{"id":5912,"date":"2025-02-10T02:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T02:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/?p=5912"},"modified":"2025-02-10T02:27:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T02:27:40","slug":"palabras-intraducibles-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2025\/02\/10\/palabras-intraducibles-feedback\/","title":{"rendered":"Untranslatable words: feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a very timely phrase for what I\u00b4m going through at the moment, and I realized that, as it happens, it\u00b4s not fully translatable from English to Spanish:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to grow, get feedback<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Feedback<\/strong><\/em>. That amazing word. Technically, it does have a translation, but not for this particular context, I believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Scrabble-like<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surprisingly, the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language includes the word feedback<\/em> as-is in its dictionary, with two meanings that reflect two different contexts: \"retroalimentaci\u00f3n\" in biology (literal translations of back and feed joined in a single word), and \"retorno, eco\" (as in echo) related to sound (like when you place a speaker opposite a microphone and it starts screeching). Google translator offers alternative words like \"realimentaci\u00f3n\" (same idea \"retroalimentaci\u00f3n\") and \"comentario\" (as in comment), which I guess can be applied to the context or social networks, but even in that case, it sounds like a bit forced to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Realistically, what happened is that in the workplace, professional and creative contexts, Spanish speakers got used to the word feedback feedback<\/em> as it is, without translation, for this word has a third definition in English that doesn\u00b4t exist in Spanish. According to the Oxford Dictionary, it\u00b4s \"information about reactions to a product, a person's performance of a task, etc., which is used as a basis for improvement.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what do these three definitions have in common? Well, as indicated by the word itself (feed-back,<\/em> feed backwards), the result of a process is used as information to regulate the process itself. In biology (my favourite! I still remember when, as a teenager, I learned about this in school), the product of chemical reactions at a molecular or cellular level controls the reaction itself, very often to get back to a certain balance. In technology and engineering, the output from one system can be connected as an input to the same system, forming a loop that allows it to self-regulate. And in the workplace, we find out how well or how badly we\u00b4re doing things (or how much our work is liked or disliked) based on the comments we get on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An interesting definition I found on Wikipedia is the one proposed by Ramaprasad in the 1980\u00b4s. According to him, feedback is \"information about the gap between the actual level and the reference level of a system parameter, used to alter the gap in some way\". The key is in the second part of the definition: information by itself is not feedback unless it has an impact on the system, giving way to an action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going back to the workplace, that\u00b4s also the purpose of feedback: helping us to enhance \"the system\" (in this case, our abilities and performance in a specific area) using the information provided by our own results. Sounds easy, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But of course, it\u00b4s not easy. Why? Because we\u00b4re people, not automated mechanisms. We human beings are a lot more complex. On the one hand, no matter how much we tell ourselves we\u00b4re objective, we\u00b4re not, and that\u00b4s a fact, so we receive distorted information. From the inside, it\u00b4s difficult to truly see the results we\u00b4re producing, so we need someone to show them to us from the outside. On the other hand, \"the system\" here is not something separate from us; it\u00b4s actually us, so we tend to take feedback personally. Very often, we receive it as a judgement of what we do, and ultimately of who we are, instead of simply as information about the effect our specific actions produce. That\u00b4s when emotions come up, as well as thoughts, defence mechanisms, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if we could go back to the origin of this word and remember that feedback is nothing but reference information we can use to continue to improve? We need to know when we\u00b4re going too far and when we\u00b4re falling short, and the only way to find that out is to give it a try, and then analyze what happens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings me back to the phrase from the beginning: If you want to grow, get feedback.<\/strong> And I would add: even if it hurts a little<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this is fresh in my mind because I\u00b4m currently waiting to receive feedback, and it\u00b4s so interesting to see everything it\u00b4s stirring up...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about you? What are your thoughts on this?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ayer me top\u00e9 con una frase muy oportuna para el momento que estoy viviendo ahora mismo, y me encontr\u00e9 que, para variar, no se puede traducir completamente del ingl\u00e9s al espa\u00f1ol: Si quieres crecer, obt\u00e9n feedback Feedback. Esa gran palabra. T\u00e9cnicamente s\u00ed que tiene traducci\u00f3n, pero creo que no para este contexto en concreto. Sorprendentemente, … Continue reading Untranslatable words: feedback<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3116429,"featured_media":5913,"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: feedback \/ Palabras intraducibles: feedback","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Otra que ya sabemos pero que nos cuesta \/ Another one we already know, and yet we still find it difficult","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":[5145,5001],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-intraducibles","category-palabras-words","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DPtR-1xm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9635,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/08\/31\/reto-de-30-dias\/","url_meta":{"origin":5912,"position":0},"title":"30-day challenge","author":"binarybea","date":"31\/08\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00bfQu\u00e9 opinas de los retos de 30 d\u00edas? \u00bfAlguna vez has hecho alguno? Ahora que est\u00e1 a punto de empezar septiembre, es un muy buen momento para plante\u00e1rselo (y me acabo de dar cuenta de que hace dos a\u00f1os escrib\u00ed pr\u00e1cticamente lo mismo, cuando me propuse el reto de 30\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Herramientas"","block_context":{"text":"Herramientas","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/herramientas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9859,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/10\/26\/sesgos-instintivos-transmitir\/","url_meta":{"origin":5912,"position":1},"title":"Instinctual Biases: Transmitting","author":"binarybea","date":"26\/10\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Completamos hoy el recorrido por los tres sesgos instintivos de Awareness to Action (Conciencia en Acci\u00f3n) que empezamos hace dos semanas y continuamos la semana pasada (si no sabes de lo que hablo, te aconsejo que empieces esta serie de art\u00edculos por el principio, leyendo aqu\u00ed, aqu\u00ed y aqu\u00ed). El\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ConcienciaEnAcci\u00f3n"","block_context":{"text":"ConcienciaEnAcci\u00f3n","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/concienciaenaccion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black and white icon of a peacock","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Pavo-real-header.jpg?fit=1200%2C851&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Pavo-real-header.jpg?fit=1200%2C851&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Pavo-real-header.jpg?fit=1200%2C851&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Pavo-real-header.jpg?fit=1200%2C851&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Pavo-real-header.jpg?fit=1200%2C851&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9688,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/09\/14\/ventanas-al-mundo\/","url_meta":{"origin":5912,"position":2},"title":"Windows to the world","author":"binarybea","date":"14\/09\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Esta semana o\u00ed un comentario en la radio que me pareci\u00f3 curioso: dec\u00edan algo as\u00ed como que muchos j\u00f3venes de hoy en d\u00eda consideran que se puede saber m\u00e1s de c\u00f3mo es realmente una persona por los libros que posee que por su perfil en redes sociales. \u00bfT\u00fa qu\u00e9 opinas?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Personal"","block_context":{"text":"Personal","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/diario-journal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pexels-photo-18512803.jpeg?fit=1880%2C1254&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912","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=5912"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5923,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912\/revisions\/5923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}