1/365 A song / Una canción

Here is the first challenge: "No me doy por vencido"

Translation is tough work, doubly so when you are working with anything from the lyric family: poems, songs, etc.

When you translate lyric, you are not only translating the words, but you are giving your own interpretation of those words. For "no me doy por vencido" I have the artist's video to give me some guidance about what he was trying to say in this song. In the video you have 3 stories: the young man, the married man, and the young boy. 

The young man story is about getting the guts to talk to a girl. The married man story is about a man whose wife is ill. The young boy story is about being allowed to play in the soccer game. 

From the lyrics, you can easily get the meaning of never giving up on love, but by adding the stories from the music video you can see that the artist, Luis Fonsi wants you to think not just of not giving up on love, but not giving up on anything. 

For without further ado: "No me doy por vencido" by Luis Fonsi. Translation by Andy Guerra

Me quedo callado 
Soy como un niño dormido 
Que puede despertarse 
Con apenas sólo un ruido 
Cuando menos te lo esperas 
Cuando menos lo imagino 
Sé que un día no me aguanto y voy y te miro 

Y te lo digo a los gritos 
Y te ríes y me tomas por un loco atrevido 
Pues no sabes cuanto tiempo en mis sueños has vivido 
Ni sospechas cuando te nombré 

Yo, yo no me doy por vencido 
Yo quiero un mundo contigo 
Juro que vale la pena esperar, y esperar y esperar un suspiro 
Una señal del destino 
No me canso, no me rindo, no me doy por vencido 

Tengo una flor de bolsillo, 
Marchita de buscar a una mujer que me quiera 
Y reciba su perfume hasta traer la primavera 
Y me enseñe lo que no aprendí de la vida 
Que brilla más cada día, 
Porque estoy tan sólo a un paso de ganarme la alegría 
Porque el corazón levanta una tormenta enfurecida 
Desde aquel momento en que te ví… 

Yo, yo no me doy por vencido 
Yo quiero un mundo contigo 
Juro que vale la pena esperar, y esperar y esperar un suspiro 
Una señal del destino 
No me canso, no me rindo, no me doy por vencido 

Este silencio esconde demasiadas palabras 
No me detengo, pase lo que pase seguiré 

Yo, yo no me doy por vencido 
Yo quiero un mundo contigo 
Juro que vale la pena esperar, y esperar y esperar un suspiro 
Una señal del destino 
No me canso, no me rindo, no me doy por vencido


I remain silent
I'm like a sleeping child
that can wake-up
from barely a sound
when you least expect it
when you least imagine it
I know that one day I wont be able to bear it and I'll go and look at you

And I yell this to you
and you laugh and you take me for a bold nut(1)
but you don't know how long you have lived in my dreams
and you have no clue when I named you(2)

Me, I don't give up
I want a world with you
I swear it is worth it to wait, and wait and wait for a sigh
I sign from destiny
I don't tire, I don't surrender, I don't give up

I have a flower in my pocket
already wilted from my search for a woman who'll love me
it will hold her perfume as it brings forth spring(3)
and she'll teach me what I did not learn from life
(life) which shines more each day
because I'm just a step away from earning happiness
because (my) heart raises a raging storm
since that moment I saw you

Me, I don't give up
I want a world with you
I swear it is worth it to wait, and wait and wait for a sigh
I sign from destiny
I don't tire, I don't surrender, I don't give up

This silence hides too many words
I won't stop, be what may, I'll go on.

Me, I don't give up
I want a world with you
I swear it is worth it to wait, and wait and wait for a sigh
I sign from destiny
I don't tire, I don't surrender, I don't give up

Notes:

1. loco atrevido / bold nut: loco is literally a crazy man, in this case not some insane, but the type of man that says "fuck it" and boldly goes to talk to the woman on his dreams
2. Ni sospechas cuando te nombré / and you have no clue when I named you: "nombrar" literally means to name, but in this song I get the feeling that the mere act  of naming her created her, especially after coming right after a phrase about dreams.
3. Y reciba su perfume hasta traer la primavera : this was the hardest phrase of the whole song. So ambiguous, so many possibilities. I liked the image of the flower holding on to its perfume and making spring (and love) come quickly.