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cepo
educadores sociales
Dec 6, 2014 10:35
9 yrs ago
3 viewers *
Spanish term

te haces el sordo

Spanish to English Social Sciences Education / Pedagogy Counsellors' relations with other educators
SPAIN. From an article about the relations of school guidance counsellors with other educational staff. The whole sentence comes at the end of a statement by a trainee counsellor:

"“Nuestro trabajo se nota un montón; en un departamento con varios profesores, si hay uno que se ‘relaja’ no se nota tanto. Pero en nuestro caso, al estar sólo yo, si te equivocas eres muy visible. No trabajas o te haces el sordo y se nota”."
Proposed translations (English)
5 +6 turn a blind eye / pretend not to hear / turn a deaf ear to something
4 +2 to play possum
5 you pretend not to hear
3 turn a blind eye / a deaf ear

Discussion

neilmac (asker) Dec 7, 2014:
I think they mean a combination of all these things. Not listening, low profile (keeping your head down and muddling through)... not just in the odd case, but in general avoiding what should be the main task for these "educators". "Turning a deaf ear" probably comes closest...
Danik 2014 Dec 6, 2014:
@Simon That is how I read it:
To my mind "turn a blind eye/ear" has a different meaning from "se hacer the sordo", only the image is similar. In this context it might refer to the attitude of a supervisor who might ignore (turn a blind eye) on a lazy teacher.
But in the post the focus is on the teacher him/herself, whose laziness doesn´t go unnoticed. So there is no use in "playing possum" or "keeping a low profile" as Charles suggests.
Charles Davis Dec 6, 2014:
@Simon I see what you mean. That could be what it's referring to. My spontaneous reaction was to take it more generally; "hacerse el sordo" often does mean feigning ignorance, so I thought that was what it was implying, particularly because that's what so many people do in schools (and other places) to take it easy: relajarse, as they say here. But yes, they could mean deliberately ignoring problems.
Simon Bruni Dec 6, 2014:
Am I misinterpreting it? My interpretation is that it refers to a counsellor choosing to ignore a schoolchild's behavioural issue or misdeed. Otherwise, why would the author have chosen "te haces el sordo"? It seems an odd turn of phrase if the author meant just generally feigning ignorance to shirk duties - there are plenty of more obvious ways to say that in Spanish.
franglish Dec 6, 2014:
I read it as saying that if you make a mistake, there's no-one to share the blame, you can't hide behind someone else's back, you have to face up to it.
Charles Davis Dec 6, 2014:
Turning a blind eye I think this is usually applied to deliberately overlooking something that someone else has done wrong or has failed to do. Turning a deaf ear is pretending not to have heard something. I don't think either of these quite fit the context, which is really about skiving by pretending not to be aware of what's going on, and not something in particular but things in general. A classic ploy: "Why didn't you do X?" "Oh, sorry, I didn't realise, nobody told me anything about it."
Simon Bruni Dec 6, 2014:
How I'd phrase it "If you don't do your job or turn a blind eye to something, it will be noticed."

Proposed translations

+6
5 mins
Selected

turn a blind eye / pretend not to hear / turn a deaf ear to something

From the (excellent) Granada University dictionary:

* hacer oídos sordos = turn + a deaf ear to.
* hacerse el sordo = turn + a deaf ear to, pretend + not to have heard, turn + a blind eye to.

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Note added at 1 hr (2014-12-06 12:18:32 GMT)
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I'd use "something": "turn a blind eye to something". It just means in general to not pay due care and attention to something unspecified.
Note from asker:
My problem is with the Spanish. Turn a blind eye yes, but to what? I was considering "look the other way" but am still not happy with the whole thing.
Peer comment(s):
agree Ana Vozone
2 mins
agree Lisa McCarthy
3 mins
agree Marina56 : "turn a deaf ear" / Ignore
59 mins
agree Sarah FRUTOS BAMBERRY : I see your problem, as Simon says.. Turn a deaf ear to something is the most neutral option, or if you want to be a bit more daring... Turn a deaf ear to your colleagues / superiors...
2 hrs
agree Gisela Bocco
4 hrs
neutral philgoddard : I agree with the asker that this doesn't work here.
6 hrs
I must be interpreting it differently to you, it seems pretty obvious to me.
agree Werner Maurer : Turn a blind eye seems the best choice in this situation, if it refers, as it seems to, to not paying sufficient attention to a pupil's misbehaviour.
8 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks everyone for contributing. In the end I'll use something like "If you're not working or turn a deaf ear, it really shows.""
7 mins

turn a blind eye / a deaf ear

Would this work?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 mins (2014-12-06 10:43:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Two minutes late...
Reference:

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/The-Blind-Eye-and-the-Deaf-Ear.pdf

Note from asker:
Yes, but to what? My problem is with the original, it dopesn't seem clear.
Something went wrong...
+2
46 mins

to play possum

I think the idea implied here is that you don´t go unnoticed if you relax work. In other words, you can´t play possum.
Just a curiosity: In Portuguese the equivalent expression would be "se fingir de morto".
("to play possum")
1.http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/play_possum
2.http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=playing possu...
3.http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/play possum
4.http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/british/play-p...

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Note added at 2 hrs (2014-12-06 12:42:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

To my mind "turn a blind eye/ear" has a different meaning from "se hacer the sordo", only the image is similar. In this context it might refer to the attitude of a supervisor who might ignore (turn a blind eye) on a lazy teacher.
But in your post the focus is on the teacher him/herself, whose laziness doesn´t go unnoticed. So there is no use in "playing possum" or "keeping a low profile" as Charles suggests.
I was surprised about the idea of the "US audience". In fact I was searching for an English equivalent of the Brazilian expression "se fingir de morto" which sprung to my mind.
Note from asker:
This is fine for a US audience. I like Charles comment about "keeping a low profile"..
Peer comment(s):
agree Charles Davis : I agree: in this case it implies this. "Keep a low profile" would be another way of putting it, but same meaning.
26 mins
Thanks, Charles. The meaning is certainly the same, I just wanted to echange one image for another.
agree philgoddard : I thought this was wrong at first, because I think of it as meaning to feign death. But it also means "to remain quiet and still to escape attention or remain undetected".
5 hrs
Thanks, Phil! Yes, that is the idea: "You 'feign" death to remain undetected"
neutral Werner Maurer : Deleted my disagree after checking your links. Still not sure it's the best choice, though. Doesn't quite fit somehow. It has more to do with trying to remain unnoticed than with ignoring realities. But if, and only if, ur from USA I take it ALL back.
7 hrs
It has ALL to do WITH REMAINING UNNOTICED! And it doesn´t refer to any pupil but to the lazy teacher that may want to go unnoticed(note above!)! Thanks for changing to neutral but the next time please do your homework before giving your opinion!!!
Something went wrong...
1 day 1 hr

you pretend not to hear

As per Oxford dictionary
Example sentence:

You pretend not to hear

Peer comment(s):
neutral Cinnamon Nolan : Already posted by Simon Bruni yesterday.
6 hrs
Something went wrong...
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