Translation Article 686, Ten (10) Spanish Idioms with both their literal and semantic translations.

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Translation Article 686, Ten (10) Spanish Idioms with both their literal and semantic translations.

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Following are ten (10) interesting idioms in Spanish as they appear in the Collins 2009 Unabridged Collins Spanish-English Dictionary. In addition to the idioms themselves along with the provided translations, I am providing a literal translation (often meaningless) in brackets.

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The Spanish idioms we analyze are: “no valer un abalorio, abanicarse con algo, en un abrir y cerrar de los ojos, estar hecho un abril, abrirse camino en la vida, cuéntaselo a tu abuela, no necesitar abuela, … y parió la abuela, nada en la abundancia, acabáramos.” ??

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1) no valer un abalorio

[not worth a glass bead]

be worthless

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2) abanicarse con algo

[fan oneself with something]

(Southern Cone) not to give a damn about something

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3) en un abrir y cerrar de los ojos

[in an opening and closing of the eyes]

in the twinkling of an eye

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4) estar hecho un abril

[to be made an April]

to look very handsome

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5) abrirse camino en la vida

[open one’s road in life]

make one’s way in life

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6) Cuéntaselo a tu abuela!

[Tell it to your grandmother!]

Go tell that to the Marines!

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7) no necesitar abuela

[does not need a grandmother]

blow one’s own trumpet

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8) … y parió la abuela

[… and the grandmother gave birth]

… and that was the last straw, and that was all that was needed

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9) nadar en la abundancia

[to swim in abundance]

be rolling in money

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10) acabáramos

[we finished]

Oh, I see.

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Sources

Collins Universal Spanish-English English-Spanish Dictionary. Ninth Edition, Harper Collins Publisher, 2009.