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Comment by vijucat | Hacker News Reader

Nice article. Definitely need more kindness in this achievement society. One small crib, though:

> In Spanish, we have a saying, "Maestro Liendre: De tó sabe, pero de ná entiende." I don't really know (and don't want) to translate it because it loses its punch, but it fits perfectly here.

Wait, why mention it if I, the reader, cannot understand the saying or how it is even relevant to the article, but leave me with the tease that "but it fits perfectly here". Very puzzling, to say the least. Google Translate tells me "Master Niendre: He knows everything, but he understands nothing". Now I'm even more confused. That is so pithy and unambiguous that I really have to ask: what is it about the Spanish version that "loses its punch" when translated to English?!

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Google Translate is being too literal. It just means “jack of all trades, master of none”.

A more literal translation (with some liberties for the rhyme) would be “handyman nit: knows a bit of everything, but understands jack shit”.

Side note: I find ChatGPT to be a much better translator. It doesn’t just do literal translations. Here’s how it explained this phrase:

The saying "Maestro Liendre: De tó sabe, pero de ná entiende" generally means that someone appears to know a little bit about many things but doesn't have a deep understanding of any of them. It's used to describe someone who pretends to be knowledgeable but lacks true expertise.

TIL: Spanish has a sort of written contractions. I speak conversational Spanish so I’ve heard people talk this way, like Puerto Rico or Dominican Republic speakers shortening things, just hadn’t seen it written before. tó = todo ná = nada

https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/shortening-of-words > There are a few apocopes of very common words that are pronounced and written in informal Spanish as monosyllabic words. These popular apocopes include na, pa, and to, that stand for nada (nothing), para (for), and todo (all). You may find these words written with an apostrophe at the end, but spelling experts advise against it.

Interesting, thanks!

It hits better with the rhyme

Makes sense, thanks

"A know-it-all who doesn't understand anything" sounds fine in English to my ear.

from the context in the article, this seems to be the Spanish equivalent of “jack of all trades, master of none”

I think it has more of a negative connotation in the context of thinking you are a "master of all trades" despite not.

“Knows about everything yet understands nothing.”

Spanish version is much more compact and can be pronounced quicker so it can be used as pun.

This English version, you cannot just punch it, there has to be a pause like after "yet" or a comma before yet and then punch is delivered but still "understands nothing" is a mouthful compared to "pero de ná entiende" even though my Spanish is non existing, still feels like I could pronounce it much faster or much easier.

Funny, to me this English translation is very close in form and spirit to the Spanish one. I don’t know if I agree that “understands nothing” is comparatively a mouthful, considering that it’s 2 vs 4 words. But I do agree that the Spanish one packs a punch that is hard to get in translation. Part of that is the short words with strong accents, and a certain rhyming to the whole phrase.

I enjoy a lot the process of translating very idiomatic phrases, one way or another. I feel like I get to know both languages better.

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