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@radiobrendan
‘When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done.’ It’s very difficult to argue against that one. As a species, we’re good at talking a good talk, but we don’t always follow it up with the appropriate action if and when required.
Alongside ‘said’ in the opening saying, we can add ‘written’ (yes, this coming from a blogger and all). The legal world is quite adept at that. The old adage of ‘less is more’ seems anathema to it. It likes to make things that should be pretty straightforward to comprehend – and act upon – come across as if they were written by somebody not of this world.
Why EEUU and not just EU guys? (Image from elgranporque.com)
Yet some languages – specifically Spanish (Colombian Spanish anyway) in this case – are more culpable than others in this regard; and it’s not exclusive to the legal sphere.
A common observation among those who translate Spanish to English here in Colombia is that the former is overly and unnecessarily wordy. Indeed it can be quite the head-scratcher to figure out what’s being said. This tends to be worse if someone has made a literal translation of their Spanish into English and asks you to proofread.
Of course it’s not always best practice to directly translate from one language to another, each one has its peculiarities, but what we’re getting at here is what seems to be the same thing said a number of times, just in different ways. Plus, a lot of the time it’s written in ridiculously long sentences devoid of punctuation.
In reference to the revised peace agreement between the Colombian government and Farc guerrillas, Britain’s Guardian newspaper, inadvertently perhaps, touched on this: “Although the text of the new agreement was not immediately published, the president, Juan Manuel Santos, laid out certain changes in a televised speech. Some are little more than clarifications of the often-vague language of the text. Other modifications are more substantial.”
For those who have had to work with Spanish texts before, that ‘often-vague language’ is something that will resonate. In legal and political contexts, as happens with other languages, it might be deliberate: leave things open to as many interpretations as possible. A reason, perhaps, why the Colombian constitution is quite lengthy. However, Spanish seems to bring this verbose approach to every sphere.
On a more trivial note, take abbreviations, where there is a doubling up on letters in some cases. For example, the United States (US), ‘ Estados Unidos’ in Spanish, is written ‘EEUU’ in the abbreviated form. ‘Fuerzas Militares’ (literally ‘Military Forces’) abbreviates as ‘FFMM’. (It’s to do with plural terms, although it’s not done in all cases.) Think about ink costs when printing these things out guys.
Going slightly off topic, football commentators in these parts are masters at making an uneventful football match seem as if it’s the most exciting thing ever, spluttering out a thousand words a minute. The Simpsons did a good take on this years ago (back when The Simpsons was enjoyable).
There are a lot of things to like about the (Colombian) Spanish language and culture. It just seems that at times it could do with a bit of streamlining. There might be more than one way to write the same thing, but you don’t need to put them all down at the same time.
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Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan – The Blog & IQuiz “The Bogotá Pub Quiz”.
EU = Unión Europea
EEUU = Estados Unidos
When abbreviating something that’s in plural form, type the letter twice.
I think this was more a rant than something worth reading. I feel like I lost important minutes in my life.
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ReportarCalifica:
Thanks for pointing that out again Harold, it is mentioned in the piece however, and as stated I just don’t see the point of it. That is to say, I understand why it’s done but why bother.
Cheers for taking additional time out of your day to comment.
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ReportarCalifica:
BTW, How as been your experience trying to translate/explain Colombian idioms in English? e.g.: abrase!, dar papaya, mamar gallo, como es el maní?, no friegue, etc, etc…
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ReportarCalifica:
I do like the expressions I must say, to use myself that is! ‘Naina cucas’, for example! The significance of ‘dar papaya’ annoys me however, when it’s used in the context that it’s the victim’s fault for getting robbed or whatever …
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ReportarCalifica:
You are right! but additionally I could say that applies in the other way as well (English to Spanish) and specially in ‘multicultural’ environments like Canada (even EE.UU ) where the most of the people have roots from other regions no Anglo and where the new generations learn broken English or mixed English such as Spanglish, Chinenglish, Koreanenglish, Etc, etc etc. The abbreviations kill me all the time not just because of the English (additionally) due to the IT field in which I have to work and the strong social network influence.
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ReportarCalifica:
you’re right my friend
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ReportarCalifica: