Now that the campaigns for the August 13 primaries are heating up, the Herald newsroom is seeing lots of words and phrases that are decidedly Argentine. More than that: politically Argentine. 

Autogestión

Let’s start with alfajores. This one came up when Amy and Thomas discussed the two friends who created the successful-yet-elusive Capitán del Espacio brand and vowed never to increase production. They are described as trabajadores autogestivos, having taken care of things themselves and never advertised their products — the company doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page.

The literal translation of autogestión would be “self-regulation” or “self-management,” but it’s not just that. In Argentina, there’s a connotation of operating outside the system by choice or necessity and getting by as best you can regardless. To use one Argentine phrase to illustrate another, a pulmón, it’s about doing something by the strength of your own lungs and breath — there’s a certain amount of stubbornness, struggle, and pride that comes with that.

Espacio político

Politicians are talking more and more about what espacio político they want to represent and create. It makes us double-take almost every time because it is deceptively simple: espacio político could just be “political space” but then you look at it and go, wait, what exactly is a “political space”? That could be anything from a City Hall to an online forum.

Sometimes we don’t have much recourse — like a direct quote with no context — but our favored strategy is specificity. Are they referring to their political platform, their party, or their electoral coalition? Then go with that or make sure that there is ample background information for “political space” to overcome its ambiguity.

Romper el alma

More than political hyperbole, this is just drama somewhat inherent to Spanish that Martina had to deal with. The ruling coalition’s presidential candidate Economy Minister Sergio Massa launched his first campaign video saying “Me voy a romper el alma” or “I’m going to break my soul” if elected president.

Here we use “break your soul” to talk about a grueling effort and sacrifice, often for a cause that matters a lot to you. In English, breaking someone’s soul is usually a cruel imposition crafted to destroy their humanity — not what Massa was getting at. To try and emulate some of its Faustian flair we went with “work himself to the bone.” 

We briefly used “break my back if I’m elected president” but opted for the alternative over concerns that it could be taken literally — especially considering that the incumbent had a hernia earlier this year. 

Foto de unidad

As fault lines in each coalition are made more stark in the run-up to the primaries, the need for fotos de unidad or “unity photos” becomes more apparent. This one is pretty intuitive and a fairly common strategy everywhere: politicians looking to show the harmony between themselves by showing up and smiling at the same camera.

This week, Interior Minister Eduardo ‘Wado’ De Pedro was announced as Massa’s campaign manager — when he had been vying for the week before — and Facundo covered a meeting that ostensibly served as their “unity photo” moment. They got the shot, but we felt that something was lost when translating it to “show of unity.” There’s something subtly catty about “unity photo” that just felt like a shame to omit.

As the electoral season begins in earnest, one thing is certain — there’s plenty more where that came from.

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