The Challenges of Adverbs in Spanish Translation VI

Here we will examine the challenging task of rendering the frequently encountered adverbs ‘muy´ and ‘mucho´ in Spanish translation. By itself, ‘mucho´ is an adjective. But when it is used in a comparative sentence, ‘mucho´ serves the function of an adverb. For example, ‘Éstos son mucho mejores que los otros´ (These are much better than the others.) ‘Muy´ is simply the adverbial form of the adjective ‘mucho´.

While working on a Spanish translation, translators must first be able to decide on whether they are using ‘mucho´ as an adjective or as an adverb. If they decide to us ‘mucho´ as an adverb, they must remember that ‘mucho´ no longer needs to show any agreement with the adjective it modifies.

The second thing that translators must remember when working on a Spanish translation is that the adverb ‘muy´ can never be used by itself, unlike the English ‘very´. If ‘very´ is being used by itself in an English expression, then its Spanish translation must, without fail, be ‘mucho´. Thus, ‘Is his girlfriend pretty? Yes, very´ will be translated into Spanish as ‘Es bonita su novia? Sí, mucho´.

No literal equivalent exists in Spanish for the English expression ‘so much´. It must be replaced by the shorter Spanish expression ‘tanto´. Thus, ‘These children talk so much´ will be translated into ‘Estos chicos hablan tanto´. The translator must resist the urge to use the non-existent form ‘tan mucho´.