Convention bungles 'Hispanics for Trump' sign

[ehrnst]

Latino outreach is going as expected.

Signs seen being waved at the convention — presumably passed out along with other placards — read "Hispanics para Trump."

Not only did the text not translate "Hispanics" to "Hispanos," it also used "para" instead of "por."

The two words — which both denote various meanings of the word "for" — are easily mixed up and a common point of frustration for those learning the language..

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/288820-convention-bungles-hispanics-for-trump-sign

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. If they can't even translate a sign correctly,

that's further proof that there really are no Hispanics for Trump. If there were, the sign would be correct, instead of (probably) translated by one of the Trump kids based on what he/she remembered from a middle-school basic Spanish class.

[Saviolo]

8. I suspect Google Translate

(after writing the title, I tried it) ...nope. Even Google Translate gave me "Hispanos por Trump"

Now, that is incredibly lazy. Like... Google Translate is almost literally the least amount of effort you could put into this.

Even Babelfish gives you "Hispanos de Trump"

[MissB]

13. It doesn't surprise me at all.

They *just* downloaded the plagiarism detection freeware this week. They are wholly incompetent.

[MineralMan]

39. Google Translate has gotten a lot better over the years.

These days, if you write in plain declarative English sentences, Google provides a pretty good translation, most of the time. However, you still have to copy and past the Spanish translation and back-translate it to English to check.

If you avoid colloquialisms and complex sentence structures, it works pretty well these days, at least from English to Spanish. With other languages, it can still have problems. Unless you're familiar with the target language, you can get into some pretty funny trouble with a Google Translation.

As you found, it translated that poster language just fine. I've used it, with care and back-translation checks for business emails for a few years. I've watched as it has gotten better and better with Spanish, French, German and Russian. I've learned to write the English text specifically for Google Translate and have gotten compliments from correspondents on my language use.

Still, it can be tricky.

[mwooldri]

44. I guess we should be grateful for it not being Chinese.

If Chinese (Mandarin, etc) was the #2 language in the USA... and the Trump campaign relied on machine translation... we would be seeing a lot of (extra) garbage come from them. Google is pretty good with western languages. Chinese, Korean, Japanese... not as much.

[Feeling the Bern]

55. There is no "for" in Mandarin. There are only a few prepositions in the language

从 - from
在 - in, on, at
上 - up, above
下 - down, below

There is one article in Mandarin. 一个, the indefinite article "a" and "an," which may or may not be used. Just like there is no plural. All subjects and objects are singular. "我有一个苹果” = I have one apple. “我看看八个大厦” = literally, I see eight building.

If it were in Chinese, it would read "西班牙语的人喜欢Trump," which translate to "Spanish language speakers support Trump."

In spoken on the street Mandarin, there really isn't a word "Hispanic" or "Latino." They would classify everyone by country.

Glad he didn't try. It would look like shit.

As for Korean, that's my fifth language. Easy language too. Grammar wise, it is Mandarin with different words, but same structure, and all Korean is either CVC, CVVC or CV syllables.

[cab67]

47. It's gotten better; still....

One of the contests our department hosts at the end of the academic year involves taking abstracts published by departmental personnel (mostly faculty and grad students), translating them some sort of online translator (Babelfish, Google or Bing Translator) into some other language chosen at random, translating the translation into yet another randomly chosen language, and then translating it back into English. The person who can correctly figure out the authors of the largest number of these wins.

[MineralMan]

48. Yes. But academic writings are seldom written

simply or in non-complex declarative sentences. They are not written to be translated easily.

If you want something translated into a common language from English, it's fairly easy to write it specifically for that purpose. If you do that, Google will usually do a good job with the translation. You have to avoid words with multiple definitions, idiomatic expressions and any sort of complex grammar, of course.

The test is to back-translate. If the result isn't exactly what you wrote, then you can edit your original and try again.

Academic writing, however, simply won't translate well. Normal business writing, however, generally will be OK.

[cab67]

53. understood.

I agree that some styles of writing are more easily translated. For those that are not, though, the results can be entertaining.

[MineralMan]

2. Good catch. However,

Hispanic voters aren't going to vote for the golden-haired marmot anyhow.

Para basically means "to be used for"

e.g.: Ropa para trabajo means "work clothes."

Por would have been the right word, and Hispanos, instead of "Hispanics" as you point out.

[liberal N proud]

4. Maybe they did mean to use Para

Use the Hispanic voters for Trump? As in USE THEM.

[MineralMan]

7. Yes, that struck me, too.

"Hispanics for the use of Trump."

That's pretty much it.

[Hortensis]

11. Lol. Wonder how many "Hispanos" may have been

involved in the production, etc., of those things.

[MineralMan]

16. Just one. It's a guy in a sombrero with a mustache,

who doesn't even speak Spanish. But he looks Hispanic, so he's "Trump's Hispanic."

The number of people watching Der Drumpfenführer's speech and for whom Spanish is their first language is vanishingly small.

[Hortensis]

19. Lol. But I suspect there may have been a

few chuckles in the print shop, on a loading dock, wherever.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. There might have been a mariachi band at one of their social events

but even they were probably three Anglo college kids named Chad, Biff and Jason.

[MineralMan]

23. Bingo. "Trump's Pretend Hispanics Mariachi Band"

[Ilsa]

29. They pulled in someone serving tacos at the Marriott buffet.

Because, they'd have to know, right? I mean, to Republicans, it's just spanish.

[tclambert]

34. I found a picture of the translator:

(For those of you who don't recognize him, his name is Tuco Ramirez. He was quoted as saying, "I like working with Blondie.&quot

[Hortensis]

35. Lol. Doesn't look like he has a great sense of humor,

but appearances are deceiving. Muchas gracias por la traduccion, Senor.

[Orangepeel]

6. 'Para basically means "to be used for"'

Well, I guess they said what they meant.

[SunSeeker]

36. LOL

[3catwoman3]

37. Hey, c'mon!

Marmots are kinda cute, unlike Der Trumpenfuhrer.

[liberal N proud]

3. Honestly, the were afraid of plagiarism

[MissB]

14. .

[MineralMan]

5. The Trump Campaign - Illiterate in Multiple Languages

and proud of it.

[Paladin]

17. Bi-Ignorant. (nt)

[ChairmanAgnostic]

49. Bi-illiterate, or Bile-Literate?

Or Buy-litter-rat?

[Paladin]

52. All of those work for me, CA. (nt)

[Sheepshank]

9. Hispanics sure look different today than in my younger days

Looks more like white privilege telling Hispanics what they should be doing.

[Iliyah]

10. Oh come on. . . . .

[Socal31]

12. Someone pitched the idea. Someone designed the signs.

Multiple people helped manufacture them. Someone approved a sample. They were passed out. They were exhibited in a room with thousands.


....and nobody caught it? That is scary sh*t.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. Nobody caught it because there are no Hispanics in Trumpworld.

[Botany]

15. I noticed that last night but I thought that I must be wrong because they couldn't ....

.... make that big of a mistake. Pandejo

[MineralMan]

18. Pendejo, please.

It's an apt description of Trump, though.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

21. Cabron works, too.

[Botany]

25. pinche pendejo también

mis espanol es muy malo yo soy tonto gringo

but I made myself watch trump and kept thinking it is por not para
how could they make this mistake?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

51. El burro sabe mas que Trumpenstein.

[bettyellen]

27. Sangana tambien!

[Sunlei]

24. RT Moscow always has trouble with their help to bagger trumps attacks on other republicans.

They probably helped with the signs. note at 19 seconds, the elephant has 2 bears in the logo design. RT makes sure to hold and show the logo. wonder who shot that footage for the BOOS to Cruz.


video by RT, Moscow government news.

[Arkana]

26. Doesn't that say "Hispanics OF Trump"?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. Well, he does have "my African American"

so I suppose that's possible.

[Croney]

30. Well, the verb parar means to stop or block.

So I choose to read the sign as Hispanics Stop Trump, even though paran would be correct since it's plural. Sounds like what I predict will come to pass.

[The_Casual_Observer]

31. The people holding those signs look pretty white.

[Ilsa]

32. And where was multilingual Melania when they made these signs?

Oh, she doesn't speak spanish? When trump's buddies talked about her, they said her language skills would be so useful!

[MineralMan]

40. Melania will be crucial in our diplomatic relations with Slovenia.

No question about it. I suspect that Slovene, in one dialect or another, is the only language she's really fluent in.

[neeksgeek]

33. It's OK, they just shouted it more loudly to make themselves understood. (sarcasm) n/t

[apnu]

38. Someone on Starship Trump is saying "Damn you Google Translate! Damn you to hell!" (nt)

[jmowreader]

41. To their credit they DID ask a Mexican guy to translate it for them

Trump staffer: "How do you translate 'Hispanics for Trump' into Spanish?"

Mexican guy: "It is impossible."

Trump guy: "Impossible? It's only three words."

Mexican guy: "It is impossible because no Hispanic is for Trump."

So they went it alone.

[Motown_Johnny]

42. Do you know why Trump takes Zoloft?

For His-Panic Attacks.

[icv03985]

43. 9th grade Spanish, used by 9th grade intellects

My apologies to all 9th graders.

[Liberalagogo]

45. I'm just guessing

but shouldn't it be "a favor de"?

http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/porpara.htm

[duncang]

46. Seeing those people with those signs made me laugh.

The only Spanish speaking people they have probably talked to in years would be their gardeners. And that would be shouting since they think that's the only way they could tell them to make sure they edge good around the garden.

[Sophiegirl]

50. I'm surprised they didn't hand out sombreros.

In keeping with the theme and all.

[LAS14]

54. It just goes on and on... nt

[AgadorSparticus]

56. They should have asked Tim Kaine to translate for them.

That is pretty darn bad. Note to team trump: Google translator is your friend.