to happen.
spanish


Explanation:
era un accidente esperable que sucediera.

andrea piunn (X)
Spain
Local time: 01:58
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 2
Notes to answerer
Asker: Qué bueno. No se me había ocurrido.

Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

41 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
it was an accident waiting to happen.
se veía venir


Explanation:
.. otra opción

Stella Lamarque
Uruguay
Local time: 20:58
Works in field
Native speaker of: Spanish
PRO pts in category: 16
Notes to answerer
Asker: Bien pensado.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
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
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
it was an accident waiting to happen.
Era un accidente que se veía venir


Explanation:
Es común decir esto cuando no se toman las precauciones para que no ocurran accidentes.

teresa quimper
Peru
Local time: 18:58
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: Gracias teresa. :-)


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  JP Rosales
4 hrs
  -> Muchas gracias
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
it was an accident waiting to happen.
Iba a suceder en cualquier momento


Explanation:
Otra Opción!

Gabriella Maldonado
United States
Local time: 19:58
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
Notes to answerer
Asker: Otra opción muy buena.

Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

20 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
it was an accident waiting to happen.
estaba cantado (que iba a suceder)


Explanation:
Not a higher confidence rating, because this sounds a little OTT for me, but let's see what the native Spanish speakers have to say.

Cristina's rather less dramatic solution sounds good to me too, but I was looking for something which didn't get too wordy.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 22 hrs (2009-02-20 13:22:54 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sí, OTT = over the top. Perdón.

Noni Gilbert Riley
Spain
Local time: 01:58
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 179
Notes to answerer
Asker: Gracias aceavila - Noni. By OTT, do you mean over the top?


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jairo Payan: Así se dice coloquialmente. Me gusta esta opción
35 mins
  -> Gracias Jairo.
agree  Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
49 mins
  -> Gracias Bea.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 day 42 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
it was an accident waiting to happen.
iba a suceder en cualquier momento


Explanation:
... ya que estaban dadas las condiciones para que sucediera.


T.P. Nina Liberman
Uruguay
Local time: 20:58
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Spanish
Notes to answerer
Asker: Muy bien pensado, ninalib.

Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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.

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.

See also:
ProZ.com term search
Search millions of term translations