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English translation: I drifted around

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:estuve vagando.
English translation:I drifted around
Entered by: Cecilia Gowar

12:42 Mar 7, 2011
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
Spanish term or phrase: estuve vagando.
Aquel viernes salí de la biblioteca y estuve vagando. Tipo taxi, exactamente, pero todavía más a la deriva que un taxi, porque yo ni siquiera tenía la obligación de buscar un pasajero.

Is it not normally the case that 'estar vagando' is accompanied by "por" to mean roaming/wandering? If this is the case, does the expression refer then to a state of mind? Although taking the sentence that follows it into account refutes this idea. The only thing that comes to my mind is; went for a wander/went wandering through the streets. I've add the compliment since in English the verb requires some type of compliment; whereas in Spanish it doesn't appear to be the case.

Can anyone shed some light on the issue?
Howelian (X)
I drifted around
Explanation:
That would be my choice in this context:

I drifted around like a ghost, staying in the background, jotting impressions down in my small notebook.
http://xrayer.blogspot.com/2010/10/notes-from-paranormal-exp...

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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-03-07 16:28:47 GMT)
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The reason why I did not propose "wandered around" (the first option I considered) is because it is generally followed by the place: wandered around the city, the place, everywhere, etc.
Selected response from:

Cecilia Gowar
United Kingdom
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3I drifted around
Cecilia Gowar
4 +1I wandered, aimless,
Paul García
4 +1wandered about/around.
Fátima Aparecida de Oliveira Abbate
4and I set out for no place in particular
Jenni Lukac (X)
4went roaming the streets
Adriana de Groote
4I drove around aimlessly
Simon Bruni
3 +1I hit the streets, like a cabbie looking to pick up a fare, except that...
Bubo Coroman (X)
4roamed around
Mónica Hanlan


Discussion entries: 6





  

Answers


12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
and I set out for no place in particular


Explanation:
Its correct sage and literally means: I was/went wandering... Examples with other verbs: Que estuve caminando, toda la noche caminando. Que estuve caminando y entonces te encontré. Tus ojos vi brillar, como en nadie jamás. ...
proyectoverdi.bandcamp.com/track/estuve-caminando - En caché; Hoy estuve caminando por la av Urdaneta y ví un periódico que creía desaparecido: Crónica policial con imágenes más crudas q las de El Nac ...
twitoaster.com/.../hoy-estuve-caminando-por-la-av-urdaneta-y-vi-un-periodico-que-creia-desaparecido-cronica-policial-con-ima... - En caché

Jenni Lukac (X)
Local time: 00:42
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 156
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15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
went roaming the streets


Explanation:
Otra opción.

Adriana de Groote
Guatemala
Local time: 16:42
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 49
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23 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
estuve vagando
I drove around aimlessly


Explanation:
Judging by the following sentence, isn't the narrator is driving a car? I'm not sure wandering/roaming etc. work in that context as they give the impression of being on foot.

Simon Bruni
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:42
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 151
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
I wandered, aimless,


Explanation:
I prefer use of the adjective (instead of an adverb) here—wish I could justify it with more than an orthographic or 'artistic' reason. It sounds better.

Paul García
United States
Local time: 18:42
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Natalia Pedrosa (X)
22 mins
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33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
I drifted around


Explanation:
That would be my choice in this context:

I drifted around like a ghost, staying in the background, jotting impressions down in my small notebook.
http://xrayer.blogspot.com/2010/10/notes-from-paranormal-exp...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2011-03-07 16:28:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The reason why I did not propose "wandered around" (the first option I considered) is because it is generally followed by the place: wandered around the city, the place, everywhere, etc.

Cecilia Gowar
United Kingdom
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 227
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Denise DeVries: I like this because it could be mental or physical wandering.
20 mins
  -> Thanks Denise!
neutral  Maria Krismancich: you also have to consider that in the next sentence, the narrator goes on to describe his "vagando" with the term "a la deriva". I think the term "drifting around" would be better applied here (IMO)
51 mins
  -> You cannot apply it because that is not what the original says. I would translate it as "even more adrift".
agree  Lorraine Bathurst: I would add aimlessly - I drifted around aimlessly
5 hrs
  -> Thanks Lori! I would not add aimlessly though.
agree  AD27: To drift implies moving around aimlessly so I don't think aimlessly is necessary.
3 days 22 hrs
  -> Thanks AD27!
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
I hit the streets, like a cabbie looking to pick up a fare, except that...


Explanation:
"I hit the streets, like a cabbie looking to pick up a fare, except that my route was even more erratic, since I wasn't looking to see if anyone was hailing me"

(to hail a taxi means to signal to the taxi driver to stop)

Bubo Coroman (X)
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 151

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  AD27: I have to say, your suggestion is really creative ;-)
3 days 18 hrs
  -> thanks so much, and wishing you a pleasant weekend! - Deborah
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
roamed around


Explanation:
Otra idea, simple. Suena lindo cuando se dice "I was roaming around"; pero creo que el tense estaría mal así, por eso puse "roamed around".
También me gusta la idea de "aimlessly" que alguien escribió más temprano, simplemente que usaron el verbo "drove" y tu dices que el personaje anda a pie.
Saludos

Mónica Hanlan
United Kingdom
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 12
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
wandered about/around.


Explanation:
"I left the library that Friday and wandered about/around. Just like a taxi, more adrift though, for I did not even need to search for a passenger."
The verb "wander" can be both transitive and intransitive.
As for your question: "estuve vagando" in the context has an imperfective aspect, which means it refers to an unfinished action in the past. Because of this, the equivalent form in English is "wandered", which in


    Reference: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/wande...
    Reference: http://dictionary.sensagent.com/imperfective+aspect/en-en/
Fátima Aparecida de Oliveira Abbate
Local time: 19:42
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in PortuguesePortuguese

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  AD27: Thank you for your explanation
3 days 14 hrs
  -> Any time!
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