Lena Greenberg

Language Services

Coffee lovers, trading cards, and hidden initials: political jargon in translation

There are so many elections taking place in 2024 that it seems the party of democracy is dragging into one endless rave. As exhausting as such parties may be at times, I find a perverse sort of fun in the translation challenges of tired expressions such as “fiesta de la democracia” and other clichés popular in the media and among politicians. Here are some examples:

autocrítica: Losing candidates or parties are rarely asked to engage in “self-criticism” in English; rather, they’re encouraged to do some “soul-searching.”

In some contexts, “take responsibility” is also an option:

bailar: In the run-up to elections and on election night, certain seats are said to be “dancing,” meaning that they’re “up in the air,” “a toss-up,” or “going back and forth.”

The concept is in some ways similar to that of “swing states” or “battleground states” in the US, but applying the expression here might be misleading because it suggests that a large number of voters can’t decide between the two parties, whereas the parties a seat is “dancing” between aren’t necessarily competing for the same voters; the phenomenon simply has to do with with the threshholds parties need to cross in order to secure representation in different constituencies.

carta a los Reyes: I explain in detail here.

cafetero: Spain loves its coffee-themed political language, from the “everyone-gets-a-trophy”/“one-size-fits-all” system of “café para todos” to the expression “café para los más cafeteros” to refer to positions or politicians perceived as what we might call “hardcore,” “hardline,” or “diehard.”

The word can also describe people who are highly interested in/knowledgable about a particular topic. There are different collocations depending on the topic in question: “political junkies,” “film buffs,” etc.

cara a cara: “One-on-one” is more natural than “face-to-face” when referring to a debate between two candidates.

cambio de cromos: This kind of political transaction in which Party A supports Party B in one area in exchange for support in another area could be rendered in in English as a “backscratching deal/agreement.”

The expression can also refer to a “cosmetic change/shuffle/shake-up” that does not address deeper issues.

de cara a la parroquia: This expression refers to proposals or statements that are made to appeal to the group of voters most likely to support a candidate or party to begin with, a phenomenon known in English as “pandering/playing to the base.”

frec a frec: Coincidentally, the English equivalent rhymes with the Catalan: “neck and neck.” When used as a noun, it may be necessary to add “race,” as in the example given in the entry for “bailar.”

hemeroteca: The dictionary translation of “newspaper archive” is almost laughably quaint when considering how the word is actually used colloquially. A politician’s “hemeroteca” covers everything they have said in the past (which could be translated as their “record” or simply their “past comments”) and is usually brought up when they are perceived as acting in a way that contradicts their former stance. As such, “La hemeroteca no perdona,” “La hemeroteca es muy traicionera,” “Maldita hemeroteca,” and similar expressions can be translated using the expression “come back to bite/haunt”:

pantalla passada: A video game metaphor that refers to something that’s already been tried and isn’t worth going back to, this expression can be translated as “been there, done that” or recast in a way that uses the phrase “moving on.”

pescar en el caladero: This expression could be translated as “woo over” or “court,” as it often refers to securing the support of undecided voters or trying to tap into an electorate that traditionally votes for another party.

projecte: Talking about a candidate’s “project” for their country is one of those things that sounds ever so slightly off in English. It’s easy to fall for the cognate because after all, politicians do talk about their “projects,” plural. But these are specific initiatives. With some exceptions, such as the terrifying Project 2025, “project” isn’t generally used to refer to a large-scale set of policies or approach to governance; in such contexts it’s usually more natural to talk about an “agenda,” “program,” “plan,” “model,” or “vision” in English.

In some contexts, “projecte” is also used more or less as a synonym for “party”:

propaganda: As an American English speaker, hearing “propaganda” mentioned matter-of-factly in Catalan and Spanish is a bit like hearing British English speakers talking about “schemes.” It can be hard to set aside the negative connotations and recognize that the term is used neutrally in certain contexts. Specifically, “propaganda electoral” usually has no value judgment attached and is simply “election advertising,” whether in the form of TV commercials/adverts (note: “spots” is a pseudo-anglicism), posters, leaflets, or what have you.

relat: The obvious translation of “narrative” works perfectly well in most cases, but since the narrative in question is rarely neutral or objective, in some contexts “spin” is also an option.

sigles: As this word is used to refer to the identity of a party whether or not that party is known by any particular initialism or acronym, it’s often more accurately translated as “(party) brand/label.”  

When the word is referring to the image of the initials, “logo” is a better option. A poster that is “hiding the initials” is one where “the party logo is barely visible.”

This list only scratches the surface of political clichés, but I’ll keep working on it with the goal of eventually getting translation bingo on the card below. Maybe I’m a party person after all.

lenavgreenberg

, ,

Leave a comment