Tranlation for "give up"?

[trina]

Right now, this phrase seems rather elementary to me, and I don't know why I can't think of an equivalent in Spanish. I'm corresponding with Angel's aunt, who doesn't speak English, and I'm trying to convey the message that "I'm not ready to give up trying to sort out this Immigration mess". The parts in bold, although I could use different wording to convey the same message, have failed me. I could use something like "no voy a parar tratando a reglar esta vaina con Immigracion" - forgive the laziness on the missing accents please - I can never find the right ALT combinations. Also forgive the laziness in using the terrible word vaina, but I don't know if I could use "tollo" in this same way? I guess situacion would suffice in a pinch. Tia Tona uses "vaina" all the time, so it's not like it would be an offensive replacement.

Help, Lesley? Chiri?

Thanks!

 

[M.A.R.]

Right now, this phrase seems rather elementary to me, and I don't know why I can't think of an equivalent in Spanish. I'm corresponding with Angel's aunt, who doesn't speak English, and I'm trying to convey the message that "I'm not ready to give up trying to sort out this Immigration mess". The parts in bold, although I could use different wording to convey the same message, have failed me. I could use something like "no voy a parar tratando a reglar esta vaina con Immigracion" - forgive the laziness on the missing accents please - I can never find the right ALT combinations.

Help, Lesley? Chiri?

Thanks!

that's funny Trina.

No me voy a dar por vencida - not give up
sort out - decifrar

 

[Marianopolita]

Trina-

Okay whenever people ask 'how do you say xxx' and s/he gives their version of the phrase I try to stick to it as much as possible. Therefore using what you have stated:

I could use something like "no voy a parar tratando a reglar esta vaina con Immigracion"


Suggestion:

No voy a darme por vencida y tratar? de arreglar este problema con xxx


-LDG.

 

[trina]

Awesome, ladies! Thank you so much for the great suggestions. I don't think I'd heard the expression "no voy a darme por vencida".

Take care, and thanks again!

 

[trina]

that's funny Trina.

MAR:

Vaina - spoken like a true barrio Dominicana, right?

Last night, we were out dancing for the Calgary Stampede, which is a huge 10-day party in our city. I was dancing and talking to a Venezuelan cutie and received the compliment that I am more 'Latina' than most Latinas he knows. Guess after 3 kids, I still have 'it'. :classic:

 

[M.A.R.]

MAR:

Vaina - spoken like a true barrio Dominicana, right?

Last night, we were out dancing for the Calgary Stampede, which is a huge 10-day party in our city. I was dancing and talking to a Venezuelan cutie and received the compliment that I am more 'Latina' than most Latinas he knows. Guess after 3 kids, I still have 'it'. :classic:

I say it all the time "Que Vaina"! and "Que Jodienda" :cheeky: and I'm not from a barrio.

"El Diañe" = in place of "el diablo"! etc etc. and some others.

 

[trina]

I would say, "No estoy dispuesta(you're a girl) a dejar de tratar de desenredar este tollo (or you could use 'esa vaina', but it is a bit uncouth, a.k.a. barrio) en la imigraci?n."

Or you could phrase it:
"No estoy dispuesta a dejar de intentar de arreglar ese tollo de la oficina de la Imigraci?n."

This might seem a bit long winded but it is correct.

HB

Trina: Of course you have "it"....

Lesley: Have to say that this --"no voy a parar tratando a reglar esta vaina con Immigracion"-- sounds awfully stilted to my ear...and lingu?stically, I don't think it is accurate at all. The "vaina" or problem/mess is not 'con' with Immigration, it is "of" or "in" Immigration....so "con" is not appropriate.

Thanks for your suggestion, HB. I see why your suggestion also makes sense, but allow me to say that this original phrase (that you quoted above) was my haphazard attempt at corresponding my thoughts. Unfortunately, I write like I talk, and I shouldn't because I sometimes sound rather "bruta" when I do so. Lesley gave a great alternate, making much better usage of my original phrase No voy a darme por vencida y tratar? de arreglar este problema con xxx She used "con" because she was trying to stick as closely as possible to my phrase. She amazes me that she has the ability to speak 3 languages better than I can speak one!


BTW - when you "escape" as seldomly as I do, and don't get the chance to "work it" - you often wonder if you've "lost it". :classic: :classic:

 

[trina]

I say it all the time "Que Vaina"! and "Que Jodienda" :cheeky: and I'm not from a barrio.

"El Diañe" = in place of "el diablo"! etc etc. and some others.

"no me jodes!" "jodoncito!" "el Diache" uhuh, these words have come out of my mouth, too! Actually, Dominic can often be heard saying "me gusta esa vaina!" we're terrible... When Angelo came here, at age 7, he started school in a Catholic Spanish Bilingual School. I'd get a call nearly weekly, saying, "can you tell Angelo not to say 'no me jodes' anymore?" or "can you tell Angelo to stop saying 'coño' " or "Angelo needs to stop saying 'vaina' " They must thought what kind of potty-mouths raise Angelo???

 

[trina]

Then the problem is with immigration, not 'an immigration mess'....makes a difference...see?
You wrote "I'm not ready to give up trying to sort out this Immigration mess".

give up is "rendirse" , so you could have said, No voy a rendirme, but that is not what you meant, is it? You wanted to say that you were not going to stop trying to fix the situation.

As i posted above "reglar" is not the word to use. Arreglar is correct.....

Believe it or not, i really thought a few moments before posting , and as should be obvious, I seldom bother to 'tweak" Ms. Lesley....

HB

Definitely, like I said, sometimes I write my thoughts too fast in Spanish without thinking about what I'm meaning vs what I'm saying. I noticed Lesley had corrected my 'a reglar' in her response by using 'arreglar' - I didn't know there was a difference. I sometimes realize I have more to learn than I think I do!

Thank you all for your input and education on this subject.

 

[mkohn]

"I'm not ready to give up trying to sort out this Immigration mess".

No estoy lista[a abandonar el esfuerzo de arreglar este asunto inmigratorio.]
No soporto
No estoy dispuesta
No estoy de acuerdo

You could also say:
[a abandondar este asunto inmigratorio.] without referring to your efforts.

Asunto could be replaced with:
lio (not sure of the spelling) but it means a kind of a messy situation.

I agree that using "swear words" makes you look less than professional, but it depends on your audience.
"Vaina" could show how frustrated you are, and so would lio (or the more Mexican: bochinche) again - a kind of "run around" situation.

From all these posts, you've got a lot of choices. Whichever words or combinations feel right to you, you should use.
From all this vocabulary, you can be sure your fluency level has just jumped a bit.
Good luck with the immigration thingy too.
mkohn

 

[Chris_NJ]

I thought "perder la esperanza" was equivalent to giving up.

 

[trina]

Most Caribbean Spanish slang is hardly appropriate for school use. i once used "co?o" in school, and came oh so close to being sent home for it....and home was 150 miles away!! thanks to my Cuban roommates!!
"Vaina" became popular in the 70s, and was hardly accepted.
"Joder" is not correct
and "co?o" is far from being acceptable in proper circles....

While it is street speech, you should tell the little fellows that just as they can't go around saying mutherphu*****, and c**ksucker, in English, they should not use those words in Spanish....until they are old enough to know when to use them....

HB

I know, and we NEVER say bad words around the kids...with the exception of vaina. Angelo had heard everything from his mother's family, and that's why he was saying it in school, he didn't know there was anything wrong with it, and we did explain to him why he shouldn't say those words.

 

[trina]

"I'm not ready to give up trying to sort out this Immigration mess".

No estoy lista[a abandonar el esfuerzo de arreglar este asunto inmigratorio.]
No soporto
No estoy dispuesta
No estoy de acuerdo

You could also say:
[a abandondar este asunto inmigratorio.] without referring to your efforts.

Asunto could be replaced with:
lio (not sure of the spelling) but it means a kind of a messy situation.

I agree that using "swear words" makes you look less than professional, but it depends on your audience.
"Vaina" could show how frustrated you are, and so would lio (or the more Mexican: bochinche) again - a kind of "run around" situation.

From all these posts, you've got a lot of choices. Whichever words or combinations feel right to you, you should use.
From all this vocabulary, you can be sure your fluency level has just jumped a bit.
Good luck with the immigration thingy too.
mkohn

All are excellent alternatives, and just to let you know I'm sure that "es un lio" is one of my husband's favorite phrases. I don't know why I couldn't think of that phrase easier than "vaina"! It's probably because I'm feeling rather tired and lazy today after too little sleep!

Thanks mary. I hope we get this "thingy" straightened out, too!

 

[Jostan]

Maybe a stupid question, but why is vaina a bad word? :ermm: And I thought u had to spell it with a b

 

[Hillbilly]

It means more properly, 'vagina', especially in Caribbean Spanish,as well as sheath, as in a machete sheath or a saber scabbard....and it means a problem or an inconvenience in the Caribbean. When it was first introduced, people really reacted as if shocked...

When it was first used it was shocking!

and frowned upon.

 

[trina]

Angelo's teacher told me that in her country, it was the equivalent of saying "crap" or "sh!t". A Columbian also told me that it's a very bad word in his country, but wouldn't expand further than this.

Vaina in the DR, in my experience only (from asking my husband and his family), say that "vaina" generally translated to "thing". I think of it as taking the lazy way out when you can't think of the word you are trying to come up with. I've never equated it to "vagina", not in my wildest dreams thought of that because I've never heard of it in that context, but Angel told me that it can mean this, although it is not the norm. As always, it depends on what part of the country you are, as there are different dialects used in different parts of the country. "vaina" is also a common word for "habichuela".

 

[jruane44]

Translation for "give up" = "uncle"

 

[Hipocrito Mejia]

I thought "perder la esperanza" was equivalent to giving up.

That is "to lose hope".

In proper Spanish, "vaina" is a sheath as HB pointed out, or the pod of beans, peas or other legumes.

 

[Tordok]

alternative short version.

"No me rindo hasta que se esclarezca este lio con inmigracion".

-to give up is to surrender, which in Spanish is rendirse, thus rindo.
-sort out is to figure out or clarify, thus esclarezca (cool word, ha??.)

-Tordok

 

[trina]

alternative short version.

"No me rindo hasta que se esclarezca este lio con inmigracion".

-to give up is to surrender, which in Spanish is rendirse, thus rindo.
-sort out is to figure out or clarify, thus esclarezca (cool word, ha??.)

-Tordok

Thank you Tordok, I hope you know that you are one of the people I admire most on this board, so hearing a response from you is a very welcome addition to this thread. I thank you very much for taking the time to do so.

I ended up writing the letter using Lesley's version, she put into words exactly what I wanted to say. As you could see, I was speaking with my Tia, so the conversation was very informal and Lesley's version was the closest match to my original thought. When I want to translate something from English to Spanish and I can't quite get it right or want to check the grammar, I always count on Lesley to be my best bet. That being said, I loved hearing all the different variations everyone else was so kind to offer. It gives a better understanding and vocabulary base for people who are still learning.

Thanks all for your valuable contributions. It was definitely an education. Funny how the same phrase can be correctly translated in so many ways...