Post-60: "That's Not Even Mexico!" -Homer Simpson

5/21/2013

I've been watching "The Simpsons" with Spanish audio a bit, lately. I don't know why.

Homer during his campaign speech.
(Episode: "Trash of the Titans")

In one episode I watched in Spanish, Homer gets in a fight with the local garbage-men and then runs for sanitation commissioner. Homer develops the campaign slogan "Can't Someone Else Do It?" and proposes that garbage-men pick up trash directly from waste baskets in people's homes.

Now, "The Simpsons" is a smarter show than most people realize, and a lot of the lines are awkward to translate. The Spanish translators (who I presume to be Mexicans) quite often change lines for this reason.

Here is Homer's campaign speech, in English (found here):

Homer: Fellow citizens! How would you rate the trash service in this town?
Man #1: I would deem it excellent.
Homer: Uh, okay. It's excellent. But aren't you tired of waking up early and dragging the garbage to the curb? [Crowd Murmuring]
Man #2: That's so annoying in the morning.
Homer: Aren't you tired of having to peel that last snotty Kleenex from the bottom of your wastebasket?
Man #3 [with a huge nose]: I'll say.
Homer: Well, then -- Can't someone ELSE do it?
Crowd: Yeah! -- Yeah!
Homer: And can't someone else scoop out that nasty kitty litter?
[Crowd All Shouting In Agreement] Yeah!
Homer: Well, Ray Patterson thinks YOU should do it. Animals are crapping in our houses, and we're picking it up.
Did we lose a war? That's not America. That's not even Mexico!
[Crowd Shouting Excitedly]

The line "That's not America. That's not even Mexico!" would be a case calling for a....tactful translation, or perhaps a subtle line change for the Mexican/Latin-American audience. Instead, this is what the translators went for:

Homer: Hemos perdido la guerra? Asi no es mi pais. Asi es el vecino del sur!

Translation: "That's not the way my country is. That's the way the neighbor to the south is!"

This a big change in meaning. The new line is much more (and directly) insulting to Mexico! What a strange choice.

4 Comments

About

Welcome. This is a place I write things that may or may not be of interest. Thanks.

See here for more.

Search this site:

Subscribe via email:

Subscribe to the Feed:

Yuletide5142

5/25/2013 05:40:04 am

I see that a Spanish-speaking Simpsons blogger also noticed this in his analysis of the episode.

http://simpsonitos.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/5f09-trash-of-the-titans/
_______________________________
-Una vez en la plaza Homero realiza su discurso político frente a la masa que pretende convencer:

"Los animales defecan en nuestras casas y nosotros recogemos sus deshechos ¿Hemos perdido la Guerra? Así no es mi país, así es el vecino del sur"

En ingles la crítica, no había lugar para los eufemismos

"Animals are crapping in our houses and we are picking it up, did we loose a war? That’s not America, that’s not even Mexico. (Así ni siquiera es Mexico)"

En realidad no sé que postura es más ofensiva.
_________________________________

He says he is not sure which is more offensive, the English or the Spanish version. I think there is no doubt that the Spanish version is more offensive. In English, both countries are implied to be "better than that", even if the USA is implied "on top". In Spanish, Homer is directly insulting Mexico.

5/25/2013 05:46:25 am

The Spanish Simpsons blogger's FAQ page includes this:
_________________________________________
P:-¿Por qué crítican tanto a los traductores? ¿No se dan cuenta de que también son personas con sentimientos?

R:-En general solo críticamos cuando se encuentran modificaciones sin sentido alguno y que restan calidad al capítulo. Con esto se dan por descontado los chistes propios del lenguaje (juegos de palabra) o referencias culturales no muy populares en América Látina, aunque si se juzga el criterio de ciertos cambios. Pero en líneas generales no odiamos a los traductores, no queremos que sufran ni que les de hemorroides. http://simpsonitos.wordpress.com/preguntas-frecuentes/
__________________________________________
[My Loose Translation]
Q. Why do you criticize the translators so much?
A. In general, we only criticize them when he find needless/senseless changes that lower the quality of the episode. We concede that some changes are necessary because they are plays-on-words or cultural references that would not make sense in Latin America.

jaredway link

5/26/2013 04:15:17 am

There's another possibility, here, that doesn't get mentioned. I'm struck by the "wiggle room" left in the Spanish version - it's not "Asi es Mexico" but rather "Asi es el vecino del sur."

For US-based people, Mexico is the "neighbor to the south" but for Mexicans, this is clearly Guatemala. I recall a Mexican joke/proverb: "Me sali de Guatemala y me llegue en Guatepeor."

There's a sort of "pass the buck" type thing that goes on, south-of-the-border. In Mexico, it's the Guatemalans that are to be pitied and or despised. And they cross the border illegally, into Mexico, by the thousands. And in Guatemala, the can complain about Hondurenos or Salvadorenos... etc.

So there's something tricky and playful going on in the Spanish that might not be as insulting to Mexicans as it seems. Not that the Guatemalans would like it, either, but they could conceptually pass the buck, too.

Peter

5/26/2013 04:11:21 pm

That makes sense. I wonder a few things:

(1) How far south does Central-American "buck passing" go (the chain of each country thinking its southern neighbor is worse off).
(2) How many Mexicans watching would interpret the line as (implicitly) about Guatemala.
(3) What would an Argentine, a Puerto Rican, a Chilean, or a Spaniard make of this "bash the southern neighbor" thing.

I think the English line is very clever, and that all the grace is lost in the Spanish version, which comes down to a crude direct attack on "the southern neighbor".

Post-60: "That's Not Even Mexico!" -Homer Simpson

Leave a Reply.

About

Archives