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Sub Direccion General
Mar 5, 2020 19:58
4 yrs ago
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Spanish term

Un abigarrado obstáculo

Spanish to English Other Government / Politics current affairs
This is from an opinion piece in a Mexican periodical, about Bernie Sanders's campaign to be the Democratic presidential candidate. The paragraph in which it occurs is:
"La predicción hoy es simplemente inconcebible. No porque Bernie Sanders no sea capaz de ganar el voto directo en las elecciones primarias del Partido Demócrata. Y es plausible que la mayor parte de los electores se sientan atraídos por su integridad y sus programas sociales. Pero el primer gran escollo aparecerá en la convención nacional, dominada en cierta manera por los delegados cautivos de una burocracia partidaria que lo ve con recelo y antipatía. Un primer y ***abigarrado obstáculo."***
The traditional meaning of "abigarrado" refers to appearance - multi-colored, piebald, brindled, motley, etc. But these don't seem to make much sense in this phrase, in this context. There is a less common sense of "abigarrado" meaning disjointed, uneven, which I thought of stretching out to maybe "convoluted" - but even these meanings don't seem to work very well in this context.
Any ideas? All help will be greatly appreciated.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +1 [suggestions for the whole sentence]
4 +3 a thorny hurdle
4 +1 an obstacle in disarray // a disheveled obstacle
4 +1 the first and most challenging obstacle
3 an incoherent/heterogeneous/varied obstacle

Discussion

Thomas Walker (asker) Mar 13, 2020:
Thanks, everyone! Thanks to all who weighed in on this, for an interesting & lively discussion. As translators, we sometimes encounter a situation like this where there is a conflict between two of our prime directives: 1. translating only what is in the original, not adding or subtracting anything; & 2. producing a translated text that reads as though it had been written in the target language. Sometimes the harder we try to retain the idiosyncrasies of the writer's style, vocabulary, etc., the less it reads like good idiomatic English.
Sara Fairen Mar 10, 2020:
Totally agree with Chema, the "hurdle" (good one!) being discussed is that the Democratic establishment is getting very nervous about the possibility of Bernie Sanders being nominated at the National Convention. His disheveled appearance is the least of their concerns, although I imagine it could and would be used against him. So, "abigarrado" as "heterogeneus" - people will come at him for different reasons.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/03/politics/democratic-estab...
Chema Nieto Castañón Mar 9, 2020:
Abigarrado, en tanto que compuesto por elementos heterogéneos y reunidos sin concierto y referido a un obstáculo (a las dificultades en este caso de Bernie Sanders para superar la votación de la convención nacional) parece adjetivo utilizado en sentido metafórico que traslada la idea de un obstáculo que debe ser superado ordenando elementos (individuos) diversos y mal avenidos; un problema difícil de ensamblar. En el contexto dado, no obstante, no parece imprescindible ser radicalmente literal en la traducción de esta metáfora. Personalmente, creo que thorny (thorny hurdle) tiene tanto una conexión de sentido (en tanto que problema difícil de manejar) como de sonoridad y fluidez en el idioma meta, por lo que me parece ajustado. Una aproximación tal vez más cercana al literal, como la de phil "not easily surmountable", podría funcionar también, igual que otras (hard-to-handle, etc).
Marcelo González Mar 9, 2020:
Assumptions & Approach When translators aren't sure of the source text's meaning, is it not a safer approach to assume the (professional) writer of an opinion piece (in this case) might actually choose his words with great care to convey a certain degree of nuance? Should we not assume that the meaning he or she attributes to the term in question might actually be at least consistent with traditional dictionary definitions? En este contexto, 'reunido sin concierto' (del DRAE) ¿no viene al caso para describir un proceso electoral (complicado y que muchos han criticado)?
ocetalo Mar 9, 2020:
I agree. Either the author doesn't know what "abigarrado" means or is using it just for phonetic effect. "abigarrado" also means excessive and crowded, so it might be conveying something stifling and difficult to handle.
Chema Nieto Castañón Mar 8, 2020:
I think that in this case abigarrado does not convey alarming or frightenening but just hard to handle, not easily surmountable -as phil puts it- or thorny (a thorny hurdle), as neilmac suggests.
Marcelo González Mar 8, 2020:
Thanks, Muriel I've added suggestions, myself.
Muriel Vasconcellos Mar 8, 2020:
'hair-raising challenge'? Marcelo has a point. I'm changing my answer to 'hair-raising challenge'.
Marcelo González Mar 7, 2020:
Underlying meaning The author clearly intended to convey a nuanced meaning, and anything less should be avoided. IMO. If he or she is referring to the convention, an adjective that conveys a negative sentiment about its form would appear to be called for in this context that includes what seems to be an often-voiced criticism of the party nomination process.
Muriel Vasconcellos Mar 7, 2020:
The general idea While "thorny" does capture the idea, it may diminish the emphasis intended. That's why I chose to simply say 'most challenging'.
Thomas Walker (asker) Mar 7, 2020:
@Chema Thanks, Chema, that's the conclusion I've been coming to.
Chema Nieto Castañón Mar 7, 2020:
Definitely, it does not refer to Sanders but to the national convention; a thorny hurdle for Sanders' nomination...
Thomas Walker (asker) Mar 7, 2020:
As I read & re-read the whole paragraph, it seems to me that the "escollo", the "obstáculo", being discussed is not Bernie Sanders, but an obstacle to Bernie Sanders's nomination. In that case it wouldn't refer to Sanders's disheveled appearance
Marcelo González Mar 6, 2020:
Se refiere a su apariencia desordenada ... sobre todo respecto a su cabello.

Con significados comunes que incluyen palabras como 'mal combinados' y 'reunido sin concierto', bien puede ser que se refiera al aspecto físico de su persona.

DRAE
abigarrado
1. adj. De varios colores, especialmente si están mal combinados.
2. adj. Heterogéneo, reunido sin concierto.
Facundo Pallero Mar 5, 2020:
According to the DLE, "abigarrado" is frequently confused with "atiborrado" (which doesn't collocate with "obstacle" either). But if you stretch the meaning even further, maybe "tough"?
Lydia De Jorge Mar 5, 2020:
Abigarrado también significa 'muy cargado'. Podría ser 'super-charged'.
Barbara Cochran, MFA Mar 5, 2020:
'multi-faceted". maybe?
MPGS Mar 5, 2020:
IMHO ... ... the author didn't know what "abigarrado" means

;-)

Proposed translations

+1
1 hr
Selected

[suggestions for the whole sentence]

I think we have to get away from dictionaries here, because they're not much help, and think what kind of adjectives we might use to describe an obstacle in English. We also have to look at the sentence as a whole.

Here are some ideas:

This initial obstacle will not be easy to overcome.
This is the first obstacle the campaign faces, and it is not easily surmountable.
Overcoming this initial obstacle will be a challenge.
Peer comment(s):
agree Luis M. Sosa : Agree with your 2nd choice -and with those who said source terme is badly used, so dictionary will not help!
17 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks, Phil. I felt there was no way stay on the literal side with this one. I ended up using "This first obstacle will be a difficult one to overcome.""
34 mins

an incoherent/heterogeneous/varied obstacle

Abigarrado/variado/heterogéneo/incoherente.
Something went wrong...
+3
12 hrs

a thorny hurdle

A bit of a mixed metaphor... But I'm not the first to suggest it.

Hurdle (noun) -> a problem that you have to deal with before you can make progress:

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 hrs (2020-03-06 08:14:31 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Thorny (adjective)
A thorny problem or subject is difficult to deal with: 'The thorny issue of taxation'

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 hrs (2020-03-06 08:15:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

It may look a bit odd at first, but then again, so does the original text :-)
Example sentence:

The other thorny hurdle facing the DRS was India.

But once I had overcome this thorny hurdle,...

Reference:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-11/a-flood-of-junk-issuance-raises-china-s-bond-market-risk

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/hurdle

Peer comment(s):
agree Chema Nieto Castañón : I think it sounds perfect here
1 day 9 hrs
Praise indeed! Cheers Chema :-)
agree ocetalo : I think "abigarrado" is used here just for phonetic effect (the word itself sounds pretty rough). "thorny hurdle" has a similar phonetic effect and also works perfectly in the context
2 days 17 hrs
agree Sara Fairen
4 days
Something went wrong...
+1
15 hrs

an obstacle in disarray // a disheveled obstacle

It seems to be a slight on his appearance: 'motley,' 'unkempt,' etc.

... --- an obstacle in disarray, and the first [to be overcome]

... --- a first, and disheveled, obstacle [at that]

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs (2020-03-06 19:10:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

And here's a satirical piece below, precisely in this context of Bernie's appearance, while even using the adjective 'disheveled.' ;))

https://babylonbee.com/news/disheveled-and-covered-in-100-bi...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 4 hrs (2020-03-07 00:43:42 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

And here's an Esquire article that also makes a clear reference to his less-than-well-groomed appearance.

At first glance, Bernie Sanders, the disheveled 74-year-old senator from Vermont doesn't look like a candidate who would energize millennial ..
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/videos/a38115/bernie-s...

And a redit post that asked 4 YEARS AGO ...

Why does Bernie Sanders look so disheveled all the time?
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/40qlpf/why_does_...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days 4 hrs (2020-03-08 00:15:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Following your comments, Tom, perhaps:

... --- a patchworked/patchwork-assembled obstacle

along the lines of improvised, even if only seemingly, slapped together and disjointed

or (a more clearly negstive option)

... --- a haphazardly-assembled obstacle, and the first [that must be overcome]
Peer comment(s):
agree Lydia De Jorge : Well done! Reading the context once more, I realize this makes perfect sense. The reference is Bernie, NOT the situation.
5 hrs
He's often shown in the media this way, and has even been satired for this as well ;)) Thanks, Lydia! https://babylonbee.com/news/disheveled-and-covered-in-100-bi...
Something went wrong...
+1
4 hrs

the first and most challenging obstacle

I would put a dash between this phrase and the previous sentence.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days 2 hrs (2020-03-07 22:20:51 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I think an attempt to try to parse "abigarrado" may diminish the emphasis intended in the original text.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days 4 hrs (2020-03-08 00:20:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

How about 'hair-raising challenge'?
Peer comment(s):
agree Sara Fairen : I think your first option was right too
4 days
Thank you, Sara!
Something went wrong...
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