On another forum, I received the following query from ![]()
barking_iguana:
This is the sort of nice, meaty language bone I love to chew on, so I found a version of the Spanish:
The translation above is pretty close to the original. A more literal rendition could be:
The most interesting word in the entire source quote to me is actually caduco. It can mean "decrepit" or "outmoded," and the related term caducidad means "expiration" (e.g. fecha de caducidad is the common term for "expiration date"), but it also carries the botanical meaning of "deciduous." Similarly, carcomido is literally descriptive of wood that is infested with worms. So Céspedes, a plantation owner (who freed his slaves at the outset of the revolt he's calling for here), gives us a subtle tree metaphor which both translations above fail to carry over into English. I'd love to find an adjective that brings this out more clearly, but it's not coming to me yet.
As for contemplar, the subject of the original question: Spanish doesn't have the variety of registers English has, with its Anglo-Saxon everyday terms and its Latinate fancy ones. Contemplar is not an especially cerebral verb in Spanish; it's got the everyday meaning of "to consider" and the more exalted one of "to contemplate" as well as "to look at" in the way one looks at a monument or a landscape. (As a Catholic, however nominal, adoration of the Host during Mass is the sort of thing contemplar brings to mind, and it may have been something on Céspedes' mind as well.) So actually, "beheld" is not that bad a choice. But I like "regarded" better, myself.
In a similar fashion, I translated ¡Levantémonos! as "Let's get up!" to make a point that this word is not only appropriate as a call to battle, but it's also what a Spanish speaker would say if he were simply observing it's time to get out of bed. "Let us rise!" isn't usable in the latter context unironically in current English. It's still valid in its place - the translator's judgment is in play here, and I think the call is sound.
As for "it" vs. "that," the original simply says es, which is merely the third-person singular of "to be." So "it is" is all it literally says, but "that is" may well be a more idiomatic translation into 21st-century English. That's why they pay us translators the big bucks! (Can't believe I kept a straight face writing that.)
One last comment: I am not certain from the cursory research I did if El Grito de Yara refers to Cespedes' speech or to the uprising that led from it. A similar revolt in Puerto Rico around the same time is known as El Grito de Lares, so I'm inclined to think it's the latter.
This is the sort of thinking freelance translators are privileged to get paid for doing, which is why it's so much fun for me and I hope interesting for you, too. Thanks to![]()
barking_iguana for the question and for permission to reproduce it here.
barking_iguana:
Maybe the most striking bit of political rhetoric I have ever read is from an 1868 speech by Cuban revolutionary Carlos Manuel Céspedes known as the Cry of Yara. I've only read translations. One of them and notes on the discrepancies...
"...the power of Spain is decrepit and worm-eaten. If it still appears strong and great, it is because for over three centuries we have regarded it from our knees. Let us rise!"
The boded phrases have also been translated "great and strong" and "contemplated."
I imagine the final exhortation is a single word in Spanish and perhaps it actually reads more dramatically in English. I certainly prefer the scansion of "regarded" to "contemplated," but that's the word that prompts this message. Was Céspedes' word really so cerebral? Would a stronger evocation of vision ("beheld," for instance) be appropriate? I also think that just in the past few decades, English has changed so that the middle "it" might better be replaced by "that."
So if you have any interest and a few moments to check the Web for the original Spanish, I'm curious how you would translate it.
This is the sort of nice, meaty language bone I love to chew on, so I found a version of the Spanish:
El poder de España está caduco y carcomido. Si aún nos parece fuerte y grande, es porque hace más de tres siglos que lo contemplamos de rodillas: ¡Levantémonos!
The translation above is pretty close to the original. A more literal rendition could be:
"The power of Spain is decrepit and worm-eaten. If it still seems strong and great to us, it is because it is over three centuries that we have been regarding it on our knees. Let's get up!"
The most interesting word in the entire source quote to me is actually caduco. It can mean "decrepit" or "outmoded," and the related term caducidad means "expiration" (e.g. fecha de caducidad is the common term for "expiration date"), but it also carries the botanical meaning of "deciduous." Similarly, carcomido is literally descriptive of wood that is infested with worms. So Céspedes, a plantation owner (who freed his slaves at the outset of the revolt he's calling for here), gives us a subtle tree metaphor which both translations above fail to carry over into English. I'd love to find an adjective that brings this out more clearly, but it's not coming to me yet.
As for contemplar, the subject of the original question: Spanish doesn't have the variety of registers English has, with its Anglo-Saxon everyday terms and its Latinate fancy ones. Contemplar is not an especially cerebral verb in Spanish; it's got the everyday meaning of "to consider" and the more exalted one of "to contemplate" as well as "to look at" in the way one looks at a monument or a landscape. (As a Catholic, however nominal, adoration of the Host during Mass is the sort of thing contemplar brings to mind, and it may have been something on Céspedes' mind as well.) So actually, "beheld" is not that bad a choice. But I like "regarded" better, myself.
In a similar fashion, I translated ¡Levantémonos! as "Let's get up!" to make a point that this word is not only appropriate as a call to battle, but it's also what a Spanish speaker would say if he were simply observing it's time to get out of bed. "Let us rise!" isn't usable in the latter context unironically in current English. It's still valid in its place - the translator's judgment is in play here, and I think the call is sound.
As for "it" vs. "that," the original simply says es, which is merely the third-person singular of "to be." So "it is" is all it literally says, but "that is" may well be a more idiomatic translation into 21st-century English. That's why they pay us translators the big bucks! (Can't believe I kept a straight face writing that.)
One last comment: I am not certain from the cursory research I did if El Grito de Yara refers to Cespedes' speech or to the uprising that led from it. A similar revolt in Puerto Rico around the same time is known as El Grito de Lares, so I'm inclined to think it's the latter.
This is the sort of thinking freelance translators are privileged to get paid for doing, which is why it's so much fun for me and I hope interesting for you, too. Thanks to
barking_iguana for the question and for permission to reproduce it here.