{"id":4812,"date":"2024-09-29T23:09:48","date_gmt":"2024-09-29T22:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/es_es\/?p=4812"},"modified":"2024-09-30T00:36:11","modified_gmt":"2024-09-29T23:36:11","slug":"palabras-intraducibles-escarmentar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2024\/09\/29\/palabras-intraducibles-escarmentar\/","title":{"rendered":"Untranslatable words: escarmentar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today we\u00b4re adding one more word to my special list of <a href=\"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/intraducibles\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/es_es\/category\/intraducibles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">untranslatables<\/a>terms, which is more like a list of words and sentences for which the translation from Spanish into English (or vice-versa) is neither very accurate nor very elegant, in my opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today\u00b4s word is <strong>escarmentar<\/strong>, and it\u00b4s very closely related to learning. It basically means learning something the hard way: having a bad experience as a result of your behaviour or action that causes you to never feel like doing that thing again. For example, when you\u00b4re leaving the house, and you put your wallet in a pocket with no zip, making it easy for it to fall out, and later that day, you realize you\u00b4ve lost it...<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The official definition from the Spanish RAE dictionary is \"to learn from one\u00b4s experience or somebody else\u00b4s in order to avoid making the same mistakes\". The translation into English that I\u00b4ve found is \"<strong>in my opinion,<\/strong>\", and yes, I understand it conveys broadly the same idea, but I don\u00b4t think the English phrase is as strong as our beautiful Spanish verb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"676\" height=\"450\" data-attachment-id=\"4806\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/pexels-photo-714698\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?fit=1880%2C1253&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1880,1253\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"woman illustrating albert einstein formula\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Photo by JESHOOTS.com on &lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/woman-illustrating-albert-einstein-formula-714698\/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Pexels.com&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?fit=676%2C450&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?resize=676%2C450&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Photo of a blackboard with physics formulas written on it, behind a table with books, pencils, a pair of glasses and and a green apple. We can see the body and hand of a teacher, pointing at Einstein\u00b4s equation on the board\" class=\"wp-image-4806\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?resize=1024%2C682&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?resize=18%2C12&amp;ssl=1 18w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?resize=676%2C451&amp;ssl=1 676w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?resize=600%2C400&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?w=1880&amp;ssl=1 1880w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?w=1352&amp;ssl=1 1352w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Interestingly, the RAE dictionary contains a second definition of \"escarmentar\" as a transitive verb: \"to impose or apply a punishment to someone, or correct them with rigour due to them having committed a foul.\" It seems like, apart from learning the lesson for oneself, one can also teach lessons to others. I have to say I had never heard this second use of the word, and I\u00b4m unsure whether it\u00b4s widely used. But leaving linguistics aside, I don\u00b4t know up to what point this is really possible... <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Up to what point can we learn from other people\u00b4s mistakes, or from the \"lessons\" some teach us in the hope that we will learn? My mum always used to say that nobody learns the lesson in somebody else\u00b4s head (\"nadie escarmienta en cabeza ajena\"), and I agree; I think this quote summarizes it really well:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>We cannot teach people anything. We can only help them discover it within themselves.<\/p><cite>Galileo Galilei<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What about you, what lesson have you learned recently?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">P.S.- This was one of the 30 quotes from my September challenge; we\u00b4re almost at the end! You can see them all on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/binarybea\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/binarybea\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hoy a\u00f1adimos una palabra m\u00e1s a mi lista particular de t\u00e9rminos intraducibles, que m\u00e1s bien es una lista de palabras y frases cuya traducci\u00f3n del espa\u00f1ol al ingl\u00e9s (o viceversa) no me parece ni muy precisa ni muy elegante. La palabra de hoy es escarmentar, y est\u00e1 muy relacionada con el aprendizaje. Significa b\u00e1sicamente aprender &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2024\/09\/29\/palabras-intraducibles-escarmentar\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Untranslatable words: escarmentar<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3116429,"featured_media":4806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"BinaryWords - Palabras intraducibles: escarmentar \/ Untranslatable words: escarmentar","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"\u00bfQu\u00e9 lecci\u00f3n has aprendido esta semana? \/ What lesson have you learned this week?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4990,5145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiracion-inspiration","category-intraducibles","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-714698.jpeg?fit=1880%2C1253&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DPtR-1fC","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3329,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2024\/02\/19\/palabras-intraducibles-overthinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":4812,"position":0},"title":"Untranslatable words: overthinking","author":"binarybea","date":"19\/02\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Hoy os traigo un post rapidito, sin pens\u00e1rmelo mucho :-D Esta palabra la cuento en mi lista de intraducibles, no porque tenga un significado especialmente complejo, sino por lo sencilla, clara y elegante que me parece en ingl\u00e9s: Overthinking. En espa\u00f1ol ser\u00eda algo as\u00ed como \u00abpensar demasiado\u00bb, \u00abpasarse de pensar\u00bb,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Intraducibles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Intraducibles","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/intraducibles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Multiple rows of empty orange sticky notes on a light purple background","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/pexels-photo-6991812.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/pexels-photo-6991812.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/pexels-photo-6991812.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/pexels-photo-6991812.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/pexels-photo-6991812.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8968,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/04\/13\/palabras-casi-intraducibles-workout\/","url_meta":{"origin":4812,"position":1},"title":"(Almost) untranslatable words: workout","author":"binarybea","date":"13\/04\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Como ya sab\u00e9is, de vez en cuando en este blog me gusta hablar de alguna palabra o expresi\u00f3n que me parece especialmente acertada en ingl\u00e9s (o en espa\u00f1ol) y que creo que pierde fuerza y significado al traducirla al espa\u00f1ol (o al ingl\u00e9s, seg\u00fan el caso). Hoy a\u00f1adimos a nuestra\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Inspiraci\u00f3n&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Inspiraci\u00f3n","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/inspiracion-inspiration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?fit=1200%2C924&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?fit=1200%2C924&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?fit=1200%2C924&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?fit=1200%2C924&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?fit=1200%2C924&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8723,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/02\/23\/expresiones-intraducibles-to-carve-out-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":4812,"position":2},"title":"Untranslatable expressions: to carve out time","author":"binarybea","date":"23\/02\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Hoy a\u00f1adimos otra expresi\u00f3n a nuestra lista particular de intraducibles. Esta vez, el original est\u00e1 en ingl\u00e9s: to carve out time, y aunque tenemos una expresi\u00f3n de significado equivalente en espa\u00f1ol, sacar tiempo, me parece que la versi\u00f3n en ingl\u00e9s es mucho m\u00e1s gr\u00e1fica, y por eso resulta una met\u00e1fora\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Inspiraci\u00f3n&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Inspiraci\u00f3n","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/inspiracion-inspiration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_20251214_125321.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_20251214_125321.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_20251214_125321.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_20251214_125321.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_20251214_125321.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2653,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2023\/08\/21\/palabras-intraducibles-struggle\/","url_meta":{"origin":4812,"position":3},"title":"Untranslatable words: struggle","author":"binarybea","date":"21\/08\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Los que ya llev\u00e9is un tiempo leyendo este blog sabr\u00e9is que de vez en cuando escribo sobre una frase que me parece dif\u00edcil de traducir, o bien del ingl\u00e9s al espa\u00f1ol o viceversa (si ten\u00e9is curiosidad por leer esos art\u00edculos, los encontrar\u00e9is en la categor\u00eda de Intraducibles). Hoy lo que\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Inspiraci\u00f3n&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Inspiraci\u00f3n","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/inspiracion-inspiration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Woman symbolically struggling, with a rope tangled around her body and hands, looking like she wants to break free","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pexels-photo-9463001-2989409402-e1692566856891.jpeg?fit=867%2C650&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pexels-photo-9463001-2989409402-e1692566856891.jpeg?fit=867%2C650&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pexels-photo-9463001-2989409402-e1692566856891.jpeg?fit=867%2C650&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pexels-photo-9463001-2989409402-e1692566856891.jpeg?fit=867%2C650&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3207,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2024\/01\/22\/palabras-intraducibles-kidult\/","url_meta":{"origin":4812,"position":4},"title":"Untranslatable sentences: kidult","author":"binarybea","date":"22\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Hoy vuelvo a uno de los temas recurrentes de este blog: palabras y frases que me parecen dif\u00edciles de traducir entre el ingl\u00e9s y el espa\u00f1ol sin que pierdan la gracia o parte de su significado (puedes leer los art\u00edculos anteriores en la categor\u00eda de intraducibles). Y la palabra de\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Intraducibles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Intraducibles","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/intraducibles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Action figures of Luigi, Yoshi and Mario from Nintendo's Super Mario videogames","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mario-luigi-yoschi-figures-163036.jpeg?fit=1200%2C585&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mario-luigi-yoschi-figures-163036.jpeg?fit=1200%2C585&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mario-luigi-yoschi-figures-163036.jpeg?fit=1200%2C585&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mario-luigi-yoschi-figures-163036.jpeg?fit=1200%2C585&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mario-luigi-yoschi-figures-163036.jpeg?fit=1200%2C585&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8469,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2025\/12\/28\/juegos-de-palabras-intraducibles\/","url_meta":{"origin":4812,"position":5},"title":"Untranslatable word plays","author":"binarybea","date":"28\/12\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Hoy a\u00f1adimos otra subcategor\u00eda a uno de los temas recurrentes de este blog: los \u00abintraducibles\u00bb: palabras, frases y expresiones que me parecen muy torpes de traducir del espa\u00f1ol al ingl\u00e9s o viceversa. El otro d\u00eda estaba curioseando por El Corte Ingl\u00e9s (unos grandes almacenes muy famosos en Espa\u00f1a) y me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Intraducibles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Intraducibles","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/intraducibles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_20251223_111429.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_20251223_111429.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_20251223_111429.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_20251223_111429.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_20251223_111429.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3116429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4812"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4821,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812\/revisions\/4821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}