The Best English Idioms I Found This Week In English And Their Spanish Equivalents

The best idioms I found this week and how different they look in Spanish and English.

Introduction

It's interesting to see how our idioms take different routes when interpreted in English and Spanish. This week I bring another set of idioms I found in English and how I've been using their Spanish equivalent all these years without being aware of them.

"Like Father, Like Son"

Simply put, people usually share similar personality behaviors with their family.

For example, children often resemble their parents in significant ways.

In Spanish, the equivalent would be De Tal Palo, Tal Astilla.

Which translates to, From That Stick, You Get That Splinter.

Although we use it more to express an outcome, we can also express it to indicate which specific family member adopted the family traits.

"Even A Broken Clock Is Right Twice A Day"

This means that regardless of how unreliable or incorrect something can be, it can occasionally be right, even if it's just by chance.

Even in the event of failure, there can be brief moments to take away.

The closest Spanish equivalent is Hasta Un Burro A Veces Acierta A Tocar La Flauta.

This tells that a donkey can sometimes play the flute successfully.

This version is the most centralized Spanish idiom since it's re-interpreted in different Spanish-speaking countries.

“Look At The Pot Calling The Kettle Black / Look Who's Talking!”

This is a tongue-in-cheek way to call out hypocrisy. When someone criticizes people, they might end up being the worst person to do so.

In Spanish, we say El Burro Hablando de Orejas.

Which translates to The Donkey Wants To Talk About Ears.

A donkey would be the least qualified animal to criticize other kinds of ears because clearly, their ears are big.

"Speaking Of The Devil"

This idiom has more elasticity due to how people translate or interpret it.

Simply put, this is used in speech to say that someone who has been talked about has unexpectedly appeared.

In Spanish we say Hablando del Rey de Roma.

Which translates to Speaking Of The King Of Rome.

Again, you rarely talk about kings, so you say that in Spanish to express irony if somebody you were talking about suddenly appears.

We also use it for general topics or issues that we rarely talk about.

Conclusion

This has become an interesting activity for the past two weeks since it's interesting to see how both languages create their iteration of them and how they become parallel to each other even if they have the same meaning.

I'll do my best to keep searching ways to get more people involved in learning Spanish through quick blogs like this one.

I hope you like these kinds of posts, and let me know if you have any other ideas that I can put into a blog post.

I'll see you in the next blog!