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Spanish to English translations [PRO] Social Sciences - Psychology / tortura
Spanish term or phrase:haciéndome todo encima
Estoy traduciendo una entrevista a un prisionero político venezolano liberado recientemente. En el texto, describe los centros y métodos de tortura.
"XXX hace una larga pausa mientras mira de reojo hacia su madre, que está sentada a unos metros, junto a la ventana. Espera que ella abandone la habitación. Luego se sienta en una silla, con las manos cogidas a la espalda. R.- ¿Diría usted que estoy siendo torturado? P.- No... R.- A mí me tomaron una foto así. Cualquiera hubiera dicho: "No está tan mal xxx". ¿Pero qué pasa a las 12 horas de estar en esta posición, con las manos esposadas y una intensa luz blanca en la cara? ¿Y a las 24? ¿Y a la semana? Extenuado. Destruido. **Haciéndome todo encima**.
Se refiere a orinarse o defecar en los pantalones por no tener posibilidad de ir al baño.
He encontrado: "hacerse encima (Latin America) (euphemistic), hacérselo encima (Spain) (euphemistic) (= orinarse) to wet o.s.; (= defecar) to mess o.s."
Sin embargo, encuentro pocas referencias a "wetting and messing yourself" o "peeing and messing in your pants" Pooping o doing number two me parecen un tanto eufemísticos y no suenan a lenguaje de adulto.
Explanation: "soiling myself" is a very nice, clean, polite way of expressing this ... but in this case I think you need the harsher way of expressing it that reflects the reality of what this person experienced. It was NOT a nice, clean experience.
Or "shitting all over myself."
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 41 mins (2018-11-09 17:57:23 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Now that I re-read it, I think we need to include the urination.
"Shitting and peeing in my pants."
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 45 mins (2018-11-09 18:01:51 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Again, I don't think that neat, delicate, non'offensive, euphemistic expressions are appropriate here.
Thank you Joseph for all the input. From what you say I infer that loosing control means loosing control after all! ;) Definitely not the case then. As for the original expression, it is crude but it is not explicit. If I could I would try to avoid explicit language in the translation. If possible. And I mean that the translation should produce a somewhat disturbing image of someone left alone, maybe tied up onto a chair, having to urinate and defecate all over himself. He had no choice, as you perfectly put it, Joseph. From what you guys wrote I am not sure that the polite forms "relieving" or "soiling" might allow such a disturbing image. If any of those work I would use whichever sounds better in the context. If they don't then explicit language would be justified in this case as translation.
Following on from your comment, I think that would be an option, as here for example: Abuse of Falun Gong Practitioners in Jiangxi Province Women's ... en.minghui.org/html/articles/2018/7/22/171208p.html Jul 22, 2018 - Without access to the restroom, they would be forced to urinate and defecate in their pants on the bed. Torture Demonstration: Cuffed to a bed
The discussion is very interesting. Unfortunately, I have no further context either, but when I read it, I got that he had no bathroom break and that what happened was a way to humiliate this person.
Yes, we will have to agree to disagree. We post our suggestions based on a snippet of text but the askers have the entire document and can see the whole picture.
The way I read "haciendome todo encima" it does feel like it calls for the blunt, direct, crude way of saying it. To me it feels like there is a lot of emotion (shame, pain, anger) in the victim's way of telling it.
It's up to Yvonne ... she can see the whole report and can decide what tone is called for.
I think you make a fair point, that he had no choice but to urinate/defecate in his chair. Be that as it may, I think you are putting overly crude words in his mouth. This is not about how disgusting and horrifying the experience was, but how the victim is describing it. He is not using the equivalent words in Spanish and I think the translator should respect that. There is no easy way to say this in English without sounding longwinded, over-polite or crude. And I'm sure this action was the last resort, that he held on until he could no longer control himself.
In reply to Marie and Chema: I don't think the person lost control of anything ... from my reading of the source, I think he's saying he had NO CHOICE. He had no "personal problem" and there was nothing "wrong" with him. These people torturing him didn't say "OK, bathroom break" ... go urinate/go to the toilet and then come back and we'll torture you some more." Yvonne says "por no tener posibilidad de ir al baño." He simply had to shit and pee all over himself because he had to stay in one position. Chema says this in his first comment.
I recently visited the African-American Culture and History Museum in Washington DC. The exhibits discuss how slaves were brought over from Africa, chained below decks, packed tightly together. They also shit and peed all over themselves (if they managed to survive) because nobody took them out and said "here, you can go to the bathroom now." It's not a matter of losing control; they just did what they had to do.
Fair enough ;) I included my comment precisely on that feeling that there might not be a 'perfect' translation; your explanations do help understanding the nuances involved. Thanks a lot.
I don't think there is a perfect translation for this, which is probably why Yvonne asked in the first place. Losing control of bladder, etc., does not have to be a medical condition, it happens to drunk people or those in situations of great stress, as this one. I can see that my answer isn't an exact match, but there really isn't an equivalent to cover both issues. Also, apart from sounding very polite, relieving oneself tends to mean urinating. This person is avoiding the details, which is why I suggested my answer. Not an exact science, as they say.
I am not sure, Marie. I might be wrong but I feel there is a subtle difference between loosing control and relieving all over oneself. To me the former suggests a "personal problem" of sorts; something "is wrong with me" (I loose control of my bodily functions) vs. something "happened to me" (I relieved all over myself). I understand it is subtle no matter what and as already said I might be wrong; it is your native perception what counts here, so you tell me! ;) ¡Saludos!
Isn't that basically the same thing? Getting to that extreme state meant he couldn't control himself any longer, as you say, "he could not help it," which is more or less the same as saying he couldn't control his bladder/bowels any longer. Or gave up control even.
Not sure how to say this in English but the idea is that the guy was forced to relieve all over himself. It is not that he lost control but that as far as he was immobilized for a long period of time he could not help it; he was literally forced to "relieve all over himself".
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
6 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +3
soiling myself
Explanation: A more adult, but non-offensive way of saying it
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/soil_oneself
Graham Allen-Rawlings Spain Local time: 13:48 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
peer agreement (net): +3