How do you say this?

[dtommy79]

Hi,

How do you say this expression in Spanish:

"A penny saved is a penny earned"

[Paolo]

Dinero ahorrado, dos veces ganado

[mleocasas]

This is interesting...does the idiom have the same weight in Spanish? I mean, is it a common term, or just the best fitting translation of the text?

[Kaynil]

It is a spanish saying, so no need to worry. It is very similar to that English equivalent so it is probably the most fitting translation.

[Believeinsomething]

The saddest thing about that saying is that soon, the younger generation won't have a clue what that means.

Pennies have been removed from the Canadian currency as far as the coin being kept in the till available to make change. We saw it coming when the Canadian Mint introduced the "Tooney" to replace our $2 bill (and it has been forever since I've seen a $1 bill).

"A nickel saved is a nickel earned" just does not resonate the same way.

[AdamDavis14]

Glad I came on to this thread. I use this phrase a lot so it will help me in my learning of Spanish. Also it looks good if I can say this in spanish to my friends, even though they won't have a clue what it means.

[Nbidioma87]

I have found that more often than not, English idioms just do not translate into Spanish. I mean you could verbatim translate it, but native speakers will just look at you in a funny way. I have a perfect and also hilarious example.

I traveled to Spain and was hanging out with a group of Spaniards and Americans at a bar in Barcelona. We were all speaking Spanish most of the night. I wanted to explain to them my urgency for learning Spanish. In English, we often say we have a figure under our behind. I translated that into Spanish and got a reaction of both shock and laughter. That is when I learned that English idioms just do not translate.

[Ariché]

 I agree that most of the times just trying to translate sayings literally without explaining the context is not a good idea. The whole point of  idioms is that they are often figurative expressions, we might understand the idea behind it but a different language usually means a different culture. There are exceptions, as sometimes  those sayings have roots in very old events or common ancestors that makes both languages share some similarities in their idioms. Another reason is also the direct influence of one language over another. At least in mexico, a lot of the dubbing translated expressions into Spanish from cartoons and movies which resonated and ended up being added to our causal vocabulary. In fact I have seen bank adverts in Spanish saying "Moneda ahorrada, moneda ganada", which is pretty much the english expression, except that, since we don't have pennies, they just use the generic 'moneda' term for coin.

Anyway, the original point I wanted to make is that, even though an expression might not make sense translated directly, most of the time there will be some sort of saying or idiom equivalent that conveys that same idea. I think finding the equivalent is a better idea, if you don't know it then explaining the saying can be a pretty interesting talk and most likely will wake up in the listeners what they say instead.

[lingvo]

I would translate it like this: " Un Centavo ahorrado, un centavo ganado". And I can think in several different ways to rephrase it and still keep intact the idea conveyed. For this is why I love languages, they can be so flexible tools and even still work outside of their conventional rules. You can write a spanish sentence without accent mark sand still manage to convey the same message. Of course, less clearly than write it properly, but even speaking in a flawed manner you're able to communicate with it. Neat.

[petesede]

On 9/3/2015 at 9:53 AM, Nbidioma87 said:

I have found that more often than not, English idioms just do not translate into Spanish. I mean you could verbatim translate it, but native speakers will just look at you in a funny way. I have a perfect and also hilarious example.

 

That really is the very nature of idioms and why we call them idioms, because they have a meaning beyond the literal translation.

In this case, the poster above is very accurate, if you say ´ money saved is twice earned´  they know exactly what you mean, 

[cutiepie]

On 8/18/2013 at 9:27 AM, mleocasas said:

This is interesting...does the idiom have the same weight in Spanish? I mean, is it a common term, or just the best fitting translation of the text?

Loosely translated, it looks like: money saved, two times gained.  You can sort of see how that idea would be the same as a penny saved is a penny earned.