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Spanish to English translations [PRO] General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Spanish term or phrase:representarla ante
Estoy traduciendo una carta de unos padres explicando que apoyan la relación sentimental de su hija. Esta carta forma parte de los papeles de solicitud de residencia de dicha hija en Canadá.
"Su viaje a Canadá se basaba en planes que complementaran su profesión. Sin embargo, siendo una joven inteligente, responsable, honesta y trabajadora, era muy posible que en esa desarrollada trayectoria, se habría de presentar un joven como muchos otros, en este caso xxx, quien es un gran apoyo, además de **representarla ante** toda su familia, la nuestra y amistades comunes, como su pareja; por lo tanto, este joven tiene total aprobación por parte de la familia."
Sinceramente, no entiendo qué quieren decir con "representarla ante" en este caso.
¿Me podrían sugerir alguna traducción? Muchas gracias por adelantado
Explanation: One of the meanings of "representar" in the DRAE: Dicho de una persona: Manifestar el afecto del que está poseída.
According to this, perhaps: in the presence of his family, ours and mutual friends, he shows (displays) affection for her as his partner.
I must admit, I was not aware of this meaning until now and have no idea how widely it is used in Venezuela. Therefore, a cautious low confidence level.
...que **por su propia iniciativa presentó a Alejandra como su pareja**; hecho ante toda su familia y amistades, es por lo goza y obtiene plena y total aprobación de nuestra familia" que se ajusta con lo que sugirieron varios de ustedes
Thanks, Joe. As a matter of fact, I just spoke to the client and she herself didn't recall what she was trying to say (she didn't have the letter with her right now). I think your suggestion makes sense. I will check with her tomorrow
Your comment about introducing her to her own family certainly makes a lot of sense; I see I didn't think my suggestion through well enough. To me, this "representar" means that he tells the world that she is indeed his partner; that he affirms or confirms that theirs is a committed/serious relationship.
Maybe we could say he recognizes or acknowledges her as his partner. I don't think that "treat" is quite what is meant; it seems that it's more the way he presents her or the relationship to the world.
And yes, this is definitely Pro. Yvonne is a very talented Spanish linguist (no need to go into all her other languages) and also ATA certified.
Mario Chavez (X)
maybe “presentarla a toda su familia”
00:55 Aug 4, 2016
The context talks about a young man (like many others) who would be of great support, aside from introducing her as his partner [girlfriend] to his entire family, our family and to shared friends.
But on that basis it's still difficult to see how they got to "representar". It can't come from English.
If it were Spanglish, it would presumably mean that he represented her as his partner, which would imply that she wasn't really. Her parents are unlikely to see this as a recommendation.
It might be sloppy Spanish, but not a blend with Spanglish as the parents of the young woman are Venezuelans and live in Venezuela. Maybe it means what Charles found in the Diccionario de americanismos, although it sounds a bit old-fashioned, at least to me
Could this be a case of sloppy Spanish? I translate a lot of private correspondence for immigration purposes, and quite often the original Spanish is a cross between Spanish and Spanglish.
...pero ya en el texto anterior decía que la había presentado a su familia. Por otra parte, me sonaba raro que le presentara a la novia a los amigos en común o a la propia familia de la novia
I have a hunch that it means something like "treat"; in other words, that it refers to the way the young man behaves with and towards her. But I'm not going to propose an answer on the basis of a hunch.
And no offence intended, but I think voting this question non-PRO betrays a failure to consider the difficulty. It is worth noting that Yvonne, a native speaker of Spanish, doesn't understand what the word means, so it is probably not a straightforward matter.
It is a cardinal error to guess on the basis of what sounds convincing in the context. That's not enough; you have to start by establishing what it means, and you have to have a sound basis for doing so.
It used to have the meaning of "presentar", but a very long time ago. This definition is now marked as "desusado" in the DRAE, and was already listed as "anticuado" in 1803. So unless this young woman's parents have a penchant for expressing themselves in eighteenth-century Spanish, I don't think they can mean "introduce".
However, quite what they do mean I'm not sure. One thing "representar" can mean in Venezuela is "dar un hombre a su familia respaldo frente a la sociedad" (Diccionario de americanismos). Could it be something like that, I wonder?
I agree that the appropriate verb is "introduce". I prefer the AllegroTrans word order. To help the whole sentence flow smoothly, I would say " ... xxx, who is very supportive and introduced her to his family, our family and to their mutual friends as his partner; ..."
How about, "he introduced her as his girlfriend to his family..."? This is my interpretation.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
15 hrs confidence:
representar
show affection
Explanation: One of the meanings of "representar" in the DRAE: Dicho de una persona: Manifestar el afecto del que está poseída.
According to this, perhaps: in the presence of his family, ours and mutual friends, he shows (displays) affection for her as his partner.
I must admit, I was not aware of this meaning until now and have no idea how widely it is used in Venezuela. Therefore, a cautious low confidence level.
Carlos Segura United Kingdom Local time: 01:26 Works in field Native speaker of: Spanish, English PRO pts in category: 4
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