Spanish For Social Change

On May Day the NY Times ran an article about Colombia with what I thought was mistranslation. It was an article about Julian Conrado, a FAR...

The NYT today ran a story with this great headline: ‘Penis Seat’ Causes Double Takes on Mexico City Subway The sto...

The literal rendition of this is of course violence based on prejudice, but in English it is far more common to use the term hate crime. I s...

This expression is often used to argue against  an "add and stir" approach. This would be, for example, hiring a few women without...

Amazingly there is a mainstream movie out where a woman academic saves the day with her language skills! I can't recommend it enough. Bu...

[update: the official translation of the peace accords uses the term "gender-sensitive approach"and so I have changed it here from...

I am heartbroken about the peace vote in Colombia. I am particularly disturbed by how it was shaped by an active campaign of misinformation ...

This is the pen that was used to sign the Colombian peace accords on Monday. It reads:   Las balas escribieron lluestro pasada. 'Las...

If you are bilingual, and want to get in to interpreting for social movements (and are on the East coast or in the South of the US), there i...

Years ago (2007) I blogged ableism as capacitadismo, at the time my own invention. Well it hasn't caught on, but capacitismo now has som...

I've posted this one before (years ago), but was recently reminded of it by this lovely video of an action in Bogotá for the right to br...

Following up on my last post on the translation of the Colombian term vereda (which means quite different things in other countries, in...

In the past I have blogged vereda as township, which I still like - but this rendition works well if you are not being picky about levels o...

After my last post on zonas veredales Adam Isacson responded: Here is the pyramid he linked (from wikipedia), and here is my link t...

I am thrilled by the recent break through in the Colombian peace negotiations, and spent several hours last Thursday getting weepy while wa...

Juzgará entre nación y nación, arbitrará a pueblos numerosos. Convertirán sus  espadas  en arados, harán hoces con sus lanzas. No se amenaza...

watershed: cuenca hidrográfica Check out this short video (by international allies ) about the inspiring struggle of the Salvadoran peopl...

For several years now the grassroots movement in the US working to change (i.e. demilitarize) the US-Colombia relationship and support pe...

I would absolutely not translate this as armed strike, I think that is misleading and will make most listeners think that a union is on stri...

Check out this lovely little video which offers crucial background on the war in Colombia.

mermelada (Colombia): pork barrel spending I ran across this translation in an article in the New Republic analyzing the difficulties Co...

If you have professional interpreting experience and are willing to volunteer your services with the babels collective for the World Socia...

This expression gets used in the fantastic short video below of a visit back to Colombia by top FARC negotiators to talk about the progress ...

the Bern: el Quemazón When was the last time a major US presidential candidate had a corrido written for them? Ever? Check out this fabul...

integrity: coherencia This translation comes from Berta Caceres, recently assassinated in Honduras for her activism. Read the logic for it...