|link| Posted 8:36 PM by Brian Linse

Spanish 101

I've been watching this MEChA thingy with Butamante heat up over the last few days, but only today did I actually get a look at the original Spanish version of the allegedly racist slogan used on some of the organizations websites.

The Spanish version reads: Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada.

This has been translated in the media and in the blogs as: "For the Race everything. Outside the race, nothing."

Wrong.

Por in Spanish, means through or because, not for. For, in Spanish, is para. And fuera means without, not outside. In Spanish, outside is afuera.

So a literal translation would be: "Through The Race, all. Without The Race, nothing." Note that I capitalized The Race, because in the slogan in question, La Raza, is capitalized. I'm not certain, but the capitalization would seem to allude to an organization or a concept, rather than the race.

The spirit of the slogan would seem to be more along the lines of "United we stand. Divided we fall."

The "Mickey Kaus Spanish" version would be something like this: "Para la raza, todo. Afuera la raza, nada."

Well, then.

Now, I'll be happy to look at evidence that the organization in question has some questionable ideas, but the fuss over this mis-translated slogan is just plain stupid. And stupid is the operative word here.

Kaus, Glenn Reynolds, and a lot of usually smart people should be ashamed of themselves.

I figured this out with three years of High School Spanish that ended 25 years ago, you'd think that powerful media boys and girls could muster up a Spanish speaking friend or two to help 'em out.

UPDATE: Alta Vista's Babel fish translates the slogan to: "By the Race all. Outside the Race nothing." So I guess that fuera de can mean outside, but as you can see, the meaning of the slogan, while perhaps a bit simplistic and silly, is hardly the racist call to arms that some have portrayed it to be. Note to Kaus and Reynolds: even if you don't have any Spanish friends, Babel Fish is free.

MO' UPDATE: Looks like Orcinus has the same take on this as I do. His translation is even more considered than mine, and he comes to the same conclusion. It's also a great single post for the whole dust up.

SUNDAY UPDATE: Tim Rutten has a piece in the LAT that continues to perpetuate the mis-translation. Also, via TBogg, I find another blogger, San Diego Soliloquies, who reads it the same way I do.

More to come on this...