English vs Spanish: Doomsday

In Spanish we say EL FIN DE LOS DIAS o EL DIA DEL JUICIO FINAL to indicate the end of the world as we know it. In English the first is THE END OF DAYS and the other is JUDGMENT DAY. In Spanish there is another word to indicate the same and that is APOCALIPSIS which is APOCALYPSE in English. By the way, the last book in the Bible is usually called Apocalipsis in Spanish but in English is known as Revelations.
Besides the ones mentioned above, there are no many more words in Spanish to describe that "special" day. Nevertheless, in English there is another: DOOMSDAY. There is no real equivalent of this word in Spanish and that is why is translated as EL DIA DEL JUICIO FINAL just like Judgment Day. A more faithful translation would be Día de la Perdición, but that is perhaps too literal. 
RAGNAROK is mentioned also. Actually, that word is taken from the old Norse mythology and should be understood as the Twilight of the Gods. Since the English culture takes heavily from the Viking culture is then logical that they use some of their terms as it is the case of the Ragnarok word.     
Occasionally even Twilight is used since it means that imprecise moment betwen the remains of the day and a long night. 
                                      

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How do you say MIRADOR in English?

Image
"Hmm, why do I have this nagging feeling that someone is watching me watching?" In Spanish, a MIRADOR is any place that allows a privileged view of the surroundings. In English, a MIRADOR is a VIEWPOINT or a LOOKOUT. Another possible translation is VANTAGE POINT, though in a tourist context this term is a bit less common.
Read more

The Maps of Ship-Trap Island

Image
Once I had my high school students read The Most Dangerous Game, a short story by Richard Connell. Rainsford, the main character, is a professional hunter traveling by ship to his next hunting area, accidentally ends up in an island called Ship- Trap island. When he goes into the island he finds there are two men living in a palace in the island. One of them is a Cossack general and the other, his brutish servant.  The Cossack is called general Zaroff who is also  a game hunter but has become bored of hunting regular game and now uses the island's unique position to capture sailors from shipwrecks. He lets them go first and next after some time he hunts them down. Rainford's arrival who is worldwide famous presents Zaroff with a rare opportunity to find excitement in hunting again by hunting another hunter. Little does Zaroff know that Rainsford is The Most Dangerous Game in the World and hunting him will not be easy at all. My students enjoyed themselves at reading
Read more

How do you say EXAMEN SUPLETORIO in English?

Image
Darn! I wonder if there's a Make Up exam for this Make up exam! I remember that long ago I asked my distinguished and knowledgeable colleagues of that time to enlighten me and tell me the right English word for what we know in Ecuador as EXAMEN SUPLETORIO or EXAMEN DE RECUPERACION.  After hearing Recovery exam or Supplemenary test and even Supletory exam, I was not convinced so I decided to go to a higher authority and looked up one of those encyclopedic dictionaries from Oxford or Cambridge university (these were the pre-browser times) and found the right expression is MAKE UP EXAM which is taken when an exam has been missed or when a student needs to change one score with a more favorable one. The British say RECUPERATION EXAM which is perhaps more practical since to some people the term Make Up is confusing. Make-up is the word for the wearing of cosmetics. There are Make-up tests which are oriented to future Make-up artists.
Read more