priorities

[ritaxis]

So Monday thousands of workers are going to stay home all across the country: thousands of shoppers won't shop: thousands of students won't go to school.

What does George Bush think about it?

That radio stations shouldn't play the national anthem in Spanish.

Comments

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

When I first heard that Bush didn't like the national anthem in Spanish, I thought he was silly. Then I read the translation. It's not the same words, entire sections are completely different words, and that does bother me. If there was a completely new anthem, like Solidarity, We Will Not Be Moved, etc., that would be great. But to take the national anthem and edit it is wrong.

I couldn't find a complete English translation anywhere, but this article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/27/AR2006042702505_2.html) in the WashPost says:

"In the Spanish version, the translation of the first stanza is relatively faithful to the spirit of the original, though Kidron says the producers wanted to avoid references to bombs and rockets. Instead, there is "fierce combat." The translation of the more obscure second stanza is almost a rewrite, with phrases such as "we are equal, we are brothers."

An alternate version to be released next month includes a rap in English that never occurred to Francis Scott Key:

Let's not start a war

With all these hard workers

They can't help where they were born"

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Well, that's an argument that can be made, and it has some merit to it (though I don't agree with it in this case, I can see why a person could agree with it, easily). But the other argument -- "you shouldn't translate it, period" -- that's stupid and cynical.