We want to keep you informed about what is happening in Spain, that’s why we translate press covers or interviews. However, sometimes it’s really hard.
In this article, we give you some examples of Spanish words and expressions that don’t have a exact translation to English -or if they have one, we don’t know it-.
Goleada: Beating the other team by many goals (3 or more). There’s “high margin win”, but it doesn’t sound the same. For example, when a player says “Intentaremos no recibir una goleada”, the translation would be… “we’ll try not to recieve a…”
Crack: No, it’s not that. Crack is the best player of a team, or one of the best, but, surprisingly for us, it isn’t used often by English speakers. We translated it as “star”, but sometimes it doesn’t fit well.
Mediapunta: Isco plays as a “mediapunta”. Modric used to play as a “mediapunta”, but now he is a “mediocentro” (midfielder). So, the “mediapunta” is the “trequartista”. Well, that’s Italian. The “mediapunta” is a centre attacking midfielder. But there’s not an English word. So when Banega says, “I prefer playing as a midfielder than as a ‘mediapunta'”, it makes it hard. Dammit classic 4-4-2!
Canterano: Although many people understand it nowadays, “canterano” is a youth system player. For example, Xavi is a Barcelona canterano, so it works too for players that were in the reserve team many years ago, not only the youngsters called for the first team.
Así gana el Madrid: This is one of my favourites. Literally “this is the way Real Madrid wins”, it’s a chant that could have two meanings: One, the original one, is shouted when fans feel that referees are benefiting Real Madrid. But now, it’s also used by Real Madrid fans to express their happiness, sort of “you are playing very well”.
La Liga Time 