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English language (monolingual) [PRO] Social Sciences - Education / Pedagogy / School performance and academic outcomes
English term or phrase:to barrio or not to barrio?
Bit of a straw poll here. I'm translating an ES-EN text (Spain, Europe), which will be submitted for publication to either a European or North American publication, and I'm wondering if nowadays it's okay to just leave "barrio" as is, or if I should italicise it, or whether I should just dump it and use a translation.
These are the options I'm considering so far:
1.- "The school is located in a barrio with one of the lowest socio-economic and cultural levels in western Andalusia."
2.- "The school is located in an area (barrio) with one of the lowest socio-economic and cultural levels in western Andalusia."
3.- "The school is located in an area/district/neighbourhood with one of the lowest socio-economic and cultural levels in western Andalusia"
Explanation: I can't see any good argument for not translating it. To me it's a perfectly ordinary word that is no more culturally specific than many others that we routinely translate. Terms should only be left in the original language, as a rule, if an important aspect of their meaning simply can't be reflected in any English term, but that's not the case here. I would only leave it in Spanish if there is some strong reason for reflecting the Hispanic connotations of the particular neighbourhood or area. This might be the case in Hispanic areas of US cities, for example. But in Western Andalusia, it's simply a neighbourhood or area of a city, and you should use the same word you would use if it were talking about the UK or the US. There are several standard translations, which you've mentioned in option 3. One of them would do fine, in my opinion.
Just before pressing the button I've seen the latest comment. I don't think "barrio" is a distinctively Hispanic concept at all (though it might be in certain specific contexts, in a text for a particular readership, as I've suggested). It's simply the Spanish word for an area of a city or a quarter or a neighbourhood.
In journalism, space is at a premium, at least to a certain extent, and you will already have to get rid of all those brackets/parentheses. One example (guess that's not the best to choose here):
DE: Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC)
Subsequent mention: ALIPAC
EN (AP): Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee
Subsequent mention: the committee (or similar reference, or need to spell it out a second time)
Now, imagine you have to include all those descriptions too.
In short: If the word is not central to the story, I wouldn't expect some kind of explanation. Whether it's Lörrach district or county, you can google it. In any case, it's in southern Germany and the main point is not where it is exactly, but what output the on-site installation can achieve.
I hope that was understandable; bit pressed for time today.
@Charles and Mihaela I can relate to Neil's situation insofar as there are "Kreise" in Germany, which are called either districts or counties ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Districts_of_Germany ). Confusingly enough, some will use counties for Kreise and districts for Bezirke, but there aren't many left of the latter kind, so you either elevate counties to the status of districts or drop districts altogether. Conversely, "district" is well established when referring to Bezirke in German cities.
I think Tina's suggestion is closest if you need to get rid of the parentheses; but as you said, Charles, it's not required here because it may lead you down a slippery slope. To add a bit of hyperbole: If you choose not to translate barrio but explain it, you might be tempted to write "cocina, the Spanish word for 'kitchen'" in the next chapter.
Sorry, I'm not a Spanish speaker, I thought barrio is a spanish word with some deeper meaning, cultural background maybe, if its only meaning neighbourhood, why discuss this then :)
To me, putting "a barrio (an area)" would be like putting "a calle (street)" or "a puente (bridge)". There's no point. Every city in the world (I imagine) is divided into neighbourhoods or areas, and every language spoken in cities must have a word for them. "Barrio" happens to be the Spanish one. There is nothing about a "barrio" that is systematically different from a "quartier" or a "Gegend" or a "quartiere" or a "buurt" or...
I think this only arises at all because in the US there are many cities with Hispanic areas and their residents might call them "the barrio". But this is not because there's no English word for it, but simply because their neighbourhood is, in a sense, an expression of their Hispanic identity.
Not at all, your input is appreciated. BTW, I don't usually follow any particular style guide unless I'm instructed to by an author, client or the guidelines of the journal in question. The paper I'm translating at the moment was refused for being "too specific" by the first journal it was submitted to, and we're not yet sure where it will be sent next. I might tweak some of the terminology or spelling later, depending on the target audience. And I've decided to translate it as "neighbourhood" to avoid any negative connotations like the ones you mention.
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
17:11 Feb 23, 2018
The first time the word appears, I would take option 2 but turn it around without any translation or parentheses: "...the school is located in a barrio, an area...." That way you have already explained what it means and you can use 'barrio' by itself in the rest of the translation.
Hi, I live in Croatia, like everyone we have also some typical or native words, with some cultural backgrounds, that are hard to translate, I would always try to keep the original word - in your case barrio - and put the translated meaning in brackets afterwards, in your case: barrio (area)... or in footnote
I've never lived in a Spanish-speaking country or even visited the US and don't speak Spanish. So, if option 1 looks fine to me and reads better than options 2 or 3, then my qualifications for choosing it could be considered impeccable.
Wiki adds: "The United States usage of the term barrio is also found in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, where barrio is commonly given to slums in the outer rims of big cities such as Caracas and Santo Domingo as well as lower- and middle-class neighborhoods in other cities and towns." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrio
Explanation: I can't see any good argument for not translating it. To me it's a perfectly ordinary word that is no more culturally specific than many others that we routinely translate. Terms should only be left in the original language, as a rule, if an important aspect of their meaning simply can't be reflected in any English term, but that's not the case here. I would only leave it in Spanish if there is some strong reason for reflecting the Hispanic connotations of the particular neighbourhood or area. This might be the case in Hispanic areas of US cities, for example. But in Western Andalusia, it's simply a neighbourhood or area of a city, and you should use the same word you would use if it were talking about the UK or the US. There are several standard translations, which you've mentioned in option 3. One of them would do fine, in my opinion.
Just before pressing the button I've seen the latest comment. I don't think "barrio" is a distinctively Hispanic concept at all (though it might be in certain specific contexts, in a text for a particular readership, as I've suggested). It's simply the Spanish word for an area of a city or a quarter or a neighbourhood.
Charles Davis Spain Local time: 16:07 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 48
Grading comment
Went with "neighbourhood" in the end. Thanks to everyone for the comments and suggestions :-)
Notes to answerer
Asker: And in Valencia, when we say "the barrio", it usually means the Carmen... :)
peer agreement (net): +7