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silencios que requieren recomprenderse
vamos que tampoco es para tanto
Aug 3, 2018 17:25
5 yrs ago
4 viewers *
español term

sillón

Non-PRO español al inglés Otros Muebles / Aparatos domésticos Nicaraguans, please verify this for me
Sentence is spoken by a Nicaraguan woman. It says: "Estábamos viendo una película con Edgar en el sillón..."

It is important for this project that I know whether the speaker meant "armchair" or "couch/sofa."

I have researched Nicaraguan online furniture stores, and am mostly sure that she meant "armchair," but I really hope that some Nicaraguans here can verify for me.

The speaker is in her early 30s, FYI.

Thanks in advance!
Proposed translations (inglés)
4 +1 armchair
3 +4 sofa / couch
5 +1 Armchair
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (2): JohnMcDove, Robert Carter

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Discussion

Charles Davis Aug 13, 2018:
Marie OK, I understand; we'll never know. No problem. I hadn't seen your reply to Terence. If it's clear they were all occupying the same piece of furniture (as I understood they were), all the more reason to think it was a sofa, to my mind, though it is just about possible for three (or is it four?) people to sit in the same armchair and watch a film together. Anyway, it's your decision. Cheers!
Marie Winnick (asker) Aug 13, 2018:
Charles I decided that the woman meant armchair. There was no way to get more info from the end client, but I just added to my discussion with Terence, which gives further reason for choosing armchair.
Charles Davis Aug 13, 2018:
@Marie If you ever find out for sure which it was, could you let us know? I'm curious. I still think it's more likely that it was a sofa, from what the woman said.
Marie Winnick (asker) Aug 13, 2018:
Bigedsenior Yes, you had good perception here. It is in connection with a criminal case, though when working for a busy DA office, getting them to send pictures of a crime scene before the their deadline is not possible.
Marie Winnick (asker) Aug 13, 2018:
Thanks again, Charles. I'll definitely contact him in the future if I have any Nicaragua questions :)
bigedsenior Aug 5, 2018:
If this is in connection with a criminal case, then Marie should try to get a copy of it and any pictures, or sketch of the scene. This could help in determining what furniture was in the room and may have indications of where everyone was located.
JohnMcDove Aug 4, 2018:
This example is from Perú, but it confirms the usage (in addition to all the images that Charles included... ;-)
(taken from CREA: http://corpus.rae.es/creanet.html
El diseño escenográfico con un [***]sillón[***] que acoge a los 5 (incluyendo a la muy discreta Valia Barak) da una cohesión de equipo al mañanero. AÑO: 1997
AUTOR: PRENSA
TÍTULO: Caretas, 12/06/1997 : Agua de Coco
PAÍS: PERÚ
TEMA: 04.Medios de comunicación
PUBLICACIÓN: (Perú), 1997
Charles Davis Aug 4, 2018:
@Marie If you would like another opinion from a Nicaraguan, you could try asking Manuel Aburto:
https://www.proz.com/profile/126813

He's the only Nicaraguan I can think of that I regularly see here.
Marie Winnick (asker) Aug 3, 2018:
Thank you, Terence. And you're sure that in Nicaragua specifically that a 30-year old woman would mean this, too? I saw that some Nicaraguan furniture stores online were referring to sofas as "sillones americanos."

Proposed translations

+1
14 minutos
Selected

armchair

My gestor is from Nicaragua and he says it's an armchair... which is the usual definition. However, if they (plural) were sitting in it, the speaker probably means a sofa/settee/couch, or whatever you guys call them.
Unless of course, "they" were sitting elsewhere, while Edgar was the only one sitting in the armchair…
Reference:

https://www.linguee.es/espanol-ingles/traduccion/sill%C3%B3n.html

Note from asker:
Thank you, Neil. I've always known sillón as an armchair, too. Your logic is good, though in this context it's confusing because the lady has a "cozy" sort of relationship with Edgar, and also there were kids jumping around nearby. But I'm going to go with armchair. Thaniks so much for asking your manager!
Peer comment(s):
agree Helena Chavarria : As I understand it, Edgar was sitting in the armchair (doing something else?) while the others were watching a film.
32 minutos
You never know...
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Hey, Neil! I meant to give you points for this much earlier. Thanks again."
+1
9 minutos

Armchair

Hi. I lived in South America for 25 years. It's definitely "armchair" (a big chair).
Sofa would be "sofá"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 26 mins (2018-08-03 17:52:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Yes, you are right about "sillones americanos" but that's not a colloquial term, which she would be using given the context.
My only doubt is when she says "Estábamos viendo una película con Edgar en el sillón..." Is Edgar a child or a husband/boyfriend with whom she might share a single armchair? It does sound as if they were both occupying the same piece of furniture.
Note from asker:
Thank you, Terence. And you're sure that in Nicaragua specifically that a 30-year old woman would mean this, too? I saw that some Nicaraguan furniture stores online were referring to sofas as "sillones americanos."
Hey Terence, thanks so much for your reply to my reply to your answer. It is very helpful and I wish I could reward points to more than one person! Just as an FYI to everyone, Edgar and the lady and the kids had the sort of relationship where it would make sense for them to all be piled onto one armchair, and according to the rest of the story, they were definitely all occupying the same piece of furniture.
Peer comment(s):
agree Helena Chavarria : Though I think that if they were both sitting in the armchair, she would have said 'Edgar y yo estábamos viendo una película en el sillón'. // I realise that but if they were sitting together, then wouldn't 'estábamos' include Edgar?
44 minutos
Thanks, Helena. The problem with natural dialogue, especially in South America, is that it's often intuitively structured, like "no está muy bien el sabor" rather than "el sabor no está muy bien", which makes translating and teaching English challenging.
Something went wrong...
+4
7 horas

sofa / couch

Although you've already said you're going to go with armchair, I'm going to suggest the alternative because I think it's more likely to be right here.

Sillón as sofa in Nicaragua

"Sillón en Excelente Estado en Curridabat C$ 60.00"
https://venta.todobusco.com/nicaragua/sillon-en-excelente-es...

"Silloón verde con nuquero"
http://solucionesintegrales.com.ni/lk-520-re/

"Vendo Sillones marca BOAL (Managua)"
http://ni.clasificados.com/vendo-sillones-marca-boal-8710.ht... (scroll down)

"Sillón muy lindo, nuevo comprado en la Artística, me urge vender por falta de espacio, escucho ofertas. Esta en Jacó, pero se puede negociar el traerlo a San José. "
https://venta.todobusco.com/costa-rica/sillon-104210

"Foto de Franklin Chang junto a Barack Obama moviendo un sillón"
(They are moving a sofa)
https://www.nacion.com/ciencia/foto-de-franklin-chang-junto-...

"Esta hermosa sala, marca Muebles Lizz cuenta con un sillón individual de 95 An x 90 A cm, un loveseat de 145 An x 90 Alt cm y un sillón para tres personas que mide 228 An x 90 A cm."
http://www.siman.com/nicaragua/juego-de-sala-47.html

"Como centro observamos un sillón para dos."
https://www.laprensa.com.ni/2006/02/28/suplemento/nosotras/1...

"Consta de un sillón para tres personas, dos sillas pequeñas y una mesita. (Mueblería Amador, de Masaya)"
https://www.laprensa.com.ni/2004/06/15/suplemento/nosotras/1...

To put this in perspective, a sofa is usually called "sofá" in Nicaragua and "sillón" usually means an armchair, but I have just listed eight examples of "sillón" (not "sillón americano") definitely referring to a sofa. This, to me, raises a reasonable doubt. And I think "sofa" fits the context very much better: the sentence is perfectly natural if the speaker is referring to a sofa, on which she, another person and Edgar were all sitting, but oddly expressed if she means "we were watching a film with Edgar, who was sitting on an armchair". I think that on balance sofa is more likely to be what she means, like the "sillón" Barack Obama is moving in the photo I've cited.
______________________________


A sofa is sometimes called a sillón in other countries too:

Here's one in Guatemala:
https://venta.todobusco.com/guatemala/sillon--183792

I have occasionally heard people in Spain refer to a sofa as a "sillón".

"Un sofá para uno no es un sofá, es un sillón. Apréndete bien la diferencia porque es bastante común hablar de 'los sillones' para referirse a un conjunto de sofás, o aplicar propiedades de un sillón a un sofá."
http://www.aquaclean.com/AR_es/post/aprende-el-vocabulario-p...

Argentina: lots of sofas called "sillones" here:
https://desillas.com/subcat-15-105-sillones-y-sofas.html

Not sure which country the following is from:

"El Sillón Rústico (Ranch Couch en inglés, Western-Kommode en alemán) es el sofá1 perteneciente a la Colección Rústica.
↑ Es un sillón, pero generalmente se le puede llamar sofá porque realiza sus mismas funciones y el diseño es muy parecido al resto de sofás"
http://es.animalcrossing.wikia.com/wiki/Sillón_Rústico

And finally this answer is worth noting:

"Como se dice Casa, sillón, cama, ropero, mesa, regadera en Uruguay, Colombia y Nicaragua?"
"En Nicaragua,a casa,mesa , cama y regadera ,se la nombra tal cual.
A sillón,se lo menciona como sofá."
https://brainly.lat/tarea/2208806
Note from asker:
Very interesting, thanks so much for all the research, Charles!
Peer comment(s):
agree Andy Watkinson : Could do better.
1 hora
Ah well, it's a process. Cheers, Andy :-)
agree lorenab23 : I was raised in Lima Peru, of Spaniard parents who spent time in Argentina and Chile and in my house we said sillón for sofa. A sillón wasn't an armchair until I came to the US.
2 horas
That's great! Thanks so much for , Lorena :-)
agree JohnMcDove : Indeed. And this is a PRO- question, no doubt! :-)
2 horas
Many thanks, John :-) "Sofá" parece ser un préstamo del francés, y a lo mejor es reciente, y antes cualquier asiento con brazos se llamaría "sillón"; he visto más casos de "sillón individual", como si hubiera que especificar.
agree Robert Carter : Sounds the same as in Mexico to me. A "sillón" here can be a sofa and an armchair (obviously not at the same time!).
2 días 1 hora
Ah! Many thanks. More grist to the mill!
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