donnavico

I have some quite specific points in a translation on Bolivia that I would really like some help or clarification on from a fluent or native speaker:

Firstly, the underlined part of this sentence (I'll include the full sentence for context):

En consecuencia, es casi seguro que anota más con bilis que con tinta, en su agenda íntima, los nombres de los tipos y las siglas a los cuales castigar con el voto, en la primera convocatoria que se haga a las urnas.

I understand that this is expressing the anger of the people who are doing the noting down but cannot find a way to put it into English.

Secondly, the underlined part of this sentence:

A razón de cuatro personas por metro cuadrado, el área (cortada por una avenida y delimitada por un paso a nivel, además) sólo tiene cabida para 40.000 individuos, siempre y cuando –naturalmente– formen muchedumbre compacta y no delimitada por claros, como los que se podían percibir en las imágenes que sobre el cabildo ‘alteño’ difundieron desde allí algunos canales de televisión.

The order of the words here is confusing. Does it mean 'the images which some television channels broadcast to the.....of El Alto'? Also, I'm not sure what cabildo means, the dictionary suggests both town council or riotous assembly.

Again, the underlined parts here:

actúan bajo una consigna partidaria, sin capacidad de reflexión real y sin visión de futuro ya que lo que ha prevalecido en cada una de sus intervenciones ha sido la postura hormonal, develando así una total falta de ética y moral como para llamarse padres de la patria.

In this context what could 'hormonal' mean? The second part I have translated as 'to be the so-called guardians of the fatherland' but I think this could be improved.

Lastly, the underlined part of this sentence:

Es el momento de censurar con nuestro voto en futuras elecciones a todos los políticos, partidos tradicionales y a todos los dirigentes sindicales que se han aprovechado de la pobreza de su propia gente y por que no decir de la ignorancia de los mismos.

Here I am not sure whether it is the leaders who are ignorant or the people. I am inclined to think it refers to the leaders as 'los mismos' agrees with 'los dirigentes sindicales', but it would also make sense in the context to talk of the people's ignorance so I just wanted to check.

I'd be very grateful for any help!

backtotown

I'll try to help; Spanish is one of my mother tongues but as you probably know South American Spanish is slightly (or 'very', it depends) different than the one spoken in Spain so I cannot guarantee my accuracy.


Yes, the meaning is, he or she writes down the names with bitterness, metaphorically using bile instead of ink.


It's really a long sentence, I agree it can be quite confusing. A translation of it could be:


... as one could see in the images that some TV channels broadcasted of the cabildo* of El Alto** from that place.



* "Cabildo" is, in the Canary Islands (belonging to Spain), "a corporation that represents the villages of each island and manages the villages' common interests and the island's specific ones". In South America it may have other meanings but I guess the aim of it will be more or less the same.

** The suffix "-eño" means "from a place", so "norteño" means "from the North", "extremeño" means "from Extremadura" and so on. Unfortunately there's no way to know the exact place unless you know it previously. It could be "El Alto, "Alto", "Los Altos" and many other possibilities. (Imagine, the people from several South American cities with a port (harbour), such as Buenos Aires or Valparaíso are called "porteños"!!!)


I would take "postura horrmonal" as "rashed behaviour", what people do when they act hastily and without thinking previously.

I don't know how to improve your sentence, I find the meaning is exact, except that I would have said "motherland". But I'm not a native English so it's only a comment.

Lastly, the underlined part of this sentence:

Your second guess is the correct one. In my opinion the original should say "... de la ignorancia de la misma", since "gente" and "la misma" match in genre and number but "gente" and "los mismos" do not. But as I said previously South American Spanish is sometimes different from the Spanish from Spain so I cannot say "it's wrong".

Hope not to have bored you with my long explanations and my deficient English...

Regards from Catalonia.

donnavico

Thank you, that is so helpful.

Thanks in particular for your explanation of 'cabildo'.....makes a lot more sense now. The translations are articles about uprisings in Bolivia and so alteño, refers to the people of El Alto, near La Paz, that I'm sure of at least.

I am half Spanish myself, although not fluent, so I fully understand the difficulties with Latin American Spanish, which is why this translation is so problematic.

Hopefully with your contributions, and any others that might be made, I'll eventually be able to make sense of it.

backtotown

I suggest you the "Real Diccionario de la Lengua Española" where you'll find the definition of every Spanish word. (That's where I found the definition of "cabildo"). You'll find it at http://buscon.rae.es/diccionario/drae.htm.

Bye!

lenfini

Lo que sigue es una sola manera de traducir la oración problemática en inglés. Conste que habrá de varias otras.

Consequently, it's next to a sure thing that he writes down more with bile than with ink the names of guys and the initials of those to punish with the vote, in the first visit paid to the polls.

Ahora ésta tiene sentido. Exactamente como sostuvo Backtotown, es un metáforo. De modo que se expresa la ira de la persona a través de la votación, a lo mejor antes de que la persona verdaderamente acude a las urnas. Si eso no te hace sentido, se podría decir que el escritor utiliza esa lengua bastante idiomática para destacar su punto (el grado de la ira), es decir, para el énfasis.

Espero que te he aclarado un poquíto ,

__________________
John

donnavico

any ideas for 'se puede ir a un consenso para que el futuro parlamento invista rango de constituyente'?

lenfini

Tal vez algo así:

An electoral consensus might be needed for the future parlament to be able to improve people's lives.

Hasta luego,

__________________
John