So the 2020 election cycle has begun and once again, we are witnessing how presidential candidates continue to fail when it comes to their Spanish-language messaging. You would think by now that in 2019 we would have gotten all past this, but apparently not.
The latest example?
Kamala Harris’ campaign launch on Monday. Under much fanfare, the California Democrat got a lot of press and attention. And to be honest, our group wasn’t really paying attention for several reasons, including the fact that the Democratic field will be rather large when all is said and done, so Harris’ announcement was expected.
Then, @frederickvIII tweeted this to us:
So apparently @KamalaHarris has “wasted” her whole life fighting for the people…. And that is why it’s important to hire people who know how to translate ???@fdejesusfebles @julito77 @latinorebels pic.twitter.com/hKfLZPmcB1
— Frederick Velez III (@frederickvIII) January 21, 2019
It caught our attention, because once again, a presidential campaign decided to just toss away an opportunity to actually treat Spanish-language messaging with actual respect. But that would have been wishful thinking, considering that campaigns from all over the country don’t really get it and likely never will.
As Velez notes,
Since this tweet is picking up a little bit of steam, I just want to call attention to the fact that the @KamalaHarris campaign is not the only @TheDemocrats Presidential campaign with translation errors. IT’S ALL OF THEM. Go ahead and check, I’m not kidding… https://t.co/tp4gPWxRmN
— Frederick Velez III (@frederickvIII) January 21, 2019
The worst thing is that every year @TheDemocrats expect Latinos to vote and campaign for them but it’s clear they’re not spending the necessary resources, or worse, thinks it’s not that important cause “the other side is worse”.
— Frederick Velez III (@frederickvIII) January 21, 2019
As Latinos we have to DEMAND that these things not happen, that they put the same care into their Spanish website as they do for their English version. It took me one visit to the website see the error, how hard can it really be to hire Latinos?!? We are everywhere! ??
— Frederick Velez III (@frederickvIII) January 21, 2019
And Velez is right. Go to other presidential campaign sites and there’s just something about the Spanish versions that reek of literal translations and lack of cultural nuance. Like Elizabeth Warren’s page. Or Kirsten Gillibrand’s page. Or Tulsi Gabbard’s page. Or even Julián Castro’s page.
The reason for all this clunkiness is simple: when it comes to presidential campaigns and their messaging, Spanish is truly a toss-away task. English is 100% more important and Spanish is never seen as an equal. It’s cheaper to just pass out English text to a translator than actually work with Spanish-language communicators who can expertly navigate through the linguistic and cultural challenges.
Some might think that this is all being overblown (just see Velez’s thread to see how many people are slamming him for speaking the truth), but we will argue otherwise. Being authentic and making a conscious and intentional choice matters. This is 2019. The U.S. Latino community continues to grow. Sure, English use among Latinos keeps rising, but Spanish hasn’t gone away. Just do better. It’s not that hard.
With that said, maybe the Harris campaign got the message (at least for that one example), because just hours after Velez’s tweet, it made an edit to the text:
FYI, they already changed it? wow. translation is still crappy though. pic.twitter.com/2My1nRwr36
— Latino Rebels (@latinorebels) January 22, 2019
Still, the Spanish-language version of her campaign’s site is pretty clunky.
and “Desde luchar” makes no sense either
and nobody says “propietarios de vivienda de la clase media”
this entire párrafo is pretty poor
— Latino Rebels (@latinorebels) January 21, 2019
Which is why we tweeted this to the Harris campaign:
Hi @KamalaHarris, we really hope you get people in your campaign who can actually WRITE in Spanish? Your first foray into campaign messaging in Spanish today is pretty poor. For a major national campaign, not a good look at all.
— Latino Rebels (@latinorebels) January 22, 2019
And as for all of you who think this is all silly, we honestly don’t care. We don’t work for Democrats, we don’t work for political campaigns, and we will continue to inform political campaigns to keep the raising the bar. And we are totally fine with that.
As for Velez and his being critiqued for actually raising a very important issue? Here is more you need to know:
Everyone repeat with me: The direct translation is the problem because it makes the sentence lose its intended meaning. If you just read the thread…
— Frederick Velez III (@frederickvIII) January 22, 2019
The point is that a Senator from California, that is running for President, used google translate for her portion of the website. The reality is you or I wouldn’t have let that happen. Because we know it’s just the wrong use.
— Frederick Velez III (@frederickvIII) January 22, 2019
This is where I digress. The fact that Trump is President is not an excuse for the Latino community to slack off and not demand excellence. How come the English version is perfect and the Spanish one is full of mistakes? We have to hold Dems accountable.
— Frederick Velez III (@frederickvIII) January 22, 2019
Perhaps some of you should realize that “gastado” does indeed translate to “spent”. Spanish is my second language, and when I saw the post, I wondered why that word was being highlighted as being wrong. Harris’ campaign did indeed translate properly. There is nothing to see here.
That was address in the thread by Velez several times. Guess you missed all that and yeah, you also know that the use of “gastado” in this specific context was problematic? And Spanish is our first language. The rest of the párrafo is also pretty poor. Thanks for commenting.
And like we said in the piece, you can disagree all you want. We will still be talking about it.
Sorry you are just plain wrong. It might translate to “spent” but in the sense of being DEPLETED. You have a hell of a nerve arguing with native speakers. You must want Harris to lose, because if you saw a sign that you would read to mean “wasted her life defending, etc.,” you’d laugh and think this politician is a moron.
Spanish is my first language and “gastado” means “spent” only in the context of something being used up. Like when you say your batteries are spent, for example. In the context of “I have spent my life,” you could say, “He pasado la vida…” Turkey is translated as pavo unless it’s referring to the country, in which case, it’s Turquía. If I call the country “Pavo,” it would be incorrect, even if turkey also means pavo. The meaning of words is according to context. In any language.
I teach English as a Second Language in NYC and tell my kids everyday not to rely on Google translate. It can do word for word translations, but does not do well wuth nuance, idiomatic phrases, and translating longer passages in ways that make sense. I have been fluent in Spanish for 30 years, but ALWAYS have a native Spanish speaker look over documents before I publish them or send them home in Spanish. This is not only sloppy of her campaign, it also makes it seem that she does not value the expertise that would come if she were to hire Latinx staff members to represent her constituency. I would expect better from a California politician.
For years, I have argued against machine translations. Nuance and precision are too frequently lost in their versions. Further, I agree with previous comments sbout proper language usage; ¿por qué nos siguen faltando el respeto en español cuando respetan a todos en inglés?
Just gonna leave this here:
Deepl.com/translate
Not a cure-all but a better alternative to Google Translate.