Hacker News Reader

Comment by WhitneyLand | Hacker News Reader

I ordered a cheeseburger in Spanish and the server looked at me funny when I said:

”hamburguesa con queso sin pepinillos…”

I’m always interested in how to improve, especially since ChatGpt and Google Translate both suggested that translation so I asked why.

She said I’m not sure, it just doesn’t sound right.

I came back the next day after practicing with this prompt:

”When translating into Spanish, tailor it for Mexican-Americans living in Dallas, Texas. Leave certain words as English as necessary to produce the most idiomatic, culturally relevant, and understandable result.”

Ordered this time with the phrase

”Cheeseburger sin pepinillos."

She said yes, that’s better.

View on HN

I'm almost sure "pepinillos" is what's throwing her off. That's their proper name, but they're nor common in Mexican cuisine and therefore not part of the lingo. If ordering at an American place in Mexico, you would call them "pepinos".

Back to your example, both of these sound natural to me:

"Una hamburgesa con queso sin pickles" "Un/a cheeseburger sin pickles" Here the gendered noun can go either way since it's not clear if cheeseburger is a male or female noun. You: "Una hamburgesa sin pickles" Them: "Con o sin queso?" You: "Sin".

Source: I'm almost your target audience.

That would be raw cucumbers not pickled cucumbers, no?

Correct, but since "pepinillos" is not widely used, "pepinos" is understood by context to mean the pickled variety.

This is the case for Mexicans in the southwest USA. Things might be different for other regions/nationalities.

I’m from one of the northern states of Mexico and we say the original “pickles” pronounced as if it were Spanish. Or “pepinillos” never heard them called “pepinos”

> I ordered a cheeseburger in Spanish and the server looked at me funny when I said: ”hamburguesa con queso sin pepinillos…”

Yes, I agree that replying to a stranger in his mother tongue may make him extremely surprised.

A couple of months ago, I was in an Arabic country (in the Gulf), I entered a small shop to buy some stuff, the shop owner was obviously Hindi/Pakistani, I asked him about the price, in English of course, he replied then I asked for a possible discount if I bought in bulk and set my willing-to-pay price, he resisted then I smiled and said "yie bohot acha price hain", and he (and his assistant) were shocked like they were hit by a 380v electric shock. They stared at me and said: "tu tu tum bolo hindi?!" I replied,"nai bhai, tora tora. ".. he laughed and agreed immediately to the price I offered.

Love stuff like this.

I've done the same bargining speaking Cantonese in HK and Hindi in India.

I personally don't like it. There is a foreigner tax on everything , sometimes you pay 10x the amount that locals do. I haven't come across this in America ever.

(Except in NYC where it doesn't matter which language, as everyone gets equally gouged).

What is this particular burger called on the menu?

If it's listed as "Cheeseburger" she's probably wondering why you're describing the characteristics of the burger instead of just saying the name of it.

If it's listed as "Hamburguesa" and it nominally has pickles but doesn't come with cheese, then "La hamburguesa con queso, pero sin los pepinillos" (The hamburger with cheese, but without the pickles) would make more sense.

For some comparison, Shake Shake Mexico[1] has a customizable "Hamburguesa", whereas my favorite burger joint in Guadalajara[2] has "The Cheeseburger".

[1] https://www.shakeshack.com.mx/menu/ [2] https://louieburger.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Louie.Men...

She couldn't tell you "we say 'cheeseburger' instead of 'hamburguesa con queso?'" This is a good anecdote on why LLMs are great for translation but a strange example lol

She was not bi-lingual either and I didn’t want to intrude too much on someone’s work time with my random tech nerd curiosities

Reply on news.ycombinator.com