Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

les pondrá la medida más alta

English translation:

will represent the stiffest/hardest challenge

Added to glossary by Neil Ashby
Oct 15, 2020 02:14
3 yrs ago
19 viewers *
Spanish term

"les pondrá la medida más alta"

Homework / test Spanish to English Other Sports / Fitness / Recreation football (soccer)
I'm translating a newspaper article for a class in my M.A. translation program, and in this article, the coach of a Mexican football club (who is from Argentina) refers to another team in the league as "el rival que les pondrá la medida más alta" (where the indirect object "les" refers to his own team and the verb form "pondrá" refers to the rival club). I had originally rendered this as "the rival that will pose the toughest test for his team" (for a target audience of North American English speakers) but a couple of my co-L1 classmates (who speak both English and Puerto Rican Spanish as native languages) suggested that this phrase actually carries the connotation of "setting the highest bar" or perhaps "the team to beat" instead of "posing the toughest test." I haven't found anything other than renderings that use "the highest measure" in my own searching, so my professor has suggested that I request well-informed opinions here on ProZ. Thanks tons in advance for any help with this!
Change log

Oct 15, 2020 02:14: changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"

Oct 15, 2020 12:41: Yana Dovgopol changed "Vetting" from "Needs Vetting" to "Vet OK"

Oct 16, 2020 19:16: Neil Ashby Created KOG entry

Discussion

Richard Snowden (asker) Oct 15, 2020:
Thanks, Neil. The phrase is found in a subhead for an article titled "Lillini: 'León es el equipo que mejor juega en la Liga MX'". Here is the subhead, with the phrase being at the end:

"El entrenador de Pumas, en diálogo exclusivo con AS México, señaló que, de los grandes que les resta enfrentar a los felinos en el Guardianes 2020, los esmeraldas serán el rival que les pondrá la medida más alta."

Hope that clarifies things adequately. Many thanks once again!
Neil Ashby Oct 15, 2020:
Hi Richard,

Context helps.
Give us 1 or 2 sentences before and after the phrase in question, and the sentence with the given phrase.

Proposed translations

18 hrs
Selected

will represent the stiffest/hardest challenge

Another option, given the context in the discussion:
"El entrenador de Pumas, en diálogo exclusivo con AS México, señaló que, de los grandes que les resta enfrentar a los felinos en el Guardianes 2020, los esmeraldas serán el rival que les pondrá la medida más alta."
;@)

... of the big teams they are still to play/face,... Los Esmeraladas will represent the stiffest challenge.

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Note added at 1 day 17 hrs (2020-10-16 19:16:55 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad it was helpful.
Note from asker:
Fantastic! This explanation definitely helps me a ton, Neil, and I'm very pleased to know that my original choice was pretty accurate. Again, thanks so much!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Again, thanks a ton, Neil! My assignment will definitely be a great deal better thanks to your input."
+1
13 hrs

the team to beat/highest bar

I agree with your co-L1 classmates. Something like "the toughest nut to crack"might work…
Note from asker:
Great, thanks for clarifying this for me, Neil (and Cecilia).
Peer comment(s):

agree Cecilia Gowar : set the highest bar
1 hr
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