paintermujer

My daughter is here on holiday and she needs a translation of

"I would rather capture the moment than create it."

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

Sherlock Holmes

Prefiero coger el momento que lo crea

That may not be 100% correct but it would be understood.

There might be a subjunctive missing.

snikpoh

I think it's always almost impossible to 'translate' sayings like that.

Yep, there's a literal translation but it won't carry the same 'meaning' than the Spanish equivalent.

lynnxa

you're right

my literal translation is this though


Yo preferiría capturar el momento de crearlo

jackytoo

Prefiero capturar el momento de crearlo
OR
En vez de crearlo preferiria capturar el momento

Only suggestions not sure, where are all the spanish member when you need them

agoreira

I just ran my attempt through a Spanish forum I use, to ensure it´s valid.
Prefiero capturar el momento a crearlo.
I got the following reply,
Sí, lo veo bien. Sin embargo mi traducción sería: Mejor que crearlo, yo capturaría el momento.
Looks good to me, however my translation would be "Mejor que crearlo, yo capturaría el momento."
Somone else has suggested similar to me, ""Prefiero capturar el momento en lugar de crearlo" " I prefer to capture the moment, rather than create it.

lynnxa

yes...I saw your question

jackytoo

That one seems to flow better, not that I am an expert

agoreira

Did you see the next one, querying "de crearlo" or "a crearlo". I think it´s "A" but would like to know which one is correct.
That post was times at 3.56, so I didn´t cheat!

agoreira

Nor me, that´s why I hang around the Spanish forums! Trying to disprove the theory "old dog, new tricks", but failing miserably.

lynnxa

no answer to it yet

my feeling is that it's de because it's one thing en vez de another............

agoreira

You could well be right! DE sounds more natural, if in doubt "en lugar de" sounds an easy opt out! Perhaps I´m getting confused with something like,
"I'd rather walk than go by bus. Prefiero andar a ir en autobús" Ya veremos. Right, it´s glorious weather here now, so off for a walk!

siesta

Hm, if you accept suggestions from a native speaker I'd say that both "Prefiero capturar el momento en lugar de crearlo" and "En vez de crearlo preferiria capturar el momento" sound perfectly fine, but never "Yo preferiría capturar el momento de crearlo" because it means something else. It means I'd rather capture the moment of creating it (or something like that). There, "de" means of, like "el momento de mi nacimiento" and not than, so using that phrase it should be "yo preferiría capturar el momento QUE crearlo". Still, the first two options are much better, I think.

agoreira

¡Por supuesto que si!

I put the following in another forum, this was the reply

So I think we agree "de" is not good. I think "que" seems to do the best job.

lynnxa

yes, 'que' does seem better

just goes to show there's always more than one way of saying everything - in Spanish as well as in English - the posters who answered on the language forum are also native Spanish speakers!