Ya know, I'm ok with people not learning English.  I'm ok with Spanish being a second language and I'm ok with a Spanish version of the national anthem.  I'm not so happy with stores that don't have signs written in English at all...

"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.""

Therein lies my problem with this.  The National Anthem in Spanish is fine by me.  But 'wanted to avoid references to bombs and rockets'?!?!?!  The original wording comes from the fact that someone looked out, after the BOMBS AND ROCKETS, to see that his flag and his country had stood through the battle.

The second stanza contains nothing at all remotely *like* "We are equal, we are brothers."  It is (according to wikipedia):

    On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
    Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
    What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
    As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
    Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
    In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
    Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
    O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

It's my national anthem.  I take it pretty seriously, and I'm righteously pissed off about this - not that they translated it, but that they changed it to suit their own political agenda.  You want rallying songs about equality and brotherhood, write those.  I'll happily sing them right along in English or in Spanish.  Do not twist the national anthem of a country you *claim* to want to contribute to and be a part of so it means what you want it to mean.

I'd welcome a more accurate translation, because I imagine it has to suck when everyone stands up to sing the national anthem and you're essentially repeating meaningless gibberish because it's not only in another language, but an archaic form of that language.  I say translate that baby directly into as many languages as you like so people really can understand what they're singing about - but do so honestly.

'Melting pot' means you bring your culture to the larger culture and you add it.  You don't disrespect that larger culture under the claim that you only want to be accepted by it.

Quite.  I suppose I should have read more on it before giving my interpretation.  As far as rewriting the song to have a completely different meaning to fit a political agenda, no I very much disagree with this act.

Aaaaand can someone translate that for us? 

<shrugs>  six to one, half dozen to another. 

I lied, here's the translation:



Thank goodness for online dictionaries that don't require thumbing through pages

Well, then native speakers of that language should fel free to translate it. I doubt the people who wrote this version know many languages other than Spanish and English.

I find it interesting how every wave of immigrants is faced with native concerns over lack of assimilation, but eventually, they all assimilate. So don't worry about what language they speak when they get here. Their kids and grandkids will speak English. Of that I have no worries.

This is actually starting to become the case with Miami.  A lot of the younger generation are starting to reject the cuban identity that their parents cling to.  It's really interesting to see a young person who speaks Spanish get mad at someone for greeting them in Spanish without trying English first.

Personally, I think it's just laziness... but a lot of them only understand it and can only speak it well enough to have simple conversations.  Finding a younger person who can actually write in Spanish, is a pretty tough thing.

Of course, that's not really much solice to my annoyance when I can't order a cheeseburger or pay for my groceries without enlisting a translator.

From the BBC article:

Irony, anyone?


Seriously, though?  Go ahead and translate the national anthem, but don't call it the national anthem.  Sing it whenever you want, even in place of the English national anthem, but just don't call it the national anthem.  Translations will never be exact (though it seems that they could have gotten it quite a bit more exact), so don't treat it as though it were the same.

Man, now I really do want to hear a Hebrew v