Los tragos

English translation: Drinks

13:37 Jan 16, 2020
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Marketing - Food & Drink / colloquial language
Spanish term or phrase: Los tragos
Hi - this is for a marketing presentation for a vodka brand in Colombia. The target audience is US/international. It's to describe drinks such as rum, aguardiente, vodka etc (presumably with or without mixers) that are drunk at clubs, or at home, as opposed to beer. In the UK we'd call these 'spirits' or 'shorts'. What is the best and most easily understandable term for an international audience that conveys this? is it 'liquor', or something else? As the presentation is designed to have a Colombian feel, capturing the concepts that are important to the market, the term could be left in Spanish and explained.

some examples:

(describing drinking habits in a club) 'Reinan los tragos y la cerveza para refrescar y “pasarlos”'

EL UNIVERSO DE LOS “TRAGOS”
O “BEBIDAS FUERTES”

AMIGOS + TRAGO + BAILE

Many thanks in advance.
Lucy Phillips
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:38
English translation:Drinks
Explanation:
I think
Selected response from:

Alicia Orfalian
Argentina
Local time: 11:38
Grading comment
In the end, I used a mixture of drinks, 'los tragos' and liquors.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +3Drinks
Alicia Orfalian
4 +1shots
neilmac
4Alcoholic drinks / Drinks
Tanja Vernić
4cocktails
patinba
4bebidas, licores, copas
Julio Lopez Recio
3Liquors
Rick Larg


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Drinks


Explanation:
I think

Alicia Orfalian
Argentina
Local time: 11:38
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 3
Grading comment
In the end, I used a mixture of drinks, 'los tragos' and liquors.
Notes to answerer
Asker: the problem here is that it's in a section called "las bebidas"... which I can't logically call anything else than "drinks"!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Carol Gullidge: “Drinks” covers non-alcoholic fluids, as well as strong liquor and spirits, in other words it is far too general!
8 mins
  -> The context obviously refers to alcoholic beverages, not to "soft" drinks, anyway!

agree  Carlos Delgado: I'll have to agree with Alicia. If you came back from a bar in the US and said you had a few drinks no one will think you had lemonade. "Drinks and beer" can actually work, given the context.
1 hr

agree  Juan Jacob: Y ya...
1 hr

agree  Robert Carter: Yes, have to agree with you and Carlos, "drinks" is the most natural option where it reads "friends + drinks + dancing" (definitely wouldn't use "spirits" there, sounds forced). For "las bebidas" you could use "beverages".
1 hr

agree  Muriel Vasconcellos
17 hrs
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30 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Alcoholic drinks / Drinks


Explanation:
An alcoholic drink is a drink that contains ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic drinks are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and distilled beverages. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over one hundred countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption. In particular, such laws specify the minimum age at which a person may legally buy or drink them. This minimum age varies between 16 and 25 years, depending upon the country and the type of drink. Most nations set it at 18 years of age.

Los tragos son las bebidas que contienen etanol (alcohol etílico).
Atendiendo a la elaboración, se puede distinguir entre bebidas producidas por fermentación alcohólica (vino, cerveza, hidromiel, sake), en las que el contenido de alcohol no supera los 15 grados, y las producidas por destilación, generalmente a partir de un producto de fermentación (licores, aguardientes, etcétera). Entre ellas, se encuentran bebidas de muy variadas características, y que van desde los diferentes tipos de brandy y licor, hasta los de whisky, anís, tequila, ron, vodka, cachaça, vermú y ginebra, entre otras.
La cantidad de alcohol de un licor o de otra bebida alcohólica se mide bien por el volumen de alcohol que contenga o bien por su grado de alcohol.
El trago estándar (TE) o unidad de bebida estándar (UBE) es una unidad de medida que define el contenido de alcohol puro en una bebida. Normalmente su valor es declarado en gramos y tiene diferentes usos en la investigación, el tamizaje, en intervenciones breves, la emisión de lineamientos para un consumo de bajo riesgo, entre otras.





    https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trago
    https://glosbe.com/es/en/Los%20tragos
Tanja Vernić
Croatia
Local time: 15:38
Native speaker of: Croatian
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33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
cocktails


Explanation:
The Oxford Dictionaries define cocktail as "An alcoholic drink consisting of a spirit or spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as fruit juice or cream".[1] A cocktail can contain alcohol, a sugar, and a bitter/citrus. When a mixed drink contains only a distilled spirit and a mixer, such as soda or fruit juice, it is a highball. Many of the International Bartenders Association Official Cocktails are highballs. When a mixed drink contains only a distilled spirit and a liqueur, it is a duo, and when it adds a mixer, it is a trio. Additional ingredients may be sugar, honey, milk, cream, and various herbs.[2]

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Note added at 41 mins (2020-01-16 14:18:47 GMT)
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La Habana. Universo mestizo de la coctelería | Excelencias ...
Aug 15, 2018 - Algunos de los grandes tragos de la historia de la coctelería mundial, ... Universo mestizo, rico en colores y sabores, el de los cócteles es, ..

patinba
Argentina
Local time: 11:38
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 38
Notes to answerer
Asker: Hi Patinba - it's not cocktails in this context. More likely to be a shot, a glass of aguardiente, or a rum and coke at most, I think.

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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
shots


Explanation:
If the term is equivalent to "chupitos" in Spain, then an English it would probably be "shots"...
"Well, actually, we were all doing shots of tequila. " :-)



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Note added at 4 hrs (2020-01-16 17:58:28 GMT)
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If you run a Google search for "doing shots of" , you should get several examples of current usage - in fact you mentioned "shot" yourself in your comment to patinba :-)

Example sentence(s):
  • On the way we are still doing shots of rum at 6 in the morning...
  • For the last three hours, she's been doing shots of rum and smoking tons of pot.

    https://vinepair.com/articles/origin-of-shot/
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 15:38
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 66

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Robert Carter: This makes sense where it reads 'Reinan los tragos y la cerveza para refrescar y “pasarlos”'; for the other context, I'd go with Alicia's option of just "drinks".
10 hrs
  -> I'll drink to that ;)
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Liquors


Explanation:
I hate to betray my UK linguistic heritage, but since you mention a US/international audience, I think the right word here is clearly “liquors” – as you suggest.

Rick Larg
Spain
Local time: 15:38
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16
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25 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
bebidas, licores, copas


Explanation:
The terms I've used are probably more traditional Spanish or Castellano as opposed to South American terms.

Licores is a term used for stronger drinks, anything above beer and wine.
Copas is used as a general term for the mix of the spirit with the soft drink.

Using your example:
"Reinan las copas y la cerveza para refrescar..." (a bit more casual in my opinion)
"Reinan los licores y la cerveza para refrescar..." (a bit more formal in my opinion)

Shots are called "chupitos".

Hope it helps.

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Note added at 6 hrs (2020-01-16 20:18:50 GMT)
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Ok I see my post is pretty useless since I entered the wrong destination language:
Agreeing with some of the other answers I would go with "Drinks" since it's with or without mixers.

Example sentence(s):
  • "Después de la cena empezamos con las copas"
  • "After dinner we started on the heavier drinks"
Julio Lopez Recio
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:38
Native speaker of: Spanish
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