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pez222

Mar 24, 2010, 10:05 AM

Post #1 of 4 (7576 views)

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ATM machine

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A search in Babel fish gave me "maquina de la atmosfera" as the spanish translation of ATM machine. Would the average, non-English speaking Mexicano understand our English phrase "ATM machine"? Or perhaps there is another Spanish way of saying this.

Peter

Mar 24, 2010, 10:11 AM

Post #2 of 4 (7572 views)

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Re: [pez222] ATM machine

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Cajero automático is the common term for ATM here.

Casa

Mar 24, 2010, 11:31 AM

Post #3 of 4 (7561 views)

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Re: [pez222] ATM machine

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For future reference:

As a general rule acronyms do not translate well. You will usually get a better translation if you spell the acronym out.

ATM = Automated Teller Machine

Which Google Translate says is: cajero automático ->Which is a good translation.

sergiogomez / Moderator

Mar 29, 2010, 3:21 PM

Post #4 of 4 (7466 views)

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Re: [Casa] ATM machine

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Ditto on translating acronyms. Between the different word order in Spanish and the multitude of possible meanings for one acronym in both languages, it's much more efficient to spell out each word.

Online bilingual dictionaries also tend to be more accurate than translation sites/software.

Cajero automático is correct, unless you want to be really sloppy and say voy al ATM. (In this case, "ATM" is pronounced exactly like it would be in English, with a slight Spanish accent.) I confess to having done the latter many times.