Wednesday, November 2, 2011

"por otro lado" = "on the other hand"?

I want to talk about a translation I see all the time:

por otro lado = on the other hand

The translation is CORRECT! But what I've come to realize is that many Spanish speakers around me use the phrase wrong in their own language. "Por otro lado" should mean "en cambio," showing a contrast. I often hear it used in Spanish to mean "in addition."

For example:

"This week we completed charts 1, 2, and 3. Por otro lado, we worked on charts 4, 5, and 6."

This sentence shows no contrast. You cannot translate this to on the other hand.

Rather, it should read "This week we completed charts 1, 2, and 3. In addition, we worked on charts 4, 5, and 6."

Other choices include:
moreover
furthermore
apart from that
additionally

Correct usage of on the other hand:

In football/soccer, the ball is advanced toward the goal by kicking it or by butting it with the head. In American football, on the other hand, the ball is passed from hand to hand across the opponent's goal.

The swift rise of mobile gaming, the growing popularity of digital distribution, and streaming services like OnLive will spell certain doom for many smaller game shops. GameStop, America’s largest brick-and-mortar game retailer, on the other hand, is using its considerable resources to try to hop aboard these new ships.

Check out a great blog post on "on the other hand":

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/09/on-the-other-ha.html

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