Friday, December 9, 2005Those of you on the path to English-Spanish bilingualism might find this interesting: Stupid is much more light a word in English than estupido is in Spanish. Call an American stupid and you might get a small reaction, but if you call a Mexican estupido you must get ready to throw down. The preceding sentence holds true even when the levels of tolerance are the same in both individuals. Rather than estúpido, a better translation of stupid would be tonto. Rather than stupid, a better translation of estúpido would be imbecile. Yes, I’m aware of the stupid-estúpido, imbecile-imbécil, idiot-idiota English-Spanish pairings. It’s not sinking in yet? Try the following: Son of a bitch versus hijo de perra. They are each other’s most literal translation, but one of them is more likely to get you hurt. Why don’t you go ahead and try them with your American and Mexican friends to find out which one? Posted by Dusky at 3:46 am [Permalink]
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