As a newsroom reporting on a Spanish-speaking country in English, we often find ourselves conscientiously thinning the veil between the two languages. 

When capturing cultural accuracy is more important than a precise translation and it’s practical to do so, we’ll use Argentine terms directly or their anglicized versions with some explanation because we know our readers are interested. But most of the time, we’re left wishing there was some way of conveying the essence of Argentine Spanish when there just isn’t time or space to do so.

“Represión”

Starting with a tough one, this week we saw brutal police repression in Jujuy following weeks of protests and the passing of a controversial constitutional reform. In Argentina, the deployment and ensuing actions of police forces to violently quell a group of people is referred to as represión. “Repression” exists in English with the same political meaning but reads more academic — in everyday parlance, “repression” is mostly reserved for memories or feelings. 

We decided to go with “repression” instead of “police brutality” or “crackdown” because it’s sufficiently specific and culturally relevant in Spanish that it warranted using the similar but less common English term for it.

“Bicicleta financiera”

When looking at our culture through language, Argentina’s incisive humor about the economy shines through. The term bicicleta financiera actually has a direct English translation, “carry trade” (borrowing capital from a country at a low-interest rate and lending it at a high-interest rate). It’s a form of arbitrage, which in Argentine Spanish has the delightful moniker rulo financiero or “financial curl.” 

It’s so tempting to cry “Let’s thin the veil on this one,” write “financial bicycle” and hope it sticks because “carry trade” just doesn’t have the same evocative charm. Alas, we went with the direct translation, but at least we all know that the term has an Argentine soul now.

“Te tiraron un muerto”

This muerto fell to Amy, and in her words:

“The meaning of this is somewhere between “you’ve been saddled with a burden” and “you’ve been left with a dead weight,” but the Argentine original is rather more lively. It literally means “they threw a dead person at you/dumped a corpse on you,” the idea being that someone has handed you a colossal problem and run away. I prefer the Spanish!”

Don’t we all?

“Falopa”

An Argentine classic that Facundo had to face translating this week. One of the sources in his article on the La Libertad Avanza shake-up described the social media storm as “falopa de Twitter.” A very literal translation would be something like “drugs of Twitter” but of course, there’s more to it than that.

Argentine slang has several words for cocaine and falopa originated as a term for “low quality.” However, it’s often used to talk about something being “out there,” as if under the influence — e.g. a harebrained idea could be described as falopa. In that context, the solution we found this week was “nonsense.”

However, in keeping with this week’s theme of thinning the veil, you will often hear the word “falop” being thrown around in the Herald newsroom. As in, “What a load of falop,” “That’s so falop,” or similar. Why lose such a brilliant word to translation?

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