Tuvo muchas profesiones

English translation: it had a lot of "professions"

19:48 Jul 7, 2019
Spanish to English translations [Non-PRO]
Anthropology / Historia del burro en Esp
Spanish term or phrase: Tuvo muchas profesiones
El burro o asno fue domesticado por el hombre hace más de 6000 años. A mediados del siglo XX había censados en España 675000 asnos; hoy solo quedan unos 30000. Hasta que se impusieron las máquinas (con la industria) tuvo muchas "profesiones": fue campesino, obrero, taxista, bombero, minero, pastor, nevero y aguador.

¡Mil gracias!

Nota: se humaniza un poco al burro al atribuirle profesiones y me gustaría reflejarlo así en la traducción.
isa_g
Local time: 16:26
English translation:it had a lot of "professions"
Explanation:
literal is ok here
Selected response from:

David Hollywood
Local time: 12:26
Grading comment
Thank you all very much. There are more good answers apart from this one, but finally I have chosen this because of the quotation marks. Yes, perhaps this question should not be considered as a pro one, but I didn´t think this issue was so important, since for us translators every linguistic question dealed with here is in the end treated as a professional one, so I didn't pay so much attention to classifying it as a non-pro question - sorry for that! :-)-. And regarding the word "professions", in Spain taxi-drivers, farm worker, etc. are considered professionals, an academic degree is not needed to have a "profesión". Thanks!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +8He had many professions / It had many professions
JohnMcDove
4 +4it had a lot of "professions"
David Hollywood
4 +2he had a lot of "careers"
Barbara Cochran, MFA
4 +1He/It had many occupations
Jan Castillo


Discussion entries: 9





  

Answers


1 min   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +8
He had many professions / It had many professions


Explanation:
You can use "he" if you want to "huanize" it.



JohnMcDove
United States
Local time: 08:26
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Muriel Vasconcellos
1 min
  -> Thank you very much, Muriel. :-) / Oooops!, I meant to write "humanize" not "huanize*!"

agree  Marie Wilson
32 mins
  -> Thank you very much, Marie. :-)

agree  Lester Tattersall: Well, the problem is that none of these are professions: campesino, obrero, taxista, bombero, minero, pastor, nevero y aguador.
1 hr
  -> Thank you very much, Lester. :-) But, what do you mean, "none of these are professions"? Of course they are! But there are quotation marks, because we are talking about a donkey! ;-)

agree  Erica McLay: I would have originally said "jobs" but as there are quotation marks, I think that professions suits best.
13 hrs
  -> Thank you very much, Erica. :-)

neutral  Jan Castillo: I agree with Lester. In Mexico, for example, una profesión would imply university studies. For that reason I would go for a less literal term like occupations or jobs or careers.
13 hrs
  -> Thank you very much, Jan. :-) See Phil's comment. Also DRAE: https://dle.rae.es/?id=UHx86MW :-)

agree  philgoddard: This word is deliberately chosen for humorous effect.
17 hrs
  -> Thank you very much, Phil. :-) Yes, That's is the point

agree  Michele Fauble
20 hrs
  -> Muchas gracias, Michele. :-)

agree  Carol Gullidge: with or without the quotation marks. I would probably replace "He" or "it" with "Donkeys" but this is a very minor matter of style
22 hrs
  -> Thank you very much, Carol. I agree. :-) (Also tku for the "discussion" notes.)

agree  Adolfo Fulco
2 days 3 hrs
  -> Muchas gracias, Adolfo. :-) ¡Saludos!
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22 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
He/It had many occupations


Explanation:
Could be a less academic possibility.

Example sentence(s):
  • Throughout his life, my uncle had many occupations: butcher, baker, candlestick maker.

    https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/occupation
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation
Jan Castillo
Local time: 11:26
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Lester Tattersall: I agreed with John's above by mistake. I think 'occupations' is better for these jobs,
1 hr

neutral  JohnMcDove: The point of using "professions" in quotation marks is to make the point. Otherwise, his/its occupation could also be "eating grass" if you will. :-)
8 hrs
  -> Interesting point, John.
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24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
he had a lot of "careers"


Explanation:
Being a bit satirical, in this case.

Barbara Cochran, MFA
United States
Local time: 11:26
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Lester Tattersall: I like this one best. It might be 'satirical', but in that it matches the Spanish, and can have the inverted commas. I think I'd put: he had lots of different "careers".
1 hr
  -> Thank you, Lester. I am in the process of writing a book that is full of satire, so I guess that's one of the reasons I decided to go with this.

agree  Carol Gullidge
11 hrs
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6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
it had a lot of "professions"


Explanation:
literal is ok here

David Hollywood
Local time: 12:26
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Thank you all very much. There are more good answers apart from this one, but finally I have chosen this because of the quotation marks. Yes, perhaps this question should not be considered as a pro one, but I didn´t think this issue was so important, since for us translators every linguistic question dealed with here is in the end treated as a professional one, so I didn't pay so much attention to classifying it as a non-pro question - sorry for that! :-)-. And regarding the word "professions", in Spain taxi-drivers, farm worker, etc. are considered professionals, an academic degree is not needed to have a "profesión". Thanks!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  JohnMcDove: Yes, with the quotation marks. And this question is way more Pro that it seems... ;-) It is indeed, very "professional" No kidding!! :-)
2 hrs

agree  Carol Gullidge
5 hrs

agree  Erica McLay
7 hrs

agree  Lester Tattersall: Why the "..."? Is it to point out, humoristically, that farm worker, labourer, taxi-driver, etc are not really professions?
19 hrs
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