Sunday, January 24, 2021

proyectos productivos (Col): (usually small-scale) entrepreneurial ventures / income generating projects

I have been endlessly frustrated by seeing this term rendered as the false cognate productive projects. That rendition just won't mean much to English only speakers.  Or it might make the listener instead think of things like cleaning out your garage, or organizing your cupboards - not starting a small business.

I also like 'income generating projects', which I sometimes see, but I stumbled on this better rendition in the article:

Counter, Max. “‘La Doble CondiciĆ³n ’: Landmine Victims, Forced Displacement, and Disability in Colombia’s Magdalena Medio.” Social & Cultural Geography 19, no. 4 (May 19, 2018): 448–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2017.1280616.

Max rendered it at first as small-scale, and then later adds the usually. In a simultaneous interpreting scenario I would add that qualification the first time and then just use entrepreneurial ventures to be able to keep up, since the term will surely be repeated if it is an event about peacebuilding in Colombia.

I would note that many of these entrepreneurial ventures by former FARC combatants are not small scale at all, but rather large scale coops - making everything from honey to bags to, my favorite, 'la roja' beer (see photo).