Thursday, September 11, 2003
More Translation Debate on La Raza
The meaning of "Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada" continues to be debated, this time by Brian Linse:
I've been arguing that the popular translation of the phrase, "Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada." which is part of one of the founding documents of MEChA, is incorrect and misleading. The popular English version is, "For the race, everything. For those outside the race, nothing". My translation is more along the lines of "Through The Race, everything. Outside The Race, nothing."
The difference should be clear. The popular translation implies that the slogan declares "everything for us, nothing for them", while my version is a unity slogan as in "United We Stand..."
I have contacted several native Spanish speakers who all agree that my translation is the most likely intended meaning, even though some pointed out that the popular translation could be considered correct as a literal translation. Context, a few pointed out, is everything. The one point of agreement, however, was that even in the narrow context of the phrase itself, Por cannot mean For. If the phase were intended to mean For The Race, it would have used the word Para.
One of his sources traces the slogan to Communist Cuba's "Esto significa que dentro de la Revolucion, todo; contra la Revolucion nada" (This means that within the Revolution, everything goes; against the Revolution, nothing.)
This still ongoing debate tells me two things. First, California's Lieutentant Governor Bustamonte still has some explaining to do for his membership in a group which boasted of such a slogan. Second, America has been spared many of these debates because of our common language. But, we expect lots more them, thanks to Clinton Executive Order 13166.
|posted by Jim on 4:40 PM|
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