No tiene culpa el indio, sino el que lo hace - What is the English translation? English translators help English translators with the translation of No tiene culpa el indio, sino el que lo hace

Conges terminology question

177 months ago

JENN64 asked this question:

Language pair:	Spanish > English
Subject:	Other
Level of diffculty:	Easy / medium
Word or term in question:	No tiene culpa el indio, sino el que lo hace
Context:	No tiene culpa el indio, sino el que lo hace
Keywords:	proverbio translation for this saying

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Answers on this question

176 months ago

wrote:

Guilty is not the indian, guilty is who makes the indian.

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177 months ago

Karla wrote:

"It is not the indian's fault but of the one who befriends him"

My comment:

"El indio no tiene la culpa sino el que lo hace compadre"

My references:

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mexican_proverbs

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177 months ago

Peonia Kempenich wrote:

"It's not the fault of the Indian, but of the one who makes him a compadre

My comment:

"Our final example of an "anti-assimilation" proverb is of particular interest both for the firmness with which it appears to be established in current oral tradition and for the trajectory of its use and meaning over time. No tiene la culpa el indio, sino el que lo hace compadre, "It's not the fault of the Indian, but of the one who makes him a compadre" is, as Américo Paredes puts it, a proverb of "social snobbery" (Paredes 95), a warning of the unfortunate results of elevating the Indian to the position of social equality implied in the compadrazgo, the complex set of mutual relationships and obligations among "co-parents," that is, parents and godparents. The saying has been recorded, with only slight variation, not only from Mexico (Rubio II 63, Conde 299, Keller 77, etc.), New Mexico (Cobos no. 1283), Texas (Glazer no. 216A), and California (field), but also as far south as Colombia (Alario 174) and Peru (Vargas 83). In pattern it is related to a broad family of sayings that concern themselves with the proper fixing of responsability and that are used to admonish an individual who complains about the adverse outcome of a situation, when in fact his own ill -advised actions precipitated that outcome: No tiene la culpa el loro, sino el que lo enseña a hablar, "It's not the fault of the parrot, but of the one who teaches him to talk" (Guatemala: Armas no. N-133), No tiene la culpa el chancho sino el que le rasca el lomo, "It's not the fault of the pig, but of the one who scratches his back" (Argentina/Uruguay: Guarnieri 32); No tiene la culpa el ratón sino el que le pone el queso, "It's not the fault of the mouse but of the one who offers him cheese" (Mexico: Molina 136); and so on. The pattern of these sayings consists essentially of two "slots," one for the immediate or apparent cause of the unfortunate outcome, and the other--the "slot of responsability"--for the "real" cause--the individual who "should have known better," the one at whom the proverb is aimed."

My references:

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/41/083.html

But as Translators, we know that proverbs, sayings, and idioms-oh my, are untranslatable most of the time and a literal translation just won't do, therefore an equivalent in the target culture -if exists- needs to be found, right?

;o)

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177 months ago

Rita Solis Radius - Conseil en Création Littéraire wrote:

The indian is not to blame, but is the one that does it

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177 months ago

WILHELMINA TWENEBOA-KODUA wrote:

The Indian is not at fault but the one who befriends/ trusts him

My comment:

A Spanish proverb ... No tiene culpa el... sino el que lo hace compadre

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177 months ago