# Need help with some Spanish phrases fast

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-some-spanish-phrases-fast/659603>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 29, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-some-spanish-phrases-fast/659603 "2013-05-29T03:18:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-some-spanish-phrases-fast/659603/1 "2013-05-29T03:18:11Z")

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I need to communicate some concepts in Spanish. Although I speak Spanish, it is rusty and I don’t know the right way to say these things, which are most likely not literal translations (I can translate them literally but I think they won’t be correct). It’s a restaurant setting. Need answer fast. Thanks much.

take a person off the schedule

give a person fewer hours

high turnover

low employee morale

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-some-spanish-phrases-fast/659603/2 "2013-05-29T05:23:23Z")

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I’m not sure what “take a person off the schedule” means. Are they moving to fixed shift, not being called at all, or what? But anyway, literally and all responses are Spanish from Spain so if you get anything different from areas closer to you they’re the ones who are best, _quitar a una persona de la rota_ or _sacar a una persona de la rota_. If they move to fixed shift it’s _pasa a turno fijo_.

lit. _dar menos horas a una persona_, _rebajar las horas de una persona_, but it would be more common to say _llamar menos veces a una persona_ (call them less often), if that’s how you’re going to do it. When my mother agreed with her cleaning lady that she’d come only one day/week instead of two, it was _vendrá menos veces_ (she’ll come less often); when my grandmother’s caretakers moved from coming 4h/day to 3h/day, it was _vendrán menos horas_ (they’ll come less hours).

_el personal cambia mucho, el personal cambia frecuentemente, nadie se queda mucho tiempo_ (personnel changes a lot, personnel changes frequently, nobody stays for long)

_la moral de los empleados es muy baja, la moral de los empleados está muy baja, la moral de los empleados está por los suelos_  
employee morale is low and there is nothing that can be done, employee morale is currently very low, employee morale is shot