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English translation: [suggestions for the whole sentence]
19:58 Mar 5, 2020
Spanish to English translations [PRO] Government / Politics / current affairs
Spanish term or phrase:Un abigarrado obstáculo
This is from an opinion piece in a Mexican periodical, about Bernie Sanders's campaign to be the Democratic presidential candidate. The paragraph in which it occurs is: "La predicción hoy es simplemente inconcebible. No porque Bernie Sanders no sea capaz de ganar el voto directo en las elecciones primarias del Partido Demócrata. Y es plausible que la mayor parte de los electores se sientan atraídos por su integridad y sus programas sociales. Pero el primer gran escollo aparecerá en la convención nacional, dominada en cierta manera por los delegados cautivos de una burocracia partidaria que lo ve con recelo y antipatía. Un primer y ***abigarrado obstáculo."*** The traditional meaning of "abigarrado" refers to appearance - multi-colored, piebald, brindled, motley, etc. But these don't seem to make much sense in this phrase, in this context. There is a less common sense of "abigarrado" meaning disjointed, uneven, which I thought of stretching out to maybe "convoluted" - but even these meanings don't seem to work very well in this context. Any ideas? All help will be greatly appreciated.
Explanation: I think we have to get away from dictionaries here, because they're not much help, and think what kind of adjectives we might use to describe an obstacle in English. We also have to look at the sentence as a whole.
Here are some ideas:
This initial obstacle will not be easy to overcome. This is the first obstacle the campaign faces, and it is not easily surmountable. Overcoming this initial obstacle will be a challenge.
Thanks, Phil. I felt there was no way stay on the literal side with this one. I ended up using "This first obstacle will be a difficult one to overcome." 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
Thanks to all who weighed in on this, for an interesting & lively discussion. As translators, we sometimes encounter a situation like this where there is a conflict between two of our prime directives: 1. translating only what is in the original, not adding or subtracting anything; & 2. producing a translated text that reads as though it had been written in the target language. Sometimes the harder we try to retain the idiosyncrasies of the writer's style, vocabulary, etc., the less it reads like good idiomatic English.
Totally agree with Chema, the "hurdle" (good one!) being discussed is that the Democratic establishment is getting very nervous about the possibility of Bernie Sanders being nominated at the National Convention. His disheveled appearance is the least of their concerns, although I imagine it could and would be used against him. So, "abigarrado" as "heterogeneus" - people will come at him for different reasons. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/03/politics/democratic-estab...
Abigarrado, en tanto que compuesto por elementos heterogéneos y reunidos sin concierto y referido a un obstáculo (a las dificultades en este caso de Bernie Sanders para superar la votación de la convención nacional) parece adjetivo utilizado en sentido metafórico que traslada la idea de un obstáculo que debe ser superado ordenando elementos (individuos) diversos y mal avenidos; un problema difícil de ensamblar. En el contexto dado, no obstante, no parece imprescindible ser radicalmente literal en la traducción de esta metáfora. Personalmente, creo que thorny (thorny hurdle) tiene tanto una conexión de sentido (en tanto que problema difícil de manejar) como de sonoridad y fluidez en el idioma meta, por lo que me parece ajustado. Una aproximación tal vez más cercana al literal, como la de phil "not easily surmountable", podría funcionar también, igual que otras (hard-to-handle, etc).
When translators aren't sure of the source text's meaning, is it not a safer approach to assume the (professional) writer of an opinion piece (in this case) might actually choose his words with great care to convey a certain degree of nuance? Should we not assume that the meaning he or she attributes to the term in question might actually be at least consistent with traditional dictionary definitions? En este contexto, 'reunido sin concierto' (del DRAE) ¿no viene al caso para describir un proceso electoral (complicado y que muchos han criticado)?
I agree. Either the author doesn't know what "abigarrado" means or is using it just for phonetic effect. "abigarrado" also means excessive and crowded, so it might be conveying something stifling and difficult to handle.
I think that in this case abigarrado does not convey alarming or frightenening but just hard to handle, not easily surmountable -as phil puts it- or thorny (a thorny hurdle), as neilmac suggests.
The author clearly intended to convey a nuanced meaning, and anything less should be avoided. IMO. If he or she is referring to the convention, an adjective that conveys a negative sentiment about its form would appear to be called for in this context that includes what seems to be an often-voiced criticism of the party nomination process.
As I read & re-read the whole paragraph, it seems to me that the "escollo", the "obstáculo", being discussed is not Bernie Sanders, but an obstacle to Bernie Sanders's nomination. In that case it wouldn't refer to Sanders's disheveled appearance
Con significados comunes que incluyen palabras como 'mal combinados' y 'reunido sin concierto', bien puede ser que se refiera al aspecto físico de su persona.
DRAE abigarrado 1. adj. De varios colores, especialmente si están mal combinados. 2. adj. Heterogéneo, reunido sin concierto.
According to the DLE, "abigarrado" is frequently confused with "atiborrado" (which doesn't collocate with "obstacle" either). But if you stretch the meaning even further, maybe "tough"?
Explanation: I think we have to get away from dictionaries here, because they're not much help, and think what kind of adjectives we might use to describe an obstacle in English. We also have to look at the sentence as a whole.
Here are some ideas:
This initial obstacle will not be easy to overcome. This is the first obstacle the campaign faces, and it is not easily surmountable. Overcoming this initial obstacle will be a challenge.
philgoddard United States Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 123
Grading comment
Thanks, Phil. I felt there was no way stay on the literal side with this one. I ended up using "This first obstacle will be a difficult one to overcome."
