If I guess wrong at "bottom bracket" things could go very wrong.
April 5, 2010 8:24 PM Subscribe
What are some good online or US-available resources for learning technical, bicycle-related vocabulary in Spanish?
I am applying for a position as a field representative for a US-based bicycle company that would mainly involve communicating with customers in Spanish-speaking countries. I speak fluent Spanish (I've worked as a professional translator, delivered academic papers in my discipline and can successfully tell dirty jokes in the language) and am pretty familiar with bike terminology in English.
What I don't have yet, though, is bike shop-talk capacity in Spanish. It's a whole set of technical vocabulary I've never needed. And standard dictionaries don't seem to be the way to go here.
Can you point me to (ideally) side-by-side how-to repair guides, technical manuals or other sources in both languages so that I could rapidly assimilate this new vocabulary? Alternately, are there good Spanish-language-only sources of this sort, or blogs where I could acquire this in a more natural context?
I am applying for a position as a field representative for a US-based bicycle company that would mainly involve communicating with customers in Spanish-speaking countries. I speak fluent Spanish (I've worked as a professional translator, delivered academic papers in my discipline and can successfully tell dirty jokes in the language) and am pretty familiar with bike terminology in English.
What I don't have yet, though, is bike shop-talk capacity in Spanish. It's a whole set of technical vocabulary I've never needed. And standard dictionaries don't seem to be the way to go here.
Can you point me to (ideally) side-by-side how-to repair guides, technical manuals or other sources in both languages so that I could rapidly assimilate this new vocabulary? Alternately, are there good Spanish-language-only sources of this sort, or blogs where I could acquire this in a more natural context?
When searching for words and related information, I've found that Wikipedia articles (in my target language, natch) are a useful tool. They don't guarantee absolute accuracy, but they're pretty good! They also tend to offer large amounts of outbound links for further scrutiny.
You could probably find some basic stuff bike vocabulary on the "bicicleta" page. There's a corresponding page in Spanish for the English "bicycle parts" category. The "ciclismo" category looks additionally nifty.
If you're like me, once you start reading, you'll never find an end to interesting Wikipedia articles. ;)
(Alas, there's no corresponding Spanish-language page for "bottom bracket"!)
posted by ElectricBlue at 9:22 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
You could probably find some basic stuff bike vocabulary on the "bicicleta" page. There's a corresponding page in Spanish for the English "bicycle parts" category. The "ciclismo" category looks additionally nifty.
If you're like me, once you start reading, you'll never find an end to interesting Wikipedia articles. ;)
(Alas, there's no corresponding Spanish-language page for "bottom bracket"!)
posted by ElectricBlue at 9:22 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
The Shimano techdocs section has service instruction .pdf sheets for all their products in about 20 different languages, including Spanish.
posted by zombiedance at 10:00 PM on April 5, 2010
posted by zombiedance at 10:00 PM on April 5, 2010
Best answer: Link to Excel spreadsheet on the Park Tool web site. English, Spanish, French, German, Italian translations. eje de pedalier = bottom bracket.
posted by fixedgear at 1:56 AM on April 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by fixedgear at 1:56 AM on April 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
also, if future travels take you further afield to, say, Iceland, there's a 12 language bike specific dictionary at this lovely international bike touring site that's been around since forever.
posted by bl1nk at 7:53 AM on April 20, 2010
posted by bl1nk at 7:53 AM on April 20, 2010
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Pictorial dictionary? I have the Portuguese version, and it gets into a high degree of technical detail.
Why am I posting this instead of just calling you?
posted by umbú at 8:43 PM on April 5, 2010