Latin Lingo, Funky Bilingual
My apologies to anyone reading this who thought it would a Cypress Hill post, but it's about the Star Spangled Banner. Now, I don't know if anyone else has been following this whole "controversy" over the national anthem being translated into Spanish. The whole thing really feels like some misdirection dreamed up by the powers that be to distract from the real problems affecting our country. Why pay attention to inflation, health care, immigration, and war, when the real problem is obviously singing the national anthem in Spanish? The other problems are much too complex and nuanced, so here's something else you can get outraged about instead! Is it just me, or is this almost exactly the same as the whole gay marriage smokescreen during the last presidential election?
On May 1, Lamar Alexander, the Republican Senator from Tennessee issued a press release denouncing a new translation of the national anthem into Spanish. In it he says the Star Spangled Banner has “never before…been rendered in another language.” Apparently, he has never been to the State Department Website, where you can find four separate versions in Spanish. For those thinking that this is a fairly recent development, it turns out the United States Bureau of Education actually commissioned a Spanish language translation back in 1919.
Okay, so Alexander was wrong about it being in Spanish, but surely it's never been "rendered" in any other languages, right? Well, according to The Seattle Times, the Library of Congress also has translations in Polish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Armenian, and other languages as well. Hell, I did a little Googling on my own, and found one in German...on the Library of Congress website.
Now that this has become such a hot topic, President Bush even chimed in saying, "I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English." Maybe he should think back to his 2000 Presidential Campaign, where according to Republican Analyst Kevin Phillips' book American Dynasty, he sung the national anthem in Spanish. Since Bush officials can't recall whether or not that ever happened (notice that they're not saying that it didn't happen), at the very least he should talk to his wife then, who happens to be honorary chairwoman of The National Anthem Project, where again according to The Seattle Times, "If you need a mariachi or steel-drum version of the national anthem, they've got you covered."
Getting back to Lamar Alexander, I have to say that he had the best quote about the whole issue by far. Here's the quote, which I found on his own website:
"That is why our national motto is E Pluribus Unum, one from many. That is why the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, the Oath of Allegiance for new citizens, and the National Anthem - all important symbols of our national unity - were written in, and should be said or sung in, our common language, English."
I don't know about you, but if I were fighting to keep something in English, I think it might undermine my case somewhat to quote something in another language. Like say Latin. But maybe that's why I'm not a politician and he is. I mean, that's what I call thinking outside the box.
On May 1, Lamar Alexander, the Republican Senator from Tennessee issued a press release denouncing a new translation of the national anthem into Spanish. In it he says the Star Spangled Banner has “never before…been rendered in another language.” Apparently, he has never been to the State Department Website, where you can find four separate versions in Spanish. For those thinking that this is a fairly recent development, it turns out the United States Bureau of Education actually commissioned a Spanish language translation back in 1919.
Okay, so Alexander was wrong about it being in Spanish, but surely it's never been "rendered" in any other languages, right? Well, according to The Seattle Times, the Library of Congress also has translations in Polish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Armenian, and other languages as well. Hell, I did a little Googling on my own, and found one in German...on the Library of Congress website.
Now that this has become such a hot topic, President Bush even chimed in saying, "I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English." Maybe he should think back to his 2000 Presidential Campaign, where according to Republican Analyst Kevin Phillips' book American Dynasty, he sung the national anthem in Spanish. Since Bush officials can't recall whether or not that ever happened (notice that they're not saying that it didn't happen), at the very least he should talk to his wife then, who happens to be honorary chairwoman of The National Anthem Project, where again according to The Seattle Times, "If you need a mariachi or steel-drum version of the national anthem, they've got you covered."
Getting back to Lamar Alexander, I have to say that he had the best quote about the whole issue by far. Here's the quote, which I found on his own website:
"That is why our national motto is E Pluribus Unum, one from many. That is why the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, the Oath of Allegiance for new citizens, and the National Anthem - all important symbols of our national unity - were written in, and should be said or sung in, our common language, English."
I don't know about you, but if I were fighting to keep something in English, I think it might undermine my case somewhat to quote something in another language. Like say Latin. But maybe that's why I'm not a politician and he is. I mean, that's what I call thinking outside the box.
posted by Christian at 9:14 AM
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