Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Spanish term or phrase:
era la que no podía pisar firme sobre el terreno por el que caminaba
English translation:
Only Eva felt as if she were standing on shaky ground
Added to glossary by
bcsantos
Nov 5, 2016 15:12
7 yrs ago
3 viewers *
Spanish term
United States
Laudable Lady Linguist
Native in: English 
Works in: Spanish to English, French to English, English to Spanish, and 3 more.
era la que no podía pisar firme sobre el terreno por el que caminaba
Spanish to English
Art/Literary
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
In A Novel
Contexto:
La madre de Eva se encargó de los meseros y del pastel. Eva tendría que entregar las invitaciones y confirmar con los invitados. Juan estaba más que feliz y complacido con todo. Solo Eva era la que no podía pisar firme sobre el terreno por el que caminaba.
Juan is Eva's long-time partner. They, until this point, when their son is about to receive his first communion, had been on the outs with one another, and Eva, unbeknowst to Juan, has been seeing someone else.
I was thinking of "unsteady on her feet", but I think that that may not capture the entire sense.
Gracias,
Barbara
La madre de Eva se encargó de los meseros y del pastel. Eva tendría que entregar las invitaciones y confirmar con los invitados. Juan estaba más que feliz y complacido con todo. Solo Eva era la que no podía pisar firme sobre el terreno por el que caminaba.
Juan is Eva's long-time partner. They, until this point, when their son is about to receive his first communion, had been on the outs with one another, and Eva, unbeknowst to Juan, has been seeing someone else.
I was thinking of "unsteady on her feet", but I think that that may not capture the entire sense.
Gracias,
Barbara
Proposed translations
(English)
Change log
Nov 8, 2016 22:15: bcsantos Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
+2
12 mins
Selected
Only Eva felt as if she were standing on shaky ground
..
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
-1
33 mins
Only Eva was the one that couldn't step firmly on the ground she was walking.
Another possibility.
Peer comment(s):
| disagree |
James A. Walsh
: No, sorry, this is not a possibility. Pure literal translation. It sounds awful in English. Period.
6 hrs
|
6 hrs
Muriel Vasconcellos
United States
United States
Native in English
United States
Each translation a gem!
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
Works in: Spanish to English, Portuguese to English
Related KudoZ points
:
199
Eva was the only one who was/felt nervous
I don't think the feet-on-the-ground metaphor "stands up" (pun intended) very well in this situation.
7 hrs
James A. Walsh
Spain
Spain
Native in Spanish
&
English
Spain
A cut above the rest in translation...
Native in: English (Variants: UK, Irish, US) , Spanish (Variants: Standard-Spain, Latin American)
Works in: Spanish to English, French to English, English to Spanish, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
94
Spanish term (edited):
Solo Eva era la que no podía pisar firme sobre el terreno por el que caminaba.
It was only Eva who was unsure of her destiny.
I doesn't need to be as long in the English as the Spanish. And I really think you should aim to shorten it as much as possible actually, because it's really not that big a deal (the message)
7 hrs
felt like she was treading on thin ice
The next sentence would really help ! Why is she feeling uncomfortable?
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