I feel a bit like obligated. Like a moral obligation

A

anapascualina

Senior Member
York, Uk
Español, España
:eek: Hello again
Could someone check if this literal translation is ok?
I am very sorry for being a little annoying but I have only a couple of weeks left to handle this!
Thank you!

It might seem weird, but it is directly translated from speaking Spanish.

“ I feel a bit like obligated. Like a moral obligation to talk to them. Perhaps, I wouldn´t have meddle with other´s (neighborgs) life before, but since I was sick and two o three encouraged me and I liked it. Of course, you see that they have already overcomed the illness, and they are well and they are encouraging you... You think :- I will be like them afterwards/next!- that gives you courage, it gives you spirits/morale!”
 
    • anapascualina said:
    “ I feel a bit like obligated. Like a moral obligation to talk to them. Perhaps, I wouldn´t have meddled with other´s (neighborgs) life before, but since I was sick and two or three encouraged me and I liked it… Of course, you see that they have already overcome the illness, and they are well and they are encouraging you... You think :- I will be like them next!- that gives you courage, it gives you spirit!”
    Click to expand...

    I would omit the blue 'like'. It is not really needed.
    The sentence which includes the "but since I was sick and two or three encouraged me and I liked it" doesn't really end, as we are not told what the "but since I was" is an excuse for - and so I suggest that you need to us "…" to inedicate that it trails off.
     
    Obligated is not a word, it's 'obliged'. I can suggest the following for the first half (sorry, but my apostrophe use is not up to scratch, and I'm not sure where the apostrophe goes in 'other peoples lives'):
    "I feel as though I am obliged to talk to them. Perhaps previously I might not have meddled in other peoples lives, but after I was ill, and after some encouragement, I quite enjoyed it."
    I'm not sure if this is what you mean, and I'm afraid I don't really understand the rest, but I can point out the following:
    :they overcame, not they overcomed.
    : it raises your morale, for it gives you spirits / morale.
     
    Thank you very much!
    I know that sentence does not end, but it doesn´t finish in Spanish either. It is an excerpt from an interview, that is why. Speaking Spanish is much inaccurate than writing Spanish ;)
    Thank you again for your help and tips
     
    flicg said:
    Obligated is not a word, it's 'obliged'.
    Click to expand...

    Please exercise caution when telling language learners that something is not a word. This can be very disconcerting for them, particularly when it is totally wrong.

    Chambers English Dictionary vt obligate to bind by contract or duty; to bind by gratitude; to constrain (US and archaic).
    Collins English Dictionary obligate vt 1 to compel, constrain, or oblige morally or legally 2 (in the US) to bind (property, funds, etc) as security
    Oxford Concise Dictionary obligate v 1 compel legally or morally. 2 (US) commit (assets) as security.
     
    Regarding "I feel a bit like obligated": if the word "like" is there in the original Spanish, is it that the person is saying "I feel similarly obliged"? (or "obligated", personally I also use obligated, but I'm open to being wrong!). As in, someone else felt obliged to do something and I also feel obliged to do the same thing. It's a bit difficult to know without seeing what came before.

    Alcina
     
    Ok, I bow - reluctantly and not without with misgivings - to the OED. Though I hold that I would never suggest to a language learner that "to be obligated to someone" is preferable to "to be obliged" - even though there are two senses (to be required to and to be grateful), at least in the latter. Out of curiosity, do you have any qualms over 'to be obligated' v 'to be obliged'?
     
    I agree that "to be obligated" implies a sense of "you must do this, even if you don't want to"; whereas "to be obliged" has more of a sense of "I would be honoured to do this".

    Alcina
     
    In the original it is used "like". The woman used it to emphasize that no one forced her to talk to the other cancer patients. There is an ethics of responsability, a sense of sisterhood. At least, in the original makes sense the use of like.
    But thank you for trying!
     
    alcinababe said:
    I agree that "to be obligated" implies a sense of "you must do this, even if you don't want to"; whereas "to be obliged" has more of a sense of "I would be honoured to do this".

    Alcina
    Click to expand...

    Sorry, I can't think of a context where to be obliged has a sense of being honoured. It's fairly rare to hear someone use the verb today. I would say it's more often seen in contracts, and there in the sense of "to have to"; E.g.: "the tenant is obliged to report any damage to the landlord" Few today use the archaic sense "to be grateful" though one sometimes still hears the term "much obliged" meaning "thank-you very much". Even fewer would say "I am very obliged to you", again meaning "thank you very much, or, more literally, I am in your debt".

    To avoid the controversy of obliged, the original could translate as: "I feel as though I have to talk to them".
     
    I was thinking along the lines of "Nobless oblige". In the sense of if I feel obligated to do something then I feel that I am being required to do something that I really don't want to do pretty much against my will. Whereas if I am obliged to do something, I may (or may not) be reluctant do do it but I believe that it is the right thing to do and therefore there is within me an acceptance that it is ok for me to do it.

    For example:
    I feel obliged to give up my seat on a bus to someone who has difficulty standing because it is the right thing to do. However, I feel obligated to pay my taxes because it is the law.

    This is, of course, my own personal interpretation of the two words and I'm not sure there's any academic reasoning behind it, just simply a sense of feeling that "obligated" is somehow worse than "obliged".

    Alcina
     
    flicg said:
    Ok, I bow - reluctantly and not without with misgivings - to the OED. Though I hold that I would never suggest to a language learner that "to be obligated to someone" is preferable to "to be obliged" - even though there are two senses (to be required to and to be grateful), at least in the latter. Out of curiosity, do you have any qualms over 'to be obligated' v 'to be obliged'?
    Click to expand...

    Is that addressed to me?
    No, I don't — for three reasons.
    Firstly it's a perfectly fine word, and the Chambers definition includes the words 'duty' and 'gratitude' which Chambers doesn't attach to oblige, and the Collins has 'oblige morally' and attaches no moral element to oblige. So obligate has overtones which oblige lacks. What more reason to use it would one need?
    Secondly it is a translation from a language I do not know, and even if I did I haven't seen the original.
    Thirdly it is the word which occurs to anapascualina as being right. Who am I to disagree.
     
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