Hector Lavoe - El Cantante (Trying to learn)

Hi all,

I'm currently trying to learn spanish (mostly through listening to salsa and reading a lot on the internet), so here I have posted my attempt at translating Hector Lavoe's El Cantante. I have put specific questions below, but any comments/criticisms/suggestion/explanation on anything below would be very much appreciated. This forum is such a great resource, and I thank all of you very very much for helping me out! Here goes.



Yo, soy el cantante
I am the singer

que hoy han venido a escuchar
That today you have come to listen to

Here is my first question. As I understand it, in Spanish outside of Spain (which Hector would be using, as he's from Puerto Rico), second person plural is usually "ustedes" which seems to always be the same as third person plural (ellos, ellas). But also in Spanish, usually the pronoun is not used... "canto" instead of "yo canto", for example. So, how can you tell if the verb's pronoun is "you all" (ustedes) or "they" (ellos, ellas)? For example in this case, couldn't "han venido" be translated as "you have come" but also as "they have come"? Is it only context or is there some other hint?


lo mejor del repertorio
The best of the repertoire

a ustedes voy a brindar.
I will give (toast/sing?) to you.

In the dictionary brindar's definition is "to toast"... but there is a very far down the list alternative definition of "give". Would you use toast, give or sing here?



Y canto a la vida
And I will sing to life

de risas y penas
Of laughter and pain

de momentos malos
Of bad moments

y de cosas buenas.
And of good things.

Any more elegant way to translate the last two lines? Can cosa be times as well as "things"? Or is there a better word than things.



Vinieron a divertirse
You came to have a good time

Again, you or they?


y pagaron en la puerta
And you paid at the door

"a la puerta" or "en la puerta"? Paying "in" the door seems strange.


no hay tiempo para tristeza
There's no time for sadness


vamos cantante comienza.
Let's go (I will?) start the singing.

Is this right? How do the verb conjugations of "vamos" and "comienza" reconcile here?



Me paran siempre en la calle
They always stop me in the street

mucha gente que comenta
Lots of people who comment (who tell me)

¡Oye Hector ah! tu estas hecho
Hey Hector! You're made,

You're made? You've made it? Am I getting the right jist here?


siempre con hembras y en fiestas.
Always with the women and partying.


Y nadie pregunta
And nobody asks

si sufro si lloro
If I suffer or cry

si tengo una pena
If I have a pain

que hiere muy hondo.
That hurts very deeply.



Yo soy el Cantante
I am the singer

porque lo mío es cantar
Because singing is my thing

y el público paga
And the public pays

para poder me escuchar.
To be able to listen to me.


Yo, soy el cantante
I am the singer

muy popular donde quiera;
Very popular where I love(?);

This one seems really strange to me. How does quiera work here? Apparently it's first person subjunctive... is that right?


pero cuando el show se acaba
But when the show ends

soy otro humano cualquiera.
I'm just like any other human


Y sigo mi vida
And I go on with my life

con risas y penas
With laughter and pains

con ratos amargos
With bitter times

y con cosas buenas.
And the good things



Yo soy el cantante
I am the singer

y mi negocio es cantar
And my business is singing

y a los que me siguen
And to those that follow me

mi canción voy a brindar.
I will give my song to you

No question here... it's just really quite beautiful.


Alright that's all for now... if I can get some good feedback I'll post the call and respond coro/solo bits he sings at the end and ask questions on those as well. Thanks so much, this is very fun for me and I'm really glad resources like this exist. Looking forward to the critique!

[QUOTE=ceptorial;432556]Hi all,

I'm currently trying to learn spanish (mostly through listening to salsa and reading a lot on the internet), so here I have posted my attempt at translating Hector Lavoe's El Cantante. I have put specific questions below, but any comments/criticisms/suggestion/explanation on anything below would be very much appreciated. This forum is such a great resource, and I thank all of you very very much for helping me out! Here goes.



Yo, soy el cantante
I am the singer

que hoy han venido a escuchar
That today you have come to listen to

Here is my first question. As I understand it, in Spanish outside of Spain (which Hector would be using, as he's from Puerto Rico), second person plural is usually "ustedes" which seems to always be the same as third person plural (ellos, ellas). But also in Spanish, usually the pronoun is not used... "canto" instead of "yo canto", for example. So, how can you tell if the verb's pronoun is "you all" (ustedes) or "they" (ellos, ellas)? For example in this case, couldn't "han venido" be translated as "you have come" but also as "they have come"? Is it only context or is there some other hint?

No, always by the context but in this case is clear that the singer is addressing to someone so is ustedes=vosotros. In Latin American and Ssouthern Spain Vosotros is usually replaced with Ustedes and the conjugation of that pronoun is the same as the third-person plural but here in Spain we use the 2nd pers. plural


lo mejor del repertorio
The best of the repertoire

a ustedes voy a brindar.
I will give (toast/sing?) to you.

In the dictionary brindar's definition is "to toast"... but there is a very far down the list alternative definition of "give". Would you use toast, give or sing here?

I will use "toast" or dedicate


Y canto a la vida
And I will sing to life

de risas y penas
Of laughter and pain

de momentos malos
Of bad moments

y de cosas buenas.
And of good things.

Any more elegant way to translate the last two lines? Can cosa be times as well as "things"? Or is there a better word than things.

It's correct for me

Vinieron a divertirse
You came to have a good time

Again, you or they?

The same as above ustedes/vosotros

y pagaron en la puerta
And you paid at the door

"a la puerta" or "en la puerta"? Paying "in" the door seems strange.

you paid at the door


no hay tiempo para tristeza
There's no time for sadness


vamos cantante comienza.
Let's go (I will?) start the singing.

He's addresing himself but as he was the audience so he use the 2nd pers. sing (imperative)

Is this right? How do the verb conjugations of "vamos" and "comienza" reconcile here?

Vamos = Come on!
so it will be "Come on singer start singing"


Me paran siempre en la calle
They always stop me in the street

mucha gente que comenta
Lots of people who comment (who tell me)

¡Oye Hector ah! tu estas hecho
Hey Hector! You're made,

You're made? You've made it? Am I getting the right jist here?


siempre con hembras y en fiestas.
Always with the women and partying.

estás hecho de hembras y fiestas= you're are made of/belong to women and parties


Yo, soy el cantante
I am the singer

muy popular donde quiera;
Very popular where I love(?);

This one seems really strange to me. How does quiera work here? Apparently it's first person subjunctive... is that right?

dondequiera is an adverb usually followed by que + subjuntive

muy popular dondequiera (que esté/ que vaya,...) very popular wherever I am / I go, etc...

Saludos

Coro:
Hoy te dedico mis mejores pregones...

we didn't get the meaning of pregones in this context...

can someone help?

Thank you very much
Johanz

Coro:
Hoy te dedico mis mejores pregones

Today we dedicate my best speech




This is what I think it means from my past research
I am a huge Hector fan

Nadia

Originally Posted by Nadia/Shaiya

Coro:
Hoy te dedico mis mejores pregones

Today we dedicate my best speech

I think its:


Hoy te dedico mis mejores pregones
Today I dedicate my best speeches to you

Thank you for clearing that up