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sheikh radlinrol · Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 1222 Location: Spain

Our/ My Prime Minister is under fire in Spain for referring to the unfortunate foreigners in Calais who are are hoping to make it to the UK as a swarm. The right-wing Spanish press, who never miss a chance to stick the boot into Anglo-Saxons, are roasting Cameron because they say that swarm can also be translated as ¨plaga¨ or plague. I disagree. I think it would be acceptable to say, for example, that Mallorca is ¨swarming¨with British tourists. Or am I mistaken?

johnslat · Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 6:54 pm Post subject:

Dear sheikh,

I agree with you. I can't think of a context where "plague" would have any sort of good connotation. But "swarm," though it often has an unpleasant connotation, can also (depending on context) have either a neutral or even a good connotation.

The handsome bachelor was swarmed by a bevy of lovely admirers.

Regards,
John

esl_prof · Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 11:05 pm Post subject:

This is where Venn diagrams come in handy for illustrating how some words overlap in meaning but are not always synonymous. In this case, swarm could mean plague. But not necessarily. And when you add translation to the equation, there's plenty of room for misunderstanding. As usual, the right-wingers are showing their inability to deal with nuance. Shocked

sheikh radlinrol · Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 1222 Location: Spain

sheikh radlinrol · Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 1222 Location: Spain

esl_prof · Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:08 pm Post subject:

peripatetic_soul · Joined: 20 Oct 2013 Posts: 303

A strong possibility of mistranslation.
When I read this:
". . . foreigners in Calais who are are hoping to make it to the UK as a swarm", it came to mind to passivize the phrase as:

The UK may be swarmed by hopeful foreigners of Calais = in this case we could stretch this to be synonymous with: "to be plagued by"

A swarm of rats caused the plague in the past, n'est-ce pas?

Tricky syntax.

PS

johnslat · Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 8:57 pm Post subject:

Demonstrating once again why connotation/denotation and word choice can be so important. Very Happy

Regards,
John

peripatetic_soul · Joined: 20 Oct 2013 Posts: 303

See this great online dictionary I recommend for my ESL students:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagued

Scroll down and click on "defined for English language learners" and now you see why the "translator" viewed plagued and swarmed as synonymous, but as johnslat noted, one must consider connotations and word choice.

Cheers,
PS