Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

aceituna, no menos de una

English translation:

olive is all you need

Added to glossary by schmetterlich
Nov 20, 2018 04:27
5 yrs ago
2 viewers *
Spanish term

aceituna, no menos de una

Spanish to English Other Education / Pedagogy
Title of a book about the story of the olive in Peru.

Discussion

Carol Gullidge Nov 21, 2018:
Thanks, Neil! Unfortunately, we have no basic context regarding the target audience or register, etc, upon which to base an informed suggestion, so anything we offer can be no more than a stab in the dark. More information from the poster would - as always - be helpful if he/she hopes for anything at all meaningful from us...Perhaps the reason behind so many questions "closed without grading"!
neilmac Nov 21, 2018:
@Carol I like ""An olive a day keeps the doctor away" as it's jokey, and easily recognisable as a wordplay based on the folklore saying about apples. And they keep telling us how great olive oil and a Mediterranean diet are the bees' knees.
Carol Gullidge Nov 20, 2018:
... or something contrived like rhyming "Olive" with "Bolly" (squirm, squirm!)
Carol Gullidge Nov 20, 2018:
olives and rhyming in English unfortunately, with its stress on the first syllable ("O"), the word "olive" does not lend itself to rhyming, or at least not a lot that would sound natural. The best you could hope for is a half-rhyme such as "bodies"...
Or you could go for something completely different, such as adapting an old adage, e.g.: "An olive a day keeps the doctor away"
Carol Gullidge Nov 20, 2018:
translating book titles If you are translating the whole book, then of course you need to translate the title as well. But this is usually best done at the end, when you've completed the main text and have a good idea of what the author is getting at with his/her title.
Otherwise, if this title is simply the name of a book being cited in the text, then Phil is right, and of course the title should not be translated.
But you've provided no explanation/context, making it hard to for us to provide any meaningful suggestions!
neilmac Nov 20, 2018:
Dilemma A literal translation makes no sense. The internal rhyme of the Spanish will also be difficult to maintain IMHO. I suppose you could always opt for the approach taken by translators of movie titles for Spanish cinemagoers. For example "Water", which they translated as "Loca Juerga Tropical"... :)
philgoddard Nov 20, 2018:
So many questions... What is the context?
Why do you need to translate it?
Should it not remain in Spanish?
If you do need an English version, for example if it's the title of a book you've translated, you need to ignore the untranslatable Spanish and come up with something clever of your own. Have you had any thoughts about this?

Proposed translations

+1
9 hrs
Selected

olives, the best you can give

I think you should find a rhyme with "olive" so that the play on words is not lost. I have thought of something like "olives are better to live" or "olives, the best you can give", or something like that. Just a couple of suggestions.

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Note added at 15 horas (2018-11-20 19:57:40 GMT)
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Or what about "Olive is all you need"? (Like the song All you need is love, love is all you need...) Just came to my mind, hehe
Peer comment(s):

agree carmen romero : ..y si es buena, una docena...
1 hr
neutral Carol Gullidge : Nice idea, but sadly, this doesn't work as a rhyme in English, as the stress in "olive" is on the first syllable (the "o"). Please see my note in the Discussion"//Exactly, which is why it might be a good idea to seek a different solution
1 hr
I know, but olive is really difficult to rhyme...
neutral philgoddard : Also, this might work as a slogan to encourage people to give them as a present, but this is about the story of olives in Peru
4 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Me has gustado la segunda opción. Gracias!"
2 days 9 mins

olives, one is not enough

Just seems natural, based on the moreish nature of olives. Why 'Spanish preferred' if the asker is most likely a native English speaker translating into English?
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1 day 4 hrs

in for an olive, in for a pound

Por ejemplo ;)
El juego de palabras en inglés parece sugerir una imagen parecida a la del original, aunque en castellano, entre otros sentidos, parece sugerirse por ejemplo una recomendación (del tipo *es saludable tomarse como mínimo una aceituna al día*), mientras que en inglés parece incidirse en la inevitabilidad de -en este caso- consumir más aceitunas una vez empezado. Como comentado en Discussion, sería necesario estar familiarizado con el contenido del libro para poder escoger una expresión ajustada a los matices y/o acentos de la expresión original.

¡Ánimo!

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Note added at 4 days (2018-11-24 21:59:48 GMT)
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Si, entiendo schmetterlich.
El título en castellano, Aceituna, no menos de una, resulta a la vez sugerente, desenfadado y ambiguo, permitiendo en cualquier caso que la aceituna mantenga su protagonismo y que la frase resuene a dicho popular. Buscaría así traducir el tono manteniendo el protagonismo del sujeto, en este caso la aceituna, y permitiendo que el título resuene como un refrán inglés, tanto si lo es como si sólo lo parece.
Tal vez In for an olive, sin más, cumpla todos los requisitos, aunque vendría bien la opinión de un oído nativo para confirmar si la expresión funciona o no en inglés.
Lo dicho, mucho ánimo ;)
Note from asker:
El texto es sobre la aceituna en Perú, su historia. Habla también un poco de su cosecha y el uso en comidas.
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