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  • Carlos Vives
    Carlos Vives – Cuando nos volvamos a encontrar

    English translation

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Translation
#1#2#3

When We Meet Again

Today I paid the bills, fixed up the garden a bit,
Decorated with flowers, the way you used to like it.
I've given up junk food,
And falling asleep in front of the TV.
 
I've given up cigarettes, coffee just doesn't taste right,
Only you know how to make it the way I like it.
I repaired my bicycle....
And for you I've started studying French.
 
And your love will bring the springtime
And a new life that teaches
That nothing will be the way it was yesterday...
 
When we meet again,
I won't stop thinking about the wee hours of the morning,
There won't be any more tears flowing on your pillow,
There won't be any more mornings that I'm not loving cuddling you.
 
When we meet again,
I won't have time for sad good-byes,
There won't be a moment that I don't adore you,
There won't be an evening that I don't go pick you up,
When we meet again...
 
I was just a jerk who broke your heart.
Your good advice is now my religion.
I have forgotten hurtful words.
Since I go to yoga classes, I'm not stressed out.
 
And your love will bring the springtime
And a new life that teaches
That nothing will be the way it was yesterday...
 
When we meet again,
I won't stop thinking about the wee hours of the morning,
There won't be any more tears flowing on your pillow,
There won't be any more mornings that I'm not loving cuddling you.
 
When we meet again,
I won't have time for sad good-byes,
There won't be a moment that I don't adore you,
There won't be an evening that I don't go pick you up,
When we meet again...
 
When we meet again,
I won't stop thinking about the wee hours of the morning,
There won't be any more tears flowing on your pillow,
There won't be any more mornings that I'm not loving cuddling you.
 
When we meet again,
I won't have time for sad good-byes,
There won't be a moment that I don't adore you,
There won't be an evening that I don't go pick you up,
When we meet again...
Aya....1
 
  • 1. After hearing this song so many times on the XM, at least 3 times a day for the past several months, I have finally decided that this is not really a word. It's just a pleasant sounding vocalization that Marc makes to end the song.
Spanish
Original lyrics

Cuando nos volvamos a encontrar

Click to see the original lyrics (Spanish)

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Translations of "Cuando nos volvamos ..."

English #1, #2, #3
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Comments
evfokasevfokas    Tue, 22/07/2014 - 11:54

Welcome to LT and thank you for your translation
The general meaning is correct but there are a few slip ups, so it'd be better if you translated songs you understand well because a stringent rating may disappoint you. You can also press the "Request proofreading" button to formally invite corrections
no habrá > there won't be
allá > here I, here it implies both allá voy (here I go) and allá nos vemos (see you there)

Grampa Wild WillyGrampa Wild Willy
   Tue, 22/07/2014 - 14:28

Thank you, Evan. I have found this site so useful I felt compelled to give something back.

Thanks for pointing out the proofreading button. Stringent rating is probably what I need. Nothing like a few whups upside the head to set me on the right path.

> no habrá > there won't be

Hmmmm....... Well, "there won't be" and "I'll be done with" are equivalent. But I purposely chose the wording I did because it captures the idea that he WAS doing all those things and can hardly contain himself waiting for the time when he WILL NO LONGER be doing them. Was I adding too much of me into the translation there?

> allá > here I

Problem is "here I" isn't English, nor is "I here." There's no verb. "Here I go" just doesn't seem to fit with anything in the song. "See you there" begs the question where, which is never mentioned in the song. The closest he comes is talking about decorating with flowers, which vaguely implies "here," meaning his home. But . . . let's see . . . How about, "On my way to you." That seems a bit cumbersome. It doesn't have the same impact as the single word in Spanish. "Be seeing you" and "See you soon" are common English expressions. Could one of them fit?

Fart time doubter . . . Thanks for the warning. I'll be sure to stay upwind from you . . .

evfokasevfokas    Wed, 23/07/2014 - 11:15

You're welcome Will and thanks for the english class ; you're absolutely free to pick your own words
An english class for you:
a) Elliptical, incomplete and vague sentences are sometimes used intentionally in artful writing to let the reader/audience wonder or complete the sentences the way they want or just because they fit the metre or help the rhyme. If I write "What the ..." it doesn't take a genius to figure the meaning, in the same manner "here I ..." can be "here I go/come/am" (the other options are out of context), just as "allá ..." can mean various things but the given context constrains the possible choices. These sentences are wrong in all languages and not only in english; and I don't see why "here I ..." needs a verb while "there ..." doesn't
That you know well: something it is I would... Shakespeare
And some day, some day, some day...Paul Simon

b) "I'll be done with soaking your pillow case with tears" significantly differs from "there won't be anymore tears flowing on your pillow" because it changes the meaning about the one shedding the tears, so "there won't be" and "I'll be done with" are hardly equivalent in english since the first uses impersonal syntax while the second explicitly sets the subject.

So long and take care of the changeable winds before you pass...

Grampa Wild WillyGrampa Wild Willy
   Thu, 24/07/2014 - 06:46

Things to think about . . . Thanks so much!

On your point a), I already knew about ellipsis but I don't think I really grasped it in this case. Thanks for pointing it out. In that context, I totally accept your original suggestion. As for a standalone "There" with no verb, people say that sometimes. There. As in, There I've said it. Or, So there! But I admit I was just guessing.

On your point b), you're absolutely right.

As you see, I've changed the translation. Thanks again.

evfokasevfokas    Thu, 24/07/2014 - 09:52

You're welcome, I know people use many verbless sentences and I do too, and songs often employ unusual constructions but most of the time I find them pleasing
He spoke of brothers many
wine and women song a plenty

Grampa Wild WillyGrampa Wild Willy
   Thu, 24/07/2014 - 12:27

Speaking of unusual construction, I know English poems and sometimes song lyrics are in an odd word order, something normal people in everyday conversation wouldn't say. To what extent is that true in Spanish? I don't want to end up sounding like a poet all the time. :)

evfokasevfokas    Thu, 24/07/2014 - 14:50

I'm not an expert on the subject but the spanish language has very old musical and poetic roots with significant contributions from the many spanish speaking countries and also influence from the european, arab and gypsy traditions, so it's rather common to expect unusual spanish in songs. Although I think english has primacy in this area because it undergone a more liberal evolution, mind you that in spanish there's the Real Academia Española which determines what's good spanish and what isn't for all the spanish speaking countries, while in english there's the absolute linguistic democracy that results sometimes in grammatical inconsistencies like: "it's I" is considered unusual over "it's me" which is plainly wrong. Anyways the malleable character of the english language is what makes it interesting, not to mention that its dictionary grows 4000 words per year. So concern yourself not with sounding poetic but with sounding trite and effete

Grampa Wild WillyGrampa Wild Willy
   Sun, 27/07/2014 - 09:06

Trite and effete. Just what I want to be . . . NOT!

French has L'Académie & now you tell me there's also one for Spanish. There's nothing like that for English. It's just an ever-evolving blob. I have often felt a great deal of sympathy for anybody trying to learn English as a second, third, fourth, whatever language. It's a nightmare. I mean, look at some of the first words you're going to learn: go, come, put . . . Conjugate those & then explain to the unsuspecting student that there are grammar rules in English. HAH! The language no sooner lays down a rule than it breaks it. Any student would be forgiven for thinking it's all a joke.

French on the other hand . . . I won't say I found it ridiculously easy to learn, but there's rules. And the language follows them! There's rules for verbs, rules for pronunciation, even the exceptions have rules WHICH THEY FOLLOW. Then, of course, I discovered there's enough overlap in vocabulary that I'm tempted to call English a bastardized dialect of French. Which I suppose it sort of is, given that England was occupied by the French for a time many centuries ago.

But I grind my teeth every time I hear some illiterate sports announcer say, "I should have went." I fear that has become such a frequent usage that it's going to turn into correct grammar some day. I hope not to live that long.

And then there's the interviews of hockey players in the locker room after games. I can't tell what language they speak. Example: "J'ai shooté le puck et scoré le goal parce que le goaler n'était pas assez quick pendant le power play." I only wish I were exaggerating. I feel like grabbing the guy by the shoulders and screaming in his face, "If I had known that all I needed was le, la, les, un, deux, trois, & the rest could be English, I could have saved --> NINE

evfokasevfokas    Mon, 28/07/2014 - 09:03

Cheers mate, how true, although english has germanic origins a plethora of its words have latin and greek roots like french which is one of the romance(latin) languages along with spanish, italian, portuguese, catalan etc.
A poem for you:

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
why the plural of pan is never called pen?

If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
We can cut air with a knife when out are the knives
then how many a fife is in a bunch of fives

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet the plural of hat would never be hose,
and the plural of cat is cats and not cose.

So the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
but the feminine think, be she, shis and shim.
How can a slim chance and a fat be the same,
while a wise man be great and a wise guy a shame?

War will never but ever determine who's right
it will only determine who's left at the fight
Speaking english is fun and the people so swell
having noses that run and feet that can smell
hope you liked the pun and your heart didn't swell

Grampa Wild WillyGrampa Wild Willy
   Tue, 29/07/2014 - 03:17

No, my heart nearly passed out laughing. That is brilliant. Who is the source?

I've noticed something in my translation that I'm not comfortable with (like there's just one such thing). There's this line in Spanish:

no habrá un instante que no adore de tu vida

I translated it with something about "my life." But "tu vida" means "your life," doesn't it? I can't quite puzzle out what this could mean if it has to be translated as something to do with "your life."

On another issue about this song, I have listened to the song carefully a couple of times on my headphones, as opposed to just the speakers in the room or the car. It almost sounds like the guys are singing:

Cuando lo volvamo a encontrar

Where did the s go? Shouldn't s be pronounced? In fact, a lot of the letters s in this song seem to be either gone or pronounced more like a lisp, which sometimes makes them hard to hear. What is that? Is this just the style of singing of these 2 particular guys? Is it a convention of singing, like one I know in French? Is it a regional thing that would be different depending on which country (in their case, countries) they're from?

The French convention of singing I alluded to has to do with what qualifies as a syllable. French (not to mention English) is full of silent letters. Many French words end in e. This e, often as not, is silent, unless of course it has an accent, but I'm talking about French words like entre, montre, danse, mange. These are all single-syllable words in which the trailing e is silent. As far as I know, the e serves the purpose of indicating that the letter preceding it is pronounced (for example vent vs. vente). But when they are sung, suddenly they all become two-syllable words and the e is pronounced in song like a soft e, sort of like uh. Entr-uh, etc. I bring this up as a possible analogy to what these guys are doing in this song.

Then there's z. There's this Fabulous Babe of Golf from Spain named Azahara Muñoz. A couple of years ago when she was a rookie on tour, Golf Channel did a rookie profile on her, like they do with a number of rookies every year. One of the questions they asked her was how her name is pronounced. She very clearly called herself Athahara Muñoth, but you can call me Atha. Then there's her Fabulous Babe gal-pal on tour Belen Mozo, generally called Motho by the golf announcers. On the other hand, there's a third Fabulous Babe gal-pal on tour named Beatriz Recari, whose first name usually comes out sounding more like the English Beatrice. The other gal-pals usually just call her Bea so they aren't helping me understand. And then there's Carlota Ciganda, whose name doesn't offer me any challenges.

By contrast, there's a couple of words in this song (abruzar, corazón) that the guys pronounce abrussar and corassón. They either don't pronounce or lisp s everywhere else, but in these words we get s. There's this word I see on the XM radio, gozadera, that they seem to pronounce gossadera (which I think means something like street party, right?) On the other hand, I have also heard corazón pronounced corathón in some songs.

Could I be any more thoroughly confused?

evfokasevfokas    Tue, 29/07/2014 - 13:12

I'm glad you liked it, I found some of it in the internet some time ago and I've added some verses
no habrá un instante que no adore de tu vida > there won't be a moment of your life I won't adore
The spanish s is shorter than the english one and some native speakers omit it at the end of the words and the syllables; this occurs in regular speech as well as in songs; in french the last syllable is pronounced only in songs for rhyming purposes regardless the word syllables; french unlike english and spanish don't have stressed syllables.
The letters c and z are pronounced differently in castilian and latin american spanish. In Spain z is "th" and in Latin America it's "s"; corazón is corathon in Spain and corason in Latin America, here's an article; there's no "sh" or "ss" (as in possess) in spanish, although the spanish s has a slight "z" sound in certain words like "mismo". You can ask questions about the spanish language in the spanish forum because there are many users who know spanish much better than me.

Grampa Wild WillyGrampa Wild Willy
   Tue, 29/07/2014 - 13:55

About your poem, I intend to share it with my sister & I wanted to tell her where it came from.

About "no habrá etc." Brilliant! An example of that weird word order you were talking about. I will be sure to be on the lookout for such constructs from now on.

About the French pronounced syllable in song, yes, I have noticed it isn't always so. What I have seen in opera librettos, though, is an apostrophe replacing the e to make sure the singer gets the metre right.

About s and z . . . and apparently c . . . So I wasn't hearing things. And that article on Wikipedia . . . boy I really stepped in it, didn't I? Clearly, this is one of those things that is going to come but it will take time. The more I hear, the better I'll understand.

Really? No "sh" in Spanish? So Spaniards can't even say "Spanish?" Or "shit?" I guess that makes the world a cleaner place. You know I'm just kidding. The aforementioned Fabulous Babes of Golf all speak really quite good English and they don't have any trouble with "sh." Although they're far too classy to ever utter any scatologisms, at least not in front of a TV camera.

Yes, the Spanish Forum. I have posted there. I must remember to use it appropriately.

I love this place.

evfokasevfokas    Tue, 29/07/2014 - 19:29

Well the good thing about spanish is that if you know how's a word spelled you can always pronounce it correctly, although pronunciation varies from place to place; furthermore even if you don't pronounce the words properly it's most likely that you'll be understood which isn't always the case with english. As for the poem I intend to enrich it in the future with more funny aspects of the english language and maybe write some music for it

Grampa Wild WillyGrampa Wild Willy
   Tue, 29/07/2014 - 13:07

I swear the XM 150 must be playing this song every 2-3 hours, it's that great.

Grampa Wild WillyGrampa Wild Willy
   Tue, 29/07/2014 - 13:21

This site is tricky. You can't edit a comment that already has a reply. I wanted to clarify one of my earlier comments about English, that it's an ever-evolving ANARCHIC blob.

evfokasevfokas    Tue, 29/07/2014 - 13:22

Yeap, but in a good sense

Grampa Wild WillyGrampa Wild Willy
   Wed, 30/07/2014 - 10:00

Ideas for your poem:

To go should conjugate like this: I go, I goed, I have goed.
To be: I be, I beed, I have beed.
To buy: I buy, I buyed, I have buyed.
To bring: I bring, I bringed, I have bringed.
To do: I do, I doed, I have doed.

See, if English were like this, it would be easy to learn.

Anyway, the poetry muse has never decided to bless my life so I leave that part to you.

evfokasevfokas    Wed, 30/07/2014 - 18:12

Thanks for your interest, yes english would be easier if it followed stricter rules but then again I think that the most difficult part is learning its idioms and building up a vocabulary; I don't want to sound too critical towards the language, after all I like it
I'll use for sure bring/sing sink/think

Grampa Wild WillyGrampa Wild Willy
   Fri, 01/08/2014 - 08:49

Yeah, vocabulary & idioms. That's the hardest part of learning any language. That and humor. When I can manage a joke in French, I feel entirely too smug. When I can start cracking jokes in Spanish, I will have arrived. My plan for Spanish goes something like this:

1. Build up my vocabulary.
2. Concentrate on conjugating verbs. Fortunately, I've got an online Spanish-English dictionary that lets me conjugate verbs so I can figure out the tenses. Also, it's often not apparent from the verb form what the infinitive is. This tool helps me with that, too. For example, what verb does "vuelva" come from? I wouldn't know without this tool. Or "voy." Doesn't look like "ir." Or "sé" seems a long way from "saber."
3. Get comfortable with word order & figuring out what's the subject, what's the verb, and what's the object.
4. Get the pronouns & connective words straight. The verbs and nouns are like the bones of the language. You can get the gist of whatever you're looking at without really having a grasp of these apparently less important words. But they are the flesh & blood that fills out the body to make it live & breathe.

As you well know, it doesn't happen overnight. I have to keep reminding myself that & not get discouraged.

Something I've noticed about this song. The first verse is 4 lines. The second verse is 4 lines. The third verse . . . When you're listening to it, you just feel like there's a 4th line coming. But no! They break after the THIRD line & swing into the chorus. And later there's a verse with FIVE lines. It's as if they're saying, "We refuse to be categorized. We refuse to be predictable. Keep up with us if you can." It's admirable.

As for lisping, Marc Anthony lisps his way through this duet with Carlos Vives. But in his own solo song, "Flor Palida," he doesn't lisp at all. This is all quite intriguing. I suppose pronunciation should also be somewhere on my list of areas to be concerned with while I learn Spanish.

evfokasevfokas    Fri, 01/08/2014 - 11:57

Touché
In all the languages I know the most common verbs are highly irregular. In spanish apart from the highly irregular verbs there are the stem changing verbs which are easier to remember
e/ie>quErer/quIEro o/ue>vOlver/vUElvo e/i>repEtir/repIto i/ie>inquIrir/inquIEro o/hue>Oler/HUEelo
As for song structure, many songs contain a sung bridge or pre-chorus (the three line verse here) and these always differ from verses; the chorus has it's first line repeated also something pretty common
You don't have to worry much about pronunciation as I mentioned earlier, just learn the standard one

elizabeth.hayes08elizabeth.hayes08    Fri, 10/10/2014 - 15:16

Hi, I am a Professor of Spanish Linguistics and I appreciated the previous commentary! I also posted a translation I used for my students (listed as #2). I am a native speaker of both and an interpreter.

I try to keep the mechanics as parallel as possible for my lower division students to see the correlation between English and Spanish. I also have to make sure the English makes sense and captures what is being conveyed in the original Spanish. Please feel free to ask me if there is any way I can help ☺

evfokasevfokas    Fri, 10/10/2014 - 17:16

Welcome to LT Elisabeth and thank you for your translation. You don't need to enter a translation source link for your own translations. You can browse translation requests here: es->en and en->es. You may also want to read the site's FAQ

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