# En mi otro trabajo yo era alguien, ahora soy solo alguno.



## ClimbEveryMountain

Hi,

Context:
Somebody is complaining about the previous position she had in her previous job, now she's making some more money but doesn't have the same powerful position and she went from being somebody important to somebody else in her new job.

This is my try:
I was "somebody" at my last job, now I'm just "anybody".

Is that correct?

Thanks in advance.


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## Chris K

I rather like your version. You could also say "now I'm just one among others / among many," but it doesn't seem necessary.


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## ClimbEveryMountain

Thanks Chris K.


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## maxpapic

Sounds perfect.


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## david314

Perhaps you might enjoy these nonliteral translations: _I used to be a big fish in a small pond, now I'm just a small fish in a big pond. _

Alternately: _I used to be a big-deal, now I'm just a cog in the machine._


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## jasminasul

I also think your translation is the most literal.
There is another saying: better to be the head of a mouse than the tail of a lion, or the other way round


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## Masood

Another version:
_I used to be "somebody" at my last job, now I'm just "some body"._


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## ClimbEveryMountain

Masood said:


> Another version:
> _I used to be "somebody" at my last job, now I'm just "some body"._


 

I like this


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## maxpapic

Masood said:


> Another version:
> _I used to be "somebody" at my last job, now I'm just "some body"._


 
Bravo.


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## danhan22

I would say _At my other job, I was someboy. Now I'm a nobody_. In English we would use a negative in the second part. I'm not sure if that's true in Spanish, but that's the way we would word it in English. The sayings that some people have been throwing out there really don't apply to what the person is saying in Spanish. It's too much of a stretch.


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## jasminasul

danhan22 said:


> I would say _At my other job, I was someboy. Now I'm a nobody_. In English we would use a negative in the second part. I'm not sure if that's true in Spanish, but that's the way we would word it in English. The sayings that some people have been throwing out there really don't apply to what the person is saying in Spanish. It's too much of a stretch.


 
Both "I´m just anybody" and "I´m just some body" work fine here. I didn´t offer an alternative translation, and I did say that the literal translation was best.


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## ClimbEveryMountain

Well, but the idea in Spanish is that she was someone of certain importance in her last job, but now she is just a mere worker. She has no authority at all, and nobody is under her responsability. Being nobody gives a different connotation. But it might work if that's what the speaker wants to say.


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## Akali

Hi to all, 
Please, Can you tell me more details about this text that you want to put into words?
Because in spanish there is many ways to say this like in english, but if you want  to use a metaphore that´s different.
Regards.


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## ClimbEveryMountain

La idea es español es: En mi otro trabajo yo era alguien, ahora soy cualquiera. 

Lo que ella quiso decir es que antes estaba de tú a tú con sus demás compañeros de trabajo en jerarquía, nadie era más que ella y tenía una posición importante. Pero ahora en su nuevo trabajo, ella pasó a ser una más dentro de la lista de empleados de la compañía. En su otro trabajo, todos la conocían y sabía quien era ella, pero ahora nadie la conoce.


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## Akali

Hola, si yo he comprendido, pero mi pregunta apunta a:
a. Necesitas utilizar una metáfora?
b. O solo es una expresión literal?


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## danhan22

jasminasul said:


> Both "I´m just anybody" and "I´m just some body" work fine here. I didn´t offer an alternative translation, and I did say that the literal translation was best.


 
Sorry, but I have to disagree. In English the negative has to be used in the second part for it to sound correct to native English speakers. The utterance _At my old job, I was somebody. Now I'm a nobody_ has been used in American sit-coms, like when someone starts a new job somewhere else and is describing how they feel in the new job in terms of how they are treated, which is the context of the original sentence. You can clarify or vary the second sentence by stating _Now I'm treated like a nobody_. Trust me on this one. Native speakers wouldn't naturally say _Now I'm treated like a *somebody*_. It wouldn't make sense to them. They will restate it with the negative.


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## danhan22

ClimbEveryMountain said:


> Well, but the idea in Spanish is that she was someone of certain importance in her last job, but now she is just a mere worker. She has no authority at all, and nobody is under her responsability. Being nobody gives a different connotation. But it might work if that's what the speaker wants to say.


 
In English _being a nobody_ implies just that, that the person has no authority, that they are treated like everyone else. No one really knows them for who they are nor is any special attention given to them in the workplace. People go around working and don't even notice the person. That is the context of the original sentence in Spanish and should be reflected in the English translation, which is in the suggestion I provided earlier.


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## Akali

I don´t have much experience in grammar reading or drafting but, there goes an idea. 

..."In my previous job I used to be the head leading of the body, now I'm just a part of it."...


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## ClimbEveryMountain

Thanks for the insight danhan.  and Thanks Akali for yours, too.


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## danhan22

Akali said:


> I don´t have much experience in grammar reading or drafting but, there goes an idea.
> 
> ..."In my previous job I used to be the head leading of the body, now I'm just a part of it."...


 
Does _Antes era alguien_ mean that the person was the head of some department at work or something to you? Also, _the head leading of the body_ does not make sense in English, at least to my ear and other natives would not understand what you are trying to say in English.


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## Akali

There goes another try...

In my old job I used to be the head of the team, now in my current job, I just can compare me with everybody else.


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## gengo

Masood said:


> Another version:
> _I used to be "somebody" at my last job, now I'm just "some body"._



I want to add my vote for this, too, but note, CEM, that the scare quotes are essential here.  In speech, we would convey the distinction by pronouncing the first one as SOMEbody (with "body" pronounced like "buddy") and the second as some BODY.

The other sayings could work, as could the suggestion of danhan, but I still prefer Masood's version because 1) it most closely approximates the feel of the original and 2) provides a good play on the word somebody.


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## Akali

Oh I see, In spanish is very common to call "Head" to the person who leads a group of work or team. So that means you express things a little more literaly?

Sorry I can not write without spelling mistakes, I´m learning.


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## Akali

Buenas tardes a todos, y muchas gracias por su tiempo y aporte!!
Saludos, es muy importante que este foro se tome en serio.

Gracias!!
xxxxxxxx


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## danhan22

Akali said:


> There goes another try...
> 
> *At* my old job*,* I used to be the head of *a* team*.* *N*ow in my current job, I*'m* just can compare me with *like *everybody else.


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## danhan22

gengo said:


> I want to add my vote for this, too, but note, CEM, that the scare quotes are essential here. In speech, we would convey the distinction by pronouncing the first one as SOMEbody (with "body" pronounced like "buddy") and the second as some BODY.
> 
> The other sayings could work, as could the suggestion of danhan, but I still prefer Masood's version because 1) it most closely approximates the feel of the original and 2) provides a good play on the word somebody.


 
Good point. It makes more sense when you add the nuance of stress in both words. Before, I was just reading them with the same stress. It definitely is more of a play on words in English, but you don't 'necessarily' have to have a play on words in the translation when there's one in the original text. It's just nice when a similar play on words can be used in the translation, but that is not always possible nor should it be expected.

I've never heard of _scare quotes_. Is that a standard term or something you personally use?


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## gengo

danhan22 said:


> I've never heard of _scare quotes_. Is that a standard term or something you personally use?



_scare quotes
pl n
(Communication Arts / Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) quotation marks placed around a word or phrase to indicate that it should not be taken literally or automatically accepted as true_

They are also used to indicate a coined term, etc.  Basically, they are any quotation marks that do not indicate an actual quotation.


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## danhan22

gengo said:


> _scare quotes_
> _pl n_
> _(Communication Arts / Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) quotation marks placed around a word or phrase to indicate that it should not be taken literally or automatically accepted as true_
> 
> They are also used to indicate a coined term, etc. Basically, they are any quotation marks that do not indicate an actual quotation.


 
Thanks for sharing this. I would have thought they were called _sarcastic quotes_ and not _scare quotes_ since the term makes me think the writer is trying to scare the reader, lol. Oh, well. _Nunca te acostarás sin aprender una cosa más_ like the Spanish saying says.


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## gengo

danhan22 said:


> _Nunca te acostarás sin aprender una cosa más_ like the Spanish saying says.



Y ahí tienes tu cosa del día.  Algunos días yo aprendo dos o más.  

In keeping with the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon (Google it), you will probably now see the term "scare quotes" a dozen times in the next few months.


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## Lurrezko

danhan22 said:


> Good point. It makes more sense when you add the nuance of stress in both words. Before, I was just reading them with the same stress. It definitely is more of a play on words in English, but you don't 'necessarily' have to have a play on words in the translation when there's one in the original text. It's just nice when a similar play on words can be used in the translation, but that is not always possible nor should it be expected.



But I think there is a play on words in the use of *alguno* (_alguien/alguno_) in the original sentence. Perhaps it's a Latin American use, but in Spain we would never word it that way, but_ ahora soy sólo *uno más*_.


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## jasminasul

Lurrezko said:


> But I think there is a play on words in the use of *alguno* (_alguien/alguno_) in the original sentence. Perhaps it's a Latin American use, but in Spain we would never word it that way, but_ ahora soy sólo *uno más*_.


The Spanish sentence is not completely correct, but the point is that there is a parallelism with alguien/alguno that sounds a bit humorous, and Masood´s translation does just that in my opinion.


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## ribran

Danhan22 and Akali,

It's perfectly correct to say, "In my last/old job, I was/did...."

Corpus of Contemporary American English:

"in my last job" - 3 results
"at my last job" - 2 results

"in my old job" - 2 results
"at my old job" - 1 result

British National Corpus:

"in my last job" - 2 results
"at my last job" - 0 results

"in my old job" - 0 results
"at my old job" - 0 results

Google Books:

"in my old job, I" - 98 results
"at my old job, I" - 94 results

"in my last job, I" - 252 results
"at my last job, I" - 126 results


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