Be True to Your Text

Recently, a friend sent me the linked article about a translation referring to a female candidate for the New York City mayoral election being referred to as a male in the Spanish translation. Here is the link, and the mailer in question: “Bilingual Quinn mailer refers to candidate as male in Spanish version” http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/bilingual-flyer-flub-dings-quinn-campaign-article-1.1428365#ixzz2eVxzHGb3

If I had to guess, I would assume that the translator chose not to use “la única candidata” because it could be interpreted as saying that she is “the only FEMALE candidate” that is fighting for tenants. As Quinn was indeed the only female candidate, that would be obvious; I think the translator was trying to convey that she was the only candidate in the entire field of candidates fighting for tenants. I would have translated such a statement as “la única candidata de todos los candidatos” or similar to avoid such confusion and the accusation that she was being referred to as a man in the translation (which is obviously not the intention of the flyer or the candidate).

HOWEVER, the larger problem here is the translation itself. It is not a translation of the English. Sure, a marketing consultant could decide that the Spanish be different than the English and make changes. But barring that, the translator should stay as true to the original text as possible while still giving the text an authentic Spanish sound. In the case of this flyer, the Spanish does not say, “When it comes to fighting for tenants, one candidate stands out from the guys.” Rather, it says, “Christine Quinn is the only candidate for the mayor’s office that fights for tenants.” While they both have a similar message, the Spanish is not true to the intention of the English. The English is trying to highlight her gender – she is not like the other guys. The Spanish misses this idiomatic mark. A better translation would be something like, “Cuando se trata de luchar por los inquilinos, una candidata destaca entre los hombres.”