Spanish For Social Change

I haven't been good at keeping up my promise to offer tips for becoming a better interpreter on this blog, but here is one that will pai...

yellow dog union/ company union/ false-front union: sindicato charro (Mx), sindicato proteccionista (Mx), sindicato corporativizado (Mx), si...

lobbyista I know, it sounds funny, but check out this article that uses it. Also see my previous post about lobbying in general. I agree w...

Point your iphone at a word on the wall and *poof* have it machine translated. What is hilarious about this ad for it is that it is riddled ...

degrowth: decrecimiento With props to my student Skyler, who first taught me about this great concept, and even worked on this wikipedia ent...

sapo: snitch If you haven't heard the dramatic story of the activist snitch recently exposed in the UK check it out here.

minga: collective work project/exchange/party/action (my favorite is the last) I DO think it is worth translating at least once - just leav...

I posted before about dot sub as one subtitling software option, and in a comment (thank you all commenters!) Manuel suggested Subtitle Wor...

primero Dios: if it is God's will I have often struggled to interpret this saying, which is sometimes sprinkled liberally throughout sen...

una tertulia: a 'salon' or an artsy 'get-together' When I went looking for images online, they were mostly of men talking. ...

no manches: you've got to be kidding! Yes, it's a cleaner version, but what I came up with. Any other suggestions? Never heard this...

walk our talk (be the change) I've seen all sorts of strange literal versions of this - most recently 'may words walk'! very poe...

SOA Watch = Observatorio por el cierre de la Escuela de las Americas (I've been leaving out the por el cierre but the Latin American enc...

rather than translate literally I would render this as: similar to freedom of information requests (known as FOIA requests in the US - but j...

bancada de congresistas afrodescendientes, o la bancada negra fue como tradujeron a Angela Davis en este articulo sobre racismo en Colombia

did you hear about the great protests in Copenhagen for climate justice? want to be part of the fun and excitement in the next round? Climat...

At Wayside, in Virginia, Dec 3-5 WHO THIS IS FOR: Bilingual social justice activists and workers who would like to learn more about interpre...

pan comido now if only finishing my dissertation were that easy!

"small farmer reserve zone" - see the video below about this zone, one of various attempts in Colombia to create safe/peace spaces...

I recently watched this movie, and in it a DEA officer mangles this saying. His Spanish is so bad he says they were facing "plato o pl...

It depends on the way the word is being used (ie, with what definition), but it is usually NOT compromiso!! (a common and dangerous false co...

lobby: hacer incidencia (cabildeo, lobby) Last week John Pluecker commented on advocacy that Mexican human rights activists and lawyers were...

advocacy: intercesion advocate: intercesora This is my favorite for general use, but in some contexts defensora or promotora might be a bete...

Dicho: caballo matado siempre se pandea. A horse with a sore back will always flinch. What do you think this means? It is supposed to mea...

white man's burden : la carga del hombre blanco see the English and Spanish wikipedia entries about this, as linked above. The term come...