Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

El misterio es magia y la magia es mito

English translation:

Mystery makes magic, and magic makes myths.

Added to glossary by Ion Zubizarreta
Nov 26, 2013 12:48
10 yrs ago
Spanish term

El misterio es magia y la magia es mito

Spanish to English Art/Literary Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
This extract belongs to a documentary that I'm subtitling so I don't have too much space.

Thanks!

"Ellos eran muy celosos de su vida interior y ese misterio les hacía aún más interesantes: lo poco transparentes que eran, lo opacos, ¿qué sucederá ahí detrás? ¿Ese espíritu de grupo cómo transcurre? Y eso, que duda cabe, pues multiplica el interés. Yo creo que una de las causas de la decadencia del rock actual es que ha perdido todo el misterio que tenía. @@El misterio es magia y la magia es mito@@."

Proposed translations

+3
13 mins
Selected

Mystery makes magic, and magic makes myths.

OR:
Mystery leads to magic, and magic is the stuff of legends.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2013-11-26 15:33:48 GMT)
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I agree with Charles' comment below that "myth" is to be avoided here (for the reason I explain in my response to him). So I'm rescinding my posted response but standing by the second option that I've offered.
Peer comment(s):

agree Charles Davis : For me, "magic is the stuff of legend" (preferably singular) is perfect for the second half. For the first, I'd prefer Carol's "mystery is magical". I would avoid the word "myth" entirely.
33 mins
Upon reflection, I agree that "myth" should be avoided. The Spanish often uses *mito* and *mítico* to mean "legend" and "legendary" respectively. Thank you, Charles.
agree EirTranslations : Really nice...
5 hrs
Thank you, Aqua.
agree Lucy Phillips
6 hrs
Thank you, Lucy.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you all for your help. I agree with Charles and Robert that "myth" should be avoided when translating "mito" in these kind of contexts."
+2
5 mins

Mystery is magic and magic is myth

Pretty straightforward, but I don't see what's wrong with it
Peer comment(s):

agree philgoddard : Nor do I, especially as space is short.
1 hr
Exactly. Thanks Phil.
agree Phoenix III
5 hrs
Something went wrong...
9 mins

Mystery is magical and the magic is legendary

"legendary" alludes to the legendary magic of the past that has been lost with "... que ha perdido todo el misterio que tenía"
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1 hr

In mystery lies magic... and from magic comes myth

I think a slightly different construction for each half of this phrase might work better in English, than the uniform 'A es B y B es C' of the Spanish source text.

"In mystery lies magic..." could appear on its own for, say, 2.5 secs
Then "and from magic comes myth" for 2.5 or 3 secs
Just a suggestion, obviously depends on timing of narration.
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