Jamaica

English translation: Jamaica - Cuontry name

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	Jamaica
Selected answer:	Jamaica - Cuontry name
Entered by:	Mohamed Fouda

13:44 Feb 15, 2022

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Cinema, Film, TV, Drama /

English term or phrase: Jamaica

-Hey, Jamaica! Keep it down. You are not owning this place.
-Sorry, sir, sorry.
-I didn't mean to bother anyone. You have no business
here, Jamaica.
You and your stupid friend, playing like you are bobsledders.
Why don't you tourists go back to where it is you came from and leave the bobsledding
to the real men?
-Well,
I'm a real man.
-You want to say something, Jamaica?
-Come on, out with it.

-Now, you listen to me, buddy. I will not be talked to that way, so you better come up with a damn good apology or else.
-Or else what?
-Ow!
-Eh, Jamaica? Or else what?
Come on, Jamaica.
Say something.
-No problem, man.

These are 2 different dialogues in the movie, and I'm pretty sure it's repeated all along. The thing is, I'm translating this into Arabic and I want to make sure of something. The bad guy keeps calling any of the Jamaican team, Jamaica. Now, in translation should the term be left as it is referring to the country or the nationality? I mean should it be Jamaica as it is or "Jamaican"? It could be a subtle difference to some, but I think it isn't. In your understanding as a native, what do you think?

Mohamed Fouda KudoZ activity Questions: 180 (none open) (3 without valid answers) (11 closed without grading) Answers: 4 Egypt
Local time: 02:53

Jamaica

Explanation:
As a native I understand his usage of "Jamaica" here as referring to the Jamaican bobsledders nationality, albeit in a derrogatory way. In some contexts it could be just a nickname, but in this one it seems more like an insult. But I would keep it as Jamaica and not change to Jamaican.

Selected response from:

Bruno Pavesi
Brazil
Local time: 20:53

Grading comment

Thanks, everyone!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

4 +4

Jamaica

Bruno Pavesi

4 +1

country name

Yvonne Gallagher

أيها الجامايكي

Mohammed Megahed

جامايكا

Lamine Boukabour

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

Jamaica

Bruno Pavesi
Brazil
Local time: 20:53
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Portuguese,

English
PRO pts in category: 16

Grading comment

Thanks, everyone!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Ingunn Henrikssen

21 mins

-> Thanks, Ingunn!

neutral

Yvonne Gallagher: "referring to the Jamaican bobsledders nationality" No. If that was the case it would be "Jamaican". And it definitely isn't a nickname. It's not "fine" but an insult//it's clear from context here it's an insult

1 hr

-> I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you on that one, Yvonne. From personal experience, I have been called "Brazil" growing up both as a harmless nickname and as an attempt to insult. It really depends on context.

agree

Guilherme Zeitune: The intention is to bully the Jamaican. If he wanted to tease a German, he would call him "Germany".

2 hrs

-> Thanks, Guilherme!

agree

Tina Vonhof (X): It seems to be a member of the Jamacian bobsledding team, so calling him "Jamaica" is fine.

3 hrs

-> Ah, thank you for that bit of context, Tina! And thank you for the agree :)

agree

mike23

3 days 7 hrs

1 hr confidence:

أيها الجامايكي

Explanation:
Personally, I would go with the nationality as it sounds more natural in Arabic.
In Arabic, when you want to treat someone as a nobody, you would say:
تعال يا هندي
افهم يا مصري
اسمع يا خليجي
I hope this makes my point clear.

Mohammed Megahed
Egypt
Local time: 02:53
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Arabic

1 hr confidence:

جامايكا

Explanation:
جامايكا

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2022-02-15 14:57:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

من عادة بعض الناس حتى في مجتمعاتنا العربية أن تنادي الأخرين بأسماء بلدانهم الأصلية بدلا من إطلاق الصفات، وهذا مشهود حتى في الكلام العامي. كان في وسع المنادي أن يستعمل صفة ولكنه أحجم عن ذلك ونادى باسم البلد الأصلي للمنادى عليه، فما دخلنا نحن المترجمين في قراراته وما الغرض من تحوير كلامه؟

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2022-02-15 15:01:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

فهذا اسم علم، ومن المعروف أن أسماء الأعلام تُكتب بحسب نطقها في اللغة الأم، عدا بعض الأسماء القديمة التي كُتبت كتابة مختلفة واستقرت على ذاك النحو.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2022-02-15 15:04:22 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

لكن يسعك أن تضيف حرف النداء ’’يا‘‘ فتقول: يا جامايكا.

Lamine Boukabour
Algeria
Local time: 00:53
Native speaker of:

Arabic

3 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

jamaica country name

Explanation:
now the language pair has been changed back to English I repeat what I wrote in the Dbox

For the record, referring to the team as the country "Jamaica", instead of calling them "Jamaicans" is even more derogatory and demeaning in my view. They are no longer humans or individuals competing FOR their country.
So yes, I'd keep the country name if your Arabic readers understand that.

A personal perspective: I have sometimes been called "Irish" or "Paddy" rather than by my name by English people over the years.
Sometimes it's a joke but mostly it's derogatory, and is clear from the tone of voice.
For example, I worked for a time in London in a office (years ago when I was a young student) with National Front members, supporters of Enoch Powell, who hated everyone who was not White and English (I was not surprised Brexit happened at all.) They always called me "Paddy or "Irish" and never by my name. And if they were writing it they would probably have written it with no capital letters. I ignored them at the time and there were other nice people working there but I still feel the insult years later.
If they had called me "Ireland" I would have found it even more disrespecful as then I am not even human.

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 00:53
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 84

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