tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570217018269246745.post6255471557541957195..comments2023-07-27T10:18:14.580-04:00Comments on Translating Polo: Another perspective on translating ‘ser además’ and ‘detectar el limite mental en condiciones de abandonarlo’Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1570217018269246745.post-10665565398319345732014-11-27T06:59:27.087-05:002014-11-27T06:59:27.087-05:00Thanks for this blog entry. I've been grapplin... <br />Thanks for this blog entry. I've been grappling with translation challenges myself, in the context of a leadership seminar I delivered over the weekend, using the notions of Polo as they influenced the work of Juan Antonio Pérez López. Since we were using "transcendental" language (i.e., I was giving emphasis to the importance of 'transcendence" in the leader's motives, as discussed so well by Pérez López, and the reality that the human person can indeed transcend himself and the usual 'limits' that people assume him to have), this is how I resolved it: 1) regarding "ser además": I would recite it in the original Spanish, then explain (using Polo's notion of the person as a free being who is at the same time an OPEN system). In my explanation, I would mention the 'awkward' translation of 'being additionally' and explain further that the human person is way beyond the notions of 'limitation' of his being and knowledge known & taught by philosophers up to his time, and further move on to Polo's anthropological transcendentals, with emphasis on his co-existence and radical love (self-gift). [It turns out that this emphasis on transcendence, as an alternative to "además", had helped the listeners so much in grasping transcendental leadership as real, ethical, effective leadership.] 2) a) With regard to "abandonment of the mental limit": as usual, I'd read it out in the original Spanish, then explain that Polo proposed that we abandon any ideas or notions of any limitation in the human person's knowing and loving, because such limitation does not exist and rather that, as an 'open system', he is capable of transcending himself by also being interested in and contributing to the good of others (in the context of leadership, they understood this as the 'value-added' to the entire material, that is to say, explaining transcendence helped them realize that ethical [read "morally good"] leadership was one where the leader goes beyond himself and the usual bounds, in order to be of service to others. And this was helpful, it seems.) b) I have greater trouble with "abandonment": in ascetical language (e.g., in spiritual reading books dealing with, say, "abandonment" to Divine Providence), the term actually conveys a positive meaning, and thus can provide confusion when used to mean "deserting" (such as "abandoning" or "deserting" any notions of any mental limitations), hence the preference for reciting first the Spanish "abandono del límite mental" then expounding. c) Regarding "en condiciones de...", in casual/informal translations, I've long abandoned translating this phrase; I would simply say "such that", or in other contexts, I would drop "en condiciones de" completely and just use the conjunction "and" (I know this is imprecise, but simplifies the explanation). I hope I've added a bit to the discussion. Quite frankly, this continues to be a challenge (as any translation work does), but everyone seems to be enjoying the 'value-added' in the fantastic thought of both Polo and Pérez López :-)<br />-Alizaopusdeitodayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09133898525109320423noreply@blogger.com