English translation: employees who depend on their monthly salaries
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Spanish to English translations [PRO] Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc.
Spanish term or phrase:en calidad de dependientes
Text about Bolivia. For the UK.
I'm a bit confused as to what "en calidad de dependientes" means here. What I understand is that the workers have to fight each year to have their meagre salaries increased, while those of high-ranking officials have theirs increased automatically. So, the workers depend on their monthly salaries 'as dependants"/as workers for these officials?
Any help appreciated in clearing this up for me. Thanks.
En cuanto a las percepciones económicas de altos dignatarios de Estado y Representantes National, una demanda generalizada era que mientras los sectores de trabajadores asalariados del país tenían ingresos sumamente bajos y debían movilizarse cada año por incremento de sueldos y salarios, ese estamento de la burocracia estatal automáticamente se los incrementaba y eran considerados una seria afrenta para la situación general de quienes dependían de sus ingresos mensuales **en calidad de dependientes**. Una primera respuesta del gobierno instaurado el 2006, fue disponer la reducción del 50% de dietas y salarios para altos dignatarios de Estado y Representantes National, ahorro que fue destinado para responder a la creciente demanda de nuevos ítems para educación y salud.
I've had many years of practice in interpreting what my students write on the one hand, and the nonsense of educational bureaucrats on the other. Cheers
Hi all, I've quizzed the client on the meaning of ' en calidad de dependientes' and the reply was as follows:
It means that national representatives and government senior officials/dignitaries would receive salary raises every year automatically, and people with low salaries who depend on their salary to survive have to fight for those raises every year. So they saw the automated salary raises for the senior officials as an affront because of their precarious situation.
Hmm, "subordinates" is often the right word in contexts like this one but I really wonder if the text is talking about the subordinates of the "dignatarios y Representantes" or if it's saying that the high salaries of the latter were an affront to those who "really needed" their monthly salaries. I find it confusing, and would probably ask the client to clarify!
My mind interprets "dependiente" as in shop assisant. Obviously we're not talking about shop assistants here, more like a person who is working at the service of, obeying orders, etc. Said another way, a slave from the 21st century. The problem resides in finding a suitable word to express this idea.
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Answers
6 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
as subordinates
Explanation: I think this fits the context, sense 3 in the RAE:
3. m. p. us. Persona que sirve a otra o es subalterna de una autoridad.
Simon Bruni United Kingdom Local time: 06:31 Meets criteria Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 56
as salaried employees / salaried workers / wage labourers
Explanation: I think that either of the first two would be the best in this context. salaried employee Sustantivo
empleado asalariado, asalariado, empleado, trabajador a sueldo, trabajador asalariado, trabajador dependiente; Sinónimos: employee, earner, hireling, permanent wage earner, salaried worker, wage earner, wage laborer, wage labourer; Person who earns a salary. ; A worker who is hired to perform a job. http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/diccionario/en-es/salaried empl...
Jenni Lukac Local time: 07:31 Meets criteria Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 96
Explanation: I have puzzled over this (and started to propose three different answers), but I think you have to find a neutral solution. At first I thought "dependientes" referred to lower-ranking government workers (dependent on the government), but that might not be the case, so it's risk to get too specific.
'Ordinary' creates the contrast and is vague.
Muriel Vasconcellos United States Local time: 22:31 Meets criteria Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 249
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +1
