May 1, 2009 21:59
15 yrs ago
9 viewers *
Spanish term

no sé cuánto, no sé cómo

Spanish to English Social Sciences Government / Politics Ecuador
This phrase, and variations on it, is repeated numerous times. For the last two instances, I thought perhaps: "I don't know, this and that" but I'm at a loss for the other 3. Ideally, I'd like to use the same phrase consistently in order to reflect her speech patterns:

... fue sacar el pasaporte y me venía todos los días, todos los días me quería venir, pero de ahí decía: “Ay no, es qué no sé, ***no sé cuánto, no sé cómo***, es que mis hijitos, es que ***no sé qué, no sé cuánto”***. ...

nunca vi que pegara a mi madre ni mucho menos, y era una de las cosas que mi padre no soportaba, decía que él no nos ha tratado así (…) a sus hijas, que ***no sé qué, que no sé cuánto***

y las cosas siempre están: “no, es que ahora voy a cambiar, dame otra oportunidad, ***que no sé qué, que no sé cuánto***”.

ya te digo, sin tener familia, ni conocidos ni nada pero como siempre, pues la una te cuenta: “ven, la agencia tal te llevan, te prestan, la bolsa y no sé qué y ***no sé cuánto, no sé cómo”. ***

Proposed translations

+6
26 mins
Selected

and so on and so forth

There is no particular right answer, but I think this might be easy to use and convey the right tone.
Peer comment(s):

agree Margaret Schroeder
45 mins
Thanks
agree Hasselt
1 hr
Thanks
agree Luis Rey Ballesteros (Luiroi)
2 hrs
Thanks
agree Richard Boulter : I like this very much, in the context where it is repeated so often. The idea is a throw-away phrase at the end of the sentence common in both languages., especially repeated a lot by speakers who are disgusted at the time that they['re speaking. :))
15 hrs
agree Noni Gilbert Riley : Also very repeatable.
1 day 9 hrs
agree Ivannia Garcia
2 days 22 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Wow! Thanks to all for the great suggestions! I'll give Jill the pts. but it was really hard for me to decide..."
+4
5 mins

this, that and the other

May work well here. A suggestion! Will be interested in the other options people come up with though. HTH
Peer comment(s):

agree Alejandro Alcaraz Sintes : That's it. Esto, aquello y lo de más allá. / Que si esto, que si aquello, que si lo otro. I don't know whether you can keep saying that every second sentence in English, but it's a good answer.
28 mins
De acuerdo con tus comentarios! Y gracias por el agree :)
agree Kathryn Litherland
1 hr
Thanks Kathryn! Have a nice weekend.
agree Lydia De Jorge
2 hrs
Thanks Lydia. Have a nice weekend.
agree Christine Walsh
4 hrs
Thanks Chriswa! Have a nice weekend.
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5 mins

I don't know what, I don't know how much ...

Mike :)
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2 mins

...and yada, yada, yada ...

...

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Note added at 24 mins (2009-05-01 22:24:25 GMT)
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es solamente relleno, como blah, blah
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+2
59 mins

whatever

There's always that big fat statement... :)

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Note added at 3 hrs (2009-05-02 01:04:35 GMT)
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My thinking is that "whatever" can be used over and over and over, and IS used over and over and over... :))

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Note added at 3 hrs (2009-05-02 01:05:16 GMT)
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Especially in American culture.
Peer comment(s):

agree Rosa Paredes
2 hrs
Thanks Rosa :))
agree Noni Gilbert Riley : Passes the repetition test!
1 day 8 hrs
Whatever! (Joke) :))) Cheers, Noni.
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5 hrs

if it's not one thing, it's another

This is the sense I get from the passages you have cited - sort of a resigned "filler" to express disappointment, delays, nothing getting done, etc.
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15 hrs

'...and who knows what...who knows how... etc.'

These are just additional options of common wording for this common 'throw-away' phrase in both languages. Actually, in the context I like 'and so-on' very much.

Another common phrase in this light is '... or whatever...'.

Best of luck. This sounds like a linguistically interesting project for you. Happy typing!
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1 day 15 hrs

"you know"

It seems to me that it has to be translated by a phrase such as this, often used in everyday speech.

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Note added at 1 day15 hrs (2009-05-03 13:05:24 GMT)
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"you know" or "you see" - these could be interchangeable.
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Reference comments

29 mins
Reference:

no sé qué...

En España decimos también también "no sé qué, no sé cuántos" (en plural).
El tercer elemento "no sé cuándo" no lo usamos aquí. Invento de Ecuador.
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