Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2012 December 11

= December 11 =

Spanish......te quiero, te amo
So, after going through many forums, and looking in other encyclopedias...what is the difference between these two expressions?

Is "te amo" the stronger expression, so is it only to be used between lovers/spouses? And is "te quiero" to be seen as an "I love you" like an english, or is there a (subtle) difference to it. If this has come up before, I am sorry, but I did not find anything in teh archives (might be me being inept, though). Let me say that I am a native German; that might be part of the problem of me not being able to understand the difference. Lectonar (talk) 08:56, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * 'Te quiero' means 'I want you'. 'Te amo' means 'I love you.  KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( TALK )  09:03, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * I think that's overly literal. I think Spanish te quiero is like Italian ti voglio bene &mdash; it means "I love you", but it's something you can say to family and close friends, whereas ti amo (Spanish te amo) is pretty much reserved for lovers (and you can say ti voglio bene or te quiero to them as well). --Trovatore (talk) 09:32, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * As I recall, querer is somewhat connected with "cherish". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:50, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

I can't speak with the intuition of a native speaker, but amar always seems to strike me as more literary or dialectal--something you hear more often in songs than in speech. Te quiero addressed from one unrelated male to another is not something I would expect to hear outside a gay relationship. There's also te adoro. The English "I want you" would best be translated as te deseo or te necesito depending on context. μηδείς (talk) 02:30, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
 * This is tricky. I'd say that querer is like a "light" version of amar, and whether you can say it to a friend, family member, or significant other depends not so much on it's literal meaning, but more on what you expect that the other person will make of it. I have a couple of really good male friends that I could tell them either one and they wouldn't think I'm gay for doing so, but for the rest of my male acquaintances I would use neither, and would go for the more collegial te aprecio or te estimo. And actually it'd be the same reasoning for my female friends. Looking at a simple GBook search, most take the approach of making querer a "low" feeling (desire?) while amar is all high and trascendental. And there's of course José José's classic song "Amar y querer" . A particular case I found interesting was with Sin City (movie): when eleven year old Nancy tells Hartigan I love you it was subtitled as te quiero, but when she says it again eight years later it was done as te amo. I guess that the former was done because te amo was too much for an eleven year old to be saying to an old man who is not her father, but I think it really diminished the dramatic weight of that scene.
 * Oh, and yes, te quiero is not I want you unless you're talking to an ice cream :) — Frankie (talk) 16:12, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
 * If I said querer to a same sex object the same way JoséJosé does, without the other being gay, I'd expect an abrupt end. μηδείς (talk) 22:55, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes, I see what you mean, but that would be because there is a clear romantic intent, not so much because of your choice of words — Frankie (talk) 16:43, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Gravity of Love
In the Enigma song, "Gravity of Love", the singer says 'Can you hear me voice?' Is she using 'voice' as a verb here? It just occurred to me, because 'my' in my dialect is pronounced 'me', and I thought it was a bit strange for her to suddenly use a scouse accent for one single word. KägeTorä - (影虎) ( TALK )  09:00, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * All the lyrics sites I checked say that the line is "Look around just people, can you hear their voice", although I agree that the first time I heard it I thought it was me. But if I listen to it again, I can convince myself that it's their being sung in a German accent. It certainly makes more sense. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 11:57, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * You are right, I can hear it now. Thanks.  KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( TALK )  23:34, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Robert Gist
Quick and easy question. Is Robert Gist pronounced with a hard G or a soft G? Google doesn't help. Thanks.--Shantavira|feed me 12:33, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Hmm, he is from Chicago (much Germans there), and the name sounds like him having german ancestry, so I'll go for the hard G. Lectonar (talk) 12:52, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Actually, I have ancestors named Gist, including Christopher Gist. The name is actually English (or possibly Cornish), not German, but it is indeed pronounced with a hard G.  Marco polo (talk) 16:33, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * I was going by relatives of mine, having the names of Gest and Gist (and no english or cornish ancestry afaik); either it is a parallel development, or the name has roots which are older than I suspect. Lectonar (talk) 18:05, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * It is entirely possible that there is a separate German Gist family of which I wasn't aware, but the English/Cornish family is relatively numerous and prominent in American history. If your relatives' family really is German in origin, then I'm sure that the two families are not particularly related, as surnames did not emerge in Europe until the late Middle Ages, centuries after the Germanic migration to Great Britain that would have been the basis of a common origin.  Marco polo (talk) 21:16, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Gist is not a German family name. German directory enquiries (http://www.dastelefonbuch.de/) does not find a single person named Gist in Berlin. 81.156.177.217 (talk) 23:48, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Spanish help
Hi! Quickly, how do you say the following in Spanish: "As of December 2012 Small Smiles treats about 500,000 children each year. In December 2012 NBC News revealed it had investigated 63 Small Smiles clinics over a preceding three year period and discovered continued accusations from former employees, parents, and government investigators that the clinics performed below standard and unnecessary procedures on children. Chuck Grassley, a member of the U.S. Senate, said that the company was scamming taxpayers and causing abuses to children in order to generate revenues. David Wilson, the CEO, said in a statement that "Patients are at the center of everything we do at CSHM. CSHM LLC supports our affiliated dental centers so that they can continue to provide access to quality dental care. Our dental centers serve approximately one million patient visits per year, primarily to children in communities with under-served access to dental care.""

It's so I can post it on the Spanish Wikipedia Thanks, WhisperToMe (talk) 17:25, 11 December 2012 (UTC)


 * For the benefit of other editors, and just for reference, see, edited almost exclusively by the OP. --NorwegianBluetalk 20:10, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * More context on youtube,, , , in addition to our article Small Smiles Dental Centers. --NorwegianBluetalk 20:28, 11 December 2012 (UTC)


 * "Al mes de Diciembre de 2012 Small Smiles atiende alrededor de 500,000 niños cada año. En Diciembre de 2012 NBC News reveló que había investigado 63 clinicas de Small Smiles durante un período de tres años, y había descubierto acusaciones continuadas de parte de antiguos empleados, padres de familia, e investigadores del gobierno de que las clínicas realizaban procedimientos en los niños que eran por debajo del estándar e innecesarios. Chuck Grassley, miembro del Senado de los Estados Unidos, dijo que la compañia estaba defraudando a los contribuyentes and provocando abusos a niños con el fin de generar ingresos. David Wilson, el director ejecutivo, declaró en un comunicado que "los pacientes son el punto central de todo lo que hacemos en CSHM. CSHM LLC apoya a nuestros centros dentales afiliados para que puedan continuar proporcionando acceso a cuidado dental de calidad. Nuestros centros dentales atienden a aproximadamente un millón de pacientes por año, principalmente niños en comunidades con acceso marginal a cuidados dentales."
 * I hope it isn't too literal, I was trying not to move away too much from the original phrasing. The constructs "as of (date)" and "at the center of" don't have a clear equivalent in Spanish. I think you could use "los pacientes son la prioridad de todo..." (patients are the priority of...) for the latter, but it is a quote so maybe it's not appropriate. By the way, the first sentence says 500,000 children per year, yet Wilson then gives a number of 1 million patients. Is that correct? — Frankie (talk) 15:32, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your input! I'll add it to the Spanish Wikipedia, and credit you. WhisperToMe (talk) 22:16, 12 December 2012 (UTC)