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Spanish to English translations [PRO] Slang / Panamanian politics
Spanish term or phrase:pendejos (in this context) (question about omitting the word, actually)
(Translation from Panamanian slang into US English slang.)
In an article by a political commentator, referring to the statements given by a presidential candidate:
"Para Balbina el país dominado por las Fuerzas de Defensa era “seguro” porque ella era del círculo íntimo de los dictadores; para los ciudadanos significó cárcel, torturas, desapariciones, exilios, decapitaciones, etc... y para qué seguir. ¿Y las drogas? ¡pero si precisamente fueron las FFDD las que pusieron a nuestro país en manos de las mafias de las drogas! ¡por amor a Dios, puede que seamos (como dice Pedrito en su canción) *******“tres millones de p…”*******, pero tampoco a este extremo!"
The part between ******* refers to Pedrito Altamiranda, who is a Panamanian singer (in)famous for his politically-charged, but humorous, protest songs. That particular line reads "tres millones de pendejos."
I don't find the word particularly offensive (rather, mildly offensive), but the commentator decided to leave it out of his article, anyway (the article was printed in a local newspaper.)
My question is, how would I go about translating this part? 1) It refers to a line in a song, really, so I'd have to paraphrase. Because the song is actually in Spanish, that is. I mean, it doesn't have an English translation... 2) Then, there's the issue of leaving just the initial letter of the word, because the author assumes everyone who'll read the article is already familiar with the song and the particular line. 3) THEN, this is where I come in: "pendejo" could be translated as "dumbass," which I guess is not particularly offensive, either? I'm not sure. It wouldn't be printed in a newspaper article – actually, an opinion piece –, would it? Do I just translate that line as "three million d..." and leave it at that? (I'm concerned that would be interpreted to refer to "dickhead," which in my opinion is stronger than "dumbass.")
Ack! This sounds like a silly question, but I guess it's the silliest things which get us in the end. :/
I'd consider something like this, which would communicate to the readers who are familiar with formal writing conventions that what appears between the brackets was not actually said (but included by the person quoting).
As for your translation of "pendejos," it's fine. Others might also be appropriate, but I think your question was mostly about how to proceed. If that's the real question, this might be a good option.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 56 mins (2009-01-21 02:59:41 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Given all the possible translations of "pendejo," I'd like to chime: you might consider any one of several options, including "jerk," "dumbass" and "fathead"; personally, I think I'd go for the last one (as it contains no objectionable parts that begin with an "a" and refers ONLY to intelligence, or lack thereof). :-)
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2009-01-21 03:23:48 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
oops, that's "chime in" :-) And while I'm doing just that, I agree that "a-hole" (as Lydia suggests) is really common in the US, but again, I'd go with something that has NO objectionable parts (or letters). Why take the risk of having someone even slightly offended over the translation of "pendejo" when other, less objectionable options exist?
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2009-01-21 03:26:07 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
FINAL SUGGESTION:
""tres millones de p...[endejos]" ("three million f...[atheads]")
Thank you all for your great suggestions! I decided in the end to use suckers" for "pendejos" (brilliant idea, Lydia, thanks!), and use the writing convention suggested by Marcelo of using the ellipses with the rest of the word inside square brackets. This was a very interesting discussion!! =) 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
Although technically a 'pendejo' is an 'idiota', the problem I see is that 'idiota' translates directly to 'idiot' whereas 'jerk' has no direct translation, but is the equivalent of 'pendejo'.
I think "jerk" works well. I'm still not sure about leaving it as "three million j..." instead of using the whole word. Do you think it'd work better if I wrote "jerks" in full? I'm thinking because readers of the English translation won't know what the song is about, where Panamanians don't need the word "pendejos" spelled out for them since they do know the song...
1.- Tú mejor que nosotros sabes cuál es el "registro" exacto de "pendejo" en Panamá. Ofensivo, poco ofensivo, regular, etc. 2.- Con base en eso, busca un equivalente en inglés y, según yo, sólo le pones la primera letra y, sin duda, le pones puntos suspensivos...
I was thinking of using "faggot" for "marica", since "queer" literally means "extraño, raro" (as in "raritos" which is not really offensive.) Whereas "faggot" has the same pejorative register as "marica."
Sí, en Panamá decir "pendejo" es como decir "imbécil", algo así como cuando una dice "¡Mira a ese pobre imbécil!", con desdén. Implica que el pendejo en cuestión es inofensivo... En cambio, en mi opinión, "asshole" es "cabrón", lo que es más fuerte. Y no estoy segura sobre dejar "...ass" con los puntos suspensivos por delante, puesto que lo que se considera ofensivo es, precisamente, la palabra "ass". :( (El colmo, si se tiene en cuenta que, en realidad, "ass" significa asno, literalmente). ¡Qué enredos me hago yo solita!
So, pendejo is, as in Mexico I presume, dumbass as you say, or asshole, is it? IMO, of course you must leave the ..., but perhaps not d... (dickhead, too strong), but ass... Saludos.