Cracking the (Colombian) Spanish code

'When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done.' It's very difficult to argue against that one. As a species, we're good at talking a good talk, but we don't always follow it up with the appropriate action if and when required.

You could just leave it at EU, lads ... (Image from elgranporque.com)

Alongside 'said' in the opening saying, we can add 'written' (yes, this coming from a blogger and all). The legal world is quite adept at that. The old adage of 'less is more' seems anathema to it. It likes to make things that should be pretty straightforward to comprehend – and act upon – come across as if they were written by somebody not of this world.

Yet, some languages – specifically Spanish (Colombian Spanish, anyway) in this case – are more culpable than others in this regard, and it's not exclusive to the legal sphere.

A common observation among those who translate Spanish to English here in Colombia is that the former is overly and unnecessarily wordy. 

Indeed, it can be quite the head-scratcher to figure out what's being said. This tends to be worse if someone has made a literal translation of his/her Spanish into English and asks you to proofread.

Of course, it's not always best practice to directly translate from one language to another, each one has its peculiarities, but what we're getting at here is what seems to be the same thing said a number of times, just in different ways. Plus, a lot of the time it's written in ridiculously long sentences devoid of punctuation.

In reference to the revised peace agreement between the Colombian government and Farc guerrillas, Britain's Guardian newspaper, inadvertently perhaps, touched on this: "Although the text of the new agreement was not immediately published, the president, Juan Manuel Santos, laid out certain changes in a televised speech. Some are little more than clarifications of the often-vague language of the text. Other modifications are more substantial."

For those who have had to work with Spanish texts before, that 'often-vague language' is something that will resonate. 

In legal and political contexts, as happens with other languages, it might be deliberate: leave things open to as many interpretations as possible. A reason, perhaps, why the Colombian constitution is quite lengthy. However, Spanish seems to bring this verbose approach to every sphere.

On a more trivial note, take abbreviations, where there is a doubling up on letters in some cases. For example, the United States (US), ' Estados Unidos' in Spanish, is written 'EEUU' in the abbreviated form. 'Fuerzas Militares' (literally 'Military Forces') abbreviates as 'FFMM'. (It's to do with plural terms, although it's not done in all cases.) Think about ink costs when printing these things out, guys!

Going slightly off-topic, football commentators in these parts are masters at making an uneventful football match seem as if it's the most exciting thing ever, spluttering out a thousand words a minute. The Simpsons did a good take on this years ago (back when The Simpsons was enjoyable).

There are a lot of things to like about the (Colombian) Spanish language and culture. It just seems that at times it could do with a bit of streamlining. 

There might be more than one way to write the same thing, but you don't need to put them all down at the same time.
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Building an English 'Latin' America

Taking into account the grand history of our planet, it doesn't take long at all for us humans, judging by behaviour anyway, to feel that certain things are indisputably part of where we are from. 'It is what it is, and that's just that.'

From nature's point of view, where we haven't seriously altered the landscape, change, for the most part, does indeed take time. Nonetheless, it happens, whether we witness it in our lifetime or not.

The English, nay Yanks, are coming ...

As a species, we also go through constant changes, be they cultural, genetic, geographical or linguistic. On that last one, that a certain region speaks a certain language today does not mean, as history has shown us, it will always speak in that tongue.

Now, it could be argued that the days of regions' witnessing great language changes, as happened to the native populations of the Americas, are over. 

One reason for this is the very fact that there is more homogeneity in this regard than, let's say, 500 years ago. There are a few main languages that the majority of people speak with many minor ones just barely being kept alive.

Alongside this, we have one language that dominates internationally, especially in terms of business and tourism, that being English; or its Globish version in any case. 

Where French was the globe's lingua franca in the 18th and 19th centuries for diplomacy, international relations and other areas, English has taken that position; minus, though, much of the former's prestige.

This being so, seeing English gain close to parity with both Portuguese and Spanish amongst the masses here in South America is a future possibility.

It is by quirk of fate, and bad luck according to some, that Portuguese and Spanish are the common languages in these parts. For sure, over the centuries they have become culturally as much a part of the lands they cover as the Andes Mountains are physically. 

Yet, with the continued influence of its powerful neighbour to the north coupled with a belief that an ability to speak English well leads to better prospects and/or an improved quality of life (however true in reality that may be), South America's nascent anglicisation may gather momentum in the coming decades.

As it is, most of the region's more well-to-do, along with some not-so-well-off types who have seen it to be advantageous, already have a decent level of English. 

Here in Colombia, successive governments have made no secret of the fact that they would like to see the country bilingual — they just haven't come up with a winning formula yet, despite a few attempts launched with great fanfare. (There's also that love affair the country seems to have with the Union Jack.)

Another factor to consider is that the origin countries of the dominant languages here, Portugal and Spain, aren't exactly, to put it mildly, the global powers they once were. 

Thus, while internal, regional trade doesn't require English, international business with the world's biggest players is most likely to be conducted via the lingua franca. 

It may not be that much of a stretch to see Latinos drift more towards English in the decades to come; a slide away from one imposed language that has lost a certain usefulness and a drift towards another that has more clout.

You will also find those, Latinos and non-Latinos alike, who believe that Latin America would be in a better position financially, even culturally (if not aesthetically), if it had actually been 'Anglo-Saxon America' instead, pointing to the US and Canada as 'proof'. 

Whatever about a language benefit, to say this is to assume a lot and ignore a host of differences between North and South America when Europeans first came calling. 

There was the lack of any powerful pre-existing civilization in much of the former and, perhaps more significantly, no immediate, obvious riches to loot for the motherland, to name but two. (Guyana, as the only mainland South American state to have English as its official language, doesn't exactly have us looking on with envy.)

Of course, in all this we can be accused of taking for granted the continuance of English-language dominance. Frenchmen in the 18th Century probably thought the same about their language's position. 

However, at this remove, in a far more globalised world than when French was king, English's fall from a high any time soon seems hard to contemplate.

Those variable winds of change from the East surely can't blow in a new top language?
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