What should be considered american or LA spanish?
Thread poster: Pablo Bouvier
Pablo Bouvier
Pablo Bouvier  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:19
German to Spanish
+ ...
Jan 7, 2011

With all my respect for all the different Spanish variants, I would like that a supplier (or a better informed translator) explain me what they consider American or LA Spanish? According to my limited knowledge, there are as many Spanish locales as Latin American nations, and within them there are still local variants...

I guess some suppliers should read this así hablamos and then exactly explain in their job offers w
... See more
With all my respect for all the different Spanish variants, I would like that a supplier (or a better informed translator) explain me what they consider American or LA Spanish? According to my limited knowledge, there are as many Spanish locales as Latin American nations, and within them there are still local variants...

I guess some suppliers should read this así hablamos and then exactly explain in their job offers wich variant of LA Spanish they want.





[Edited at 2011-01-07 08:41 GMT]
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Henry Hinds
Henry Hinds  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:19
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
American or LA Jan 7, 2011

"According to my limited knowledge, there are as many Spanish locales as Latin American nations, and within them there are still local variants..."

Having visited most of the Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas, I can assure you that the above is true. Thus there is no such thing as Latin American Spanish. It all varies, and such is the case in Spain as well. The good thing is that we can all understand one another quite well.


 
Steven Capsuto
Steven Capsuto  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:19
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
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The myth of "neutral Spanish" for the Americas Jan 7, 2011

When clients ask for this, here's what I understand them to be requesting:

1) Terminology that will be understood by as many Latin American speakers of Spanish as possible, even if the terms you choose are ones they themselves would not use. Pretty much everyone will understand "computadora," even if it's called a "computador" where they live. And, for example, I know translators who avoid the coche/carro issue by writing "auto" or "automóvil." In certain subject areas (such as the
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When clients ask for this, here's what I understand them to be requesting:

1) Terminology that will be understood by as many Latin American speakers of Spanish as possible, even if the terms you choose are ones they themselves would not use. Pretty much everyone will understand "computadora," even if it's called a "computador" where they live. And, for example, I know translators who avoid the coche/carro issue by writing "auto" or "automóvil." In certain subject areas (such as the names of foods), the vocabulary varies so wildly that this goal is difficult to achieve.

2) Avoid words that are obscene or problematic in parts of the Americas ("bicho," "coger," etc.)

3) Avoid terms and expressions that are specific to Spain (don't call eyeglasses "gafas," don't use "paro" as a synonym for "desempleo," don't use the vosotros, etc.)

4) Avoid minority Latin American usages (such as the voseo) unless the translation is aimed at a specific country or region.

If the translation is for the U.S., some clients may want you to give preference to words that have cognates in English: given a choice between "urgencias" and "emergencias," such clients will want the latter. You'll need to apply common sense in determining how far to go with the issue of cognates.

This is different from outright Spanglish (of the "voy a comprar groserías y vacunar las carpetas" variety). On rare occasions, clients have asked me to translate employee-information texts into Spanglish, since "that's how our workers speak." I try to talk them out of it. If they're immovable on the subject, I tell them I'm not the right person for the job.

[Edited at 2011-01-07 19:05 GMT]
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Neil Coffey
Neil Coffey  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:19
French to English
+ ...
If not specific... Jan 7, 2011

If a client specifies only "Latin American" and is unable to be any more specific, then to some extent all you can really do is:
- avoid "vosotros" forms
- avoid the past subjunctive forms ending in -se (except for "fuese(n)" and "hubiese(n)")
- avoid words/expressions which are "obviously Spanish" (though this can be non-obvious...)
- try to use alternatives that are used in "the majority" of Latin American countries
- if there's no clear majority among Latin Ameri
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If a client specifies only "Latin American" and is unable to be any more specific, then to some extent all you can really do is:
- avoid "vosotros" forms
- avoid the past subjunctive forms ending in -se (except for "fuese(n)" and "hubiese(n)")
- avoid words/expressions which are "obviously Spanish" (though this can be non-obvious...)
- try to use alternatives that are used in "the majority" of Latin American countries
- if there's no clear majority among Latin American countries, maybe choose a term shared with Spain (with no very good justification I suppose other than it's an arbitrary criterion to let you make some decision or other...)
- hope you're never asked to translate the word "bus"

I think the first of these two points are pretty much the only broad features of the written language that divide LA vs Peninsular usage-- if indeed they really do. (In pronunciation, there are a few other features general to LA countries.) There are some other features that are *probably* more or less generalised, but I'm not sure that the data is even really available to be sure: e.g. it seems to be the case that "le" vs "lo" as a direct object can mark more of a difference of politeness in LA counties as a whole than in Spain; it seems that "tú" is a bit more generalised (and "usted" somewhat more formal) in LA countries than in Spain. But I'm sure there are exceptions to be found, and the situation is very complicated.

Be wary when assessing the regional nature of vocabulary. Remember that when dictionary X marks a word as being used in, say, Uruguay, all that may mean is "1 Uruguayan informant told us they use this word". Needless to say, different dictionaries differ on their opinions about which words are generally used where.

That said, I think all is not lost. Many Spanish speakers are exposed to *some* degree to the Spanishes of other countries, so in many cases it may not be a terrible blunder to use a word from "another" country-- it might just sound slightly as though "this wasn't written for me". A similar thing happens to a limited extent in English: e.g. in UK usage, one would say "1 to 10", but I'm used enough to reading "1 through 10" to not feel terribly outraged or think that this form in some way "isn't English".
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opolt
opolt  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 09:19
English to German
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Mostly agree with Neil Jan 7, 2011

Very interesting topic! Many people in the translation "industry", even many Spanish translators, seem to be blissfully unaware of all those differences.

But I think most of what Neil has said is spot on. You can circumvent the problem, albeit to a very limited degree only.

Neil Coffey wrote:
...

Many Spanish speakers are exposed to *some* degree to the Spanishes of other countries, so in many cases it may not be a terrible blunder to use a word from "another" country-- it might just sound slightly as though "this wasn't written for me". A similar thing happens to a limited extent in English: e.g. in UK usage, one would say "1 to 10", but I'm used enough to reading "1 through 10" to not feel terribly outraged or think that this form in some way "isn't English".


Yeah, at least in the past there used to be variants of Spanish which had a lot of influence beyond their countries of origin, and to a degree that still seems to be the case (e.g. rioplatense in the Eastern part of Bolivia). One obvious case is Spain itself, of course... As another example, the doblaje of many movies from the US was produced in Mexico, ditto with many important book editions, though Argentina obviously was another leader in the latter field for many decades. Argentina was also a leading country wrt to some technologies during the "classical" era of industrialization, if I'm not mistaken. Cuba was the centre of "salsa" etc. in the Carribean Basin during the 50s and indirectly through the 60s, with some influences carried over by the lyrics. Etc.

It also depends a lot on the education of the target audience; many people with an academic background will be more tolerant than others who never went beyond the secondary level.

But yes, overall you have to tread very carefully. In my personal experience, overall the nationalisms in the Spanish-speaking countries are on the increase, linguistically and otherwise. By "nationalism", I'm not necessarily referring to war-mongering jingoism or other extreme forms of patriotism (though that can also be found here and there), but to the simple observable fact that people have a clear sense of belonging to this or that country, that their identity as individuals is somehow strongly linked to the history and fate of this or that state, such that saying "Soy cubano" bears a very different emotional meaning from saying "Soy argentino". And IMHO, that seems to be on the increase all over LA in recent decades.

[Edited at 2011-01-07 21:21 GMT]


 
Luis Mondragón
Luis Mondragón  Identity Verified
Local time: 02:19
English to Spanish
Excellent point Feb 18, 2011

Pablo Bouvier wrote:

With all my respect for all the different Spanish variants, I would like that a supplier (or a better informed translator) explain me what they consider American or LA Spanish? According to my limited knowledge, there are as many Spanish locales as Latin American nations, and within them there are still local variants...

I guess some suppliers should read this así hablamos and then exactly explain in their job offers wich variant of LA Spanish they want.



[Edited at 2011-01-07 08:41 GMT]


Mr. Bouvier, that's an excellent point, I agree with you. That is the reason I always state that I translate to Mexican Spanish. I lived 2 years in Spain and I'm aware of the many differences, but nonetheless, if translated a text for the European Spanish market, I'd need to have it proofread by a native.

This is a very complex subject, by the way. I'd just like to point out that, for example a text about statistics or philosophy is much more neutral and prone to be understood by all Spanish speaking people without almost any need to adapt it to the locales. On the other hand, a book of jokes or cooking would have to be very carefully adapted.


 


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What should be considered american or LA spanish?







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