Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
Do you understand? - ?Entiende usted? / ?Usted entiende?
Spanish translation:
¿Me explico?
Added to glossary by
Margarita Ezquerra (Smart Translators, S.L.)
Sep 26, 2010 17:03
13 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term
Writer, Proof Reader, Interpreter Eng/Sp
Native in: English 
Works in: English, Spanish to English, English to Spanish
Do you understand? - ?Entiende usted? / ?Usted entiende?
Non-PRO
English to Spanish
Other
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
I'm translating a semi-formal document and want to ask:
Do you understand?
I want to be as polite (and grammatically correct!) as possible, which makes me lean towards "?Entiende usted?" but my husband (a native Spanish speaker) is leaning towards the alternative "?Usted entiende?". Sometimes, at least in spoken Spanish where we lived in Latin America, reversing the pronoun/verb order can seem quite combative, even aggressive. I don't want my translation to sound aggressive as the piece will be used in a spoken context with vulnerable service users.
Any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you :)
Do you understand?
I want to be as polite (and grammatically correct!) as possible, which makes me lean towards "?Entiende usted?" but my husband (a native Spanish speaker) is leaning towards the alternative "?Usted entiende?". Sometimes, at least in spoken Spanish where we lived in Latin America, reversing the pronoun/verb order can seem quite combative, even aggressive. I don't want my translation to sound aggressive as the piece will be used in a spoken context with vulnerable service users.
Any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you :)
Proposed translations
(Spanish)
| 4 +7 | ¿Me explico? |
Margarita Ezquerra (Smart Translators, S.L.)
|
| 4 +2 | ¿Comprende usted? |
Yaotl Altan
|
| 4 | ¿Comprende usted?, o ¿Entiende usted? |
teresa quimper
|
Change log
Sep 28, 2010 06:23: Margarita Ezquerra (Smart Translators, S.L.) Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
+7
32 mins
Margarita Ezquerra (Smart Translators, S.L.)
Spain
Spain
Native in Spanish
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
Related KudoZ points
:
402
Selected
¿Me explico?
Hola. Si se trata de una conversación formal, siempre se debe evitar utilizar el "¿Entiende usted?" o "¿Entiendes" ya que da la sensación de que estás dando por hecho que la otra persona no es capaz de comprender lo que le estás exponiendo. Es una cuestión de educación... IMHO, resulta mucho más cortés y educado decir ¿me explico?
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Note added at 1 hora (2010-09-26 18:09:47 GMT)
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Si piensas que es imprescindible incluir el término "entiendes"... me inclino por ¿Me entiende?... Creo que el "usted" está de más. Saludos
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hora (2010-09-26 18:09:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Si piensas que es imprescindible incluir el término "entiendes"... me inclino por ¿Me entiende?... Creo que el "usted" está de más. Saludos
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Cecilia Rey
12 mins
|
|
Gracias Cecilia
|
|
| agree |
Jennifer Levey
15 mins
|
|
Gracias mediamatrix
|
|
| agree |
De Novi
42 mins
|
|
Gracias Sannestam
|
|
| agree |
Ruth Wöhlk
4 hrs
|
|
Gracias Rutita
|
|
| agree |
Adriana Martinez
: Completely agree. :-)
8 hrs
|
|
Gracias Adriana
|
|
| agree |
iolanda casacuberta
: Totalmente de acuerdo. También "No sé si me explico".
15 hrs
|
|
Gracias iolanda
|
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| agree |
Lydia De Jorge
1 day 1 hr
|
|
Gracias Lydia
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out with this doubt, I really appreciate it. Amy."
+2
1 min
Yaotl Altan
Mexico
Mexico
Native in Spanish
Mexico
Mexican translator proofreader +20 years
Native in: Spanish , Italian
Works in: English to Spanish, Italian to Spanish, French to Spanish, and 5 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
110
¿Comprende usted?
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Roxana V. Lamas
: comprende sounds a little more formal and I don't even think you need the "usted" (In spoken Spanish it is redundant)
4 mins
|
|
Thank you :)
|
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| neutral |
Monica Colangelo
: a mí, al menos, me suena muy raro... y definitivamente no usaría "usted"
11 mins
|
|
Es para hacer la frase más cortés. Salu2 :) Gracias
|
|
| agree |
Leonardo Lamarche
: agree. Si es para España el "usted" quizás suene raro.
28 mins
|
|
merci!
|
7 mins
teresa quimper
Peru
Peru
Native in Spanish
Works in field
Peru
Native in: Spanish 
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English, French to Spanish
Related KudoZ points
:
4
¿Comprende usted?, o ¿Entiende usted?
Siempre terminando la frase en "usted".
Discussion
I think "comprender" can be interpreted as "are you able to understand", whereas "entender" (from my prespective) has to do more with "are you willing to understand".