By Steve Sailer
09/02/2015
Yesterday, a big headline in the Washington Post read:
Jeb Bush slams Donald Trump in Spanish over his âbarbaritiesâ
But something seems off about that headline. The word âbarbaritiesâ seems over-the-top, plus it makes Jeb seem effete, like a decadent Late Roman Empire princeling who canât hold off the barbarians anymore the way his sterner ancestors could.
And maybe the word âbarbaritiesâ is self-defeating from the point of view of Jeb arguing that Trump canât win: after all California voters twice elected governor another large blond businessman / performer, one who had become world famous playing a barbarian.
But hereâs the thing: Jeb never said the English world âbarbarities.â Thatâs just how the Washington Post chose to translate, literally, the word Jeb used in Spanish: âbarbaridades.â
I donât speak Spanish, so I canât tell you if âbarbaritiesâ is an ideal translation, but I do know that there are a lot of similar words in English and Spanish with identical Greek or Latin roots that, over the centuries, developed slightly different connotations.
Commenter 5371 suggests a better translation for Bushâs complaints about Trumpâs attacks on him than âbarbaritiesâ would be âabsurdities.â The Miami Herald comes up with a third translation:
Bush told reporters at La Progresiva Presbyterian School in Little Havana * that he decided to hit Trump âbecause he attacks me every day with barbaridadesâ â atrocious insults.
Commenter Hubbard adds a fourth interpretation:
In Spanish, ÂĄQue barbaridad!, though it literally translates to âhow barbaric,â usually means something along the lines of âlame, but what can you do?â For example, being stuck in traffic an extra 15 minutes or getting called for jury duty would be a ÂĄQue barbaridad! moment.
ÂĄJeb! was trying to call Trump lame in Spanish, but it looks like a misunderstanding of idioms made him sound like a flaming drama queen to English speakers.
So, itâs too bad for ÂĄJeb! that the Washington Postâs weak command of Spanish made him sound like Heliogabalus complaining about uncouth Teutons, but itâs his own damn fault for campaigning for President of the United States in a foreign language.
And the more general point is that translation is hard and far from foolproof. Thus, campaigning in two languages, as ÂĄJeb! has repeatedly chosen to do, inevitably reduces comprehension and increases misconceptions on the part of the voters, the media, and the candidates. Campaigning in multiple languages is not only divisive, it makes us more ignorant.
* By the way, while I realize that Jeb has $100 million worth of crack campaign consultants, so who am I to doubt their tactical genius? But was having Jeb launch his new offensive against the populist American Trump at âLa Progresiva Presbyterian School in Little Havanaâ really the smartest possible use of symbolism?