English translation: Secretary of... / Secretariat of
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Spanish to English translations [PRO] Law/Patents - Government / Politics
Spanish term or phrase:Secretario de la Secretaría de … [for Mexico]
I would be really interested to gather some opinions on this.
Sorry if this is a bit longwinded, but I need to make my point.
The reason I ask is that until now I have taken my terms for distinct Mexican government Ministries/SECRETARIATS/Departments from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Mexico which invariably uses the terms "SECRETARIAT" and “SECRETARY”, respectively, but while looking for a term today (Dirección de Asistencia Jurídica Internacional), I was looking through official websites of the Mexican government, such as the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores http://www.sre.gob.mx/en/ which calls itself the “MINISTRY of Foreign Affairs”, while calling the person in office, Patricia Espinosa, the “SECRETARY” of Foreign Affairs http://www.sre.gob.mx/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=a... rather than “Minister”; then there’s the “Secretaría de Gobernación” that calls itself the “MINISTRY of the Interior “, http://www.gobernacion.gob.mx/en/SEGOB/Antecedentes_historic... and that calls the person in office, José Francisco Blake, both “MINISTER” and “SECRETARY” on the same page, http://www.gobernacion.gob.mx/en/SEGOB/El_Titular, and there are many more examples of these contradictions, but I’ll wind this up with the “Secretaría de Salud” with calls itself the “DEPARTMENT of Health”, http://portal.salud.gob.mx/index_eng.html, and the person in office, Dr. Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos, Health “SECRETARY” http://portal.salud.gob.mx/contenidos/secretaria/curriculum_...
So to sum up, these terms are used interchangeably by the official sites of the Mexican government but this is obviously inconsistent. But if I translate any documents for any of these Ministries/Secretariats/Departments then I could be inclined to take the terms from their official websites, so the dilemma is whether or not to use their terms if they have been translated inconsistently (badly?) or should I go with good old Wikipedia that invariably keeps its simple with Secretariat and Secretary.
Thanks in advance to anyone who has time to read this and post a suggestion.
No problem Rich, as mentioned this is what I use and I will tell you why in very few words. I once translated something about the "Secretariat of XXXX". I did my best to be faithful but started running into problems when the text indicated that the "Secretary" of the "Secretariat" would request for his "Secretary" to do AAAA and then inform all the higher officials of the "Secretriat" as well as the "Secretary" and the "Secretary" of the "Secretariats" of YYYY and ZZZZ... My worke was confusing for being faithful to the "secretary" word and lost two days of work fees. Since then I try to avoid using the Secretary related words unless the term really desscribes a person doing secretarial work and not that of a Minister of a Government Department. After thinking about it, it even lessens the heirachy of the Position. That is my take but I respect Henry's oppinion. The differentiation can be acheived with a capital S .
1.secretary; Persona que atiende la correspondencia, contesta al teléfono, controla las visitas y ayuda a su jefe en cualquier tarea administrativa. ; Máxim@ dirigente de algunas instituciones y partidos políticos.
Ministerio = Ministry, Ministro = Minister. Such terminology is not used in Mexico. Secretaría and Secretario are, so the choice is simple and these international agency sources are off base, and I do not mind saying so.
THE WORLD BANK Agriculture and Rural Development Working Paper 7
Zahniser, S., and F. Trevinio. 2001. "Hired Farm Labor: Comparing the US and Mexico." In SAGAR (Mexican Department of Agriculture)/Economic Research Service/USDA Agricultural Outlook (Jan.-Feb.): 12-17.
To add to the” inconsistencies” of the official Mexican sites, there’s the Secretaría de Economía that calls this “Secretariat” the “SECRETARY” of Economy
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Answers
31 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
Secretary of... / Secretariat of
Explanation: That's how I do it all the time. With Mexico I never use "Ministry" or "department", but always as above.
I am the translator, and I am much better then any of those that the Mexican government has ever used. Their versions have no official value.
Henry Hinds Local time: 20:27 Works in field Native speaker of: English, Spanish PRO pts in category: 625
Grading comment
Thanks Henry. I'll be sticking with Secretary and Secretariat.
Explanation: This is what I use. I translate a lot of government papers from Mexico and there is confusion as to the heirarchy if I use a "secretary" related word so by using "Minister" related words I eliminate the confusion. If it is absolutely correct...Who knows and who really cares, it conveys the meanings and takes away the spanglish ingredient.
José J. Martínez Mexico Local time: 19:27 Native speaker of: English, Spanish PRO pts in category: 8
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks for your answer José. I was hoping to have more opinions, but was glad to have at least two opinions from experienced translators.
The translation workplace 
