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Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

montó un representante a la Cámara de su cuerda (Colombia)

English translation:

managed to get someone who toes her line elected to the Chamber of Representatives // managed to get an ally elected to the Chamber (of Representatives)

Added to glossary by María Teresa Taylor Oliver
Aug 17, 2018 21:21
5 yrs ago
5 viewers *
Spanish term

montó un representante a la Cámara de su cuerda (Colombia)

Spanish to English Social Sciences Government / Politics
I'm translating a news article about the right-wing leaders who are emerging in Colombia under the new Duque Administration: https://lasillavacia.com/la-nueva-derecha-regional-que-crece...

And I'm stuck on the expression highlighted below:

Paola Holguín
La senadora antioqueña fue la líder de las campañas uribistas en la calle, con vallas de colores de la campaña de Fajardo en Antioquia, Bogotá y el Eje Cafetero.
Además de reelegirse en el Congreso, ***********montó un representante a la Cámara de su cuerda***********, tiene un diputado que quiere ser candidato a la Gobernación y estuvo a punto de ser presidenta del Senado.
Se quedó en la comisión segunda, en la cual puede sacar adelante, con el espaldarazo de Duque, la ley de sometimiento de bandas criminales que lleva adelantando desde el 2016. Con ese poder, más su impronta de uribista 2.0, se empodera con Duque.

Thanks.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +2 managed to get an ally elected to the Chamber
5 named an individual to representative him in the assembly,or government
3 she got somebody in her line into the Chamber
3 pulled strings to get someone of his ilk elected to Congress
References
Cámara de Representantes de Colombia -House of Representatives of Colombia

Discussion

Charles Davis Aug 23, 2018:
PS: irony I foolishly failed to appreciate that "representante" is indeed ironic, in that it invites you to read it as meaning a representative of herself rather than of the people.
Stuart and Aida Nelson Aug 23, 2018:
Redundancy I'm well aware that "managed to get an ally elected as a 'representative' to the Chamber of Representatives" would be redundant and continue agreeing with Muriel's answer
Stuart and Aida Nelson Aug 19, 2018:
Further thoughts - Representative I think Ronald's interpretation of the sentence is right but it cannot be translated as proposed for the reasons we have already discussed. IMO, the idea of representative is still lost if it says:
'managed to get an ally elected to the Chamber of Representatives'
What about finding a solution along these lines:
managed to get an ally elected as a 'representative' to the Chamber of Representatives? The ST says: 'montó un representate'
Muriel Vasconcellos Aug 18, 2018:
@ Charles Thanks for your (always) thorough review of practices in translating institutional names. It is always a thorny issue.
A cursory search shows that the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the United Nations, the OAS, and numerous country profiles, including the one published by the US Central Intelligence Agency, use 'Chamber of Representatives'. I have worked for all these agencies except the CIA. (I also taught S>E translation for 14 years at Georgetown University.)
It's true that 'House of Representatives' also shows up, but I avoid it for the reason that Charles mentions -- namely confusion with the US House of Representatives, which appears often in worldwide news.
Stuart and Aida Nelson Aug 18, 2018:
Chamber/House of Representatives Whatever is used, IMO, 'Representatives' should be included to reflect the irony.
Charles Davis Aug 18, 2018:
Yes, that's right It is colloquial, and it does mean she used her influence to get him/her elected.

When you look at the detail of Colombia's system, it's not quite as simple as I suggested before. For one thing, the regional factor is potentially important. Politicians tend to have regional/local power bases; they have given favours to locally powerful people, and so on. In Colombia there is a list for each department, and a candidate "sponsored" by a locally influential party boss stands a good chance of success. The open list is a preferential voting system, where voters vote for a party but can express a preference for a particular candidate, which can change the order of candidates in the list. But of course getting on the list in the first place can be due to the influence of a sponsor, and that may be what "montó" refers to.
Stuart and Aida Nelson Aug 18, 2018:
No literal appointment - Colloquial language The senator Holguín cannot literally appoint a 'Representative'. Representatives to the House of Representatives in Colombia are elected by the people per district, etc.; if I am right similar to MPs in the UK.
Montó from montar acc. to RAE: 1. Ponerse o subirse encima de una cosa. 2. Subir en un caballo u otra cabalgadura, etc... 'Montar' is a colloquial term in this context and it is the same with 'cuerda'. Montar does not mean appointment at all but here the term implies that she used her influence to 'get the Representative' elected. However, implying that she appointed him to get on the horse :)
Charles Davis Aug 18, 2018:
With that proviso, let me also say, in purely general terms, that what professors say is not inevitably right. I used to be one myself, and although I always tried to give students reliable advice, I was — and am — sometimes wrong.
Charles Davis Aug 18, 2018:
Please note that I am not disagreeing with the idea of researching the equivalent title, but simply with automatically using the nearest equivalent, however approximate, regardless of other considerations. A judgement has to be made.
Charles Davis Aug 18, 2018:
Equivalents There are different schools of thought on whether institutional names and terms should be translated by their equivalents in the target country/culture. Personally I think great caution is required here. For one thing, "equivalents" are often not exact, and a misleading impression can be created by using them. More generally, the specificity of the institution in the ST can be lost or obscured. Custom also has a certain weight here.

In this particular case I think Colombia's Cámara de Representantes can reasonably be translated as House of Representatives, and there is certainly very widespread agreement on using that translation. I wouldn't give much weight to what the Cámara calls itself in English, but I would give some, for example, to the fact that the Inter-Parliamentary Union uses that translation. On the other hand, custom isn't everything, and I can't see that there would be anything wrong with calling it the Chamber of Representatives. The trouble with "House of Representatives" is that this name comes with baggage attached: it makes you think of the US House of Representatives and suggests that the Colombian one is just the same, which is unlikely to be entirely true.
Stuart and Aida Nelson Aug 18, 2018:
@ Muriel, - House of Representatives Looking back on my study days, my professor always said: 'never translate the title of an authority or a company without researching the equivalent title in the other language' :)
I agree with this. If the 'Cámara de Representantes de Colombia' uses the official title of 'House of Representatives' why not use it? There is also a 'United States House of Representatives'.
Yes, there are 'Chambers of Congress' in USA but this is not the equivalent to the 'Cámara' in Colombia.
IMO, using 'House of Representatives' helps to convey the irony of the sentence, otherwise the idea of the Representative gets lost in translation.
Charles Davis Aug 18, 2018:
It can't literally mean "appointed". It is not possible for someone to appoint a representative to the Cámara. Representatives are elected. Appointment, as I say, can only arise with closed lists, where the electorate votes for parties, not candidates, and people can be appointed by the party to an advantageous position on the list which ensures that they will be elected. But that doesn't work with open lists.
Charles Davis Aug 18, 2018:
Montó I think "managed to get" is a good way of handling this. I'm not sure that "montó" is being used here ironically, except in the general sense that it is ironic that in a democracy people can get elected because they have powerful friends in the party. Holguín is a power-broker in the Centro Democrático. How exactly does such a person get someone elected? In the UK system they could get the person assigned to a "safe seat": people of no perceptible merit but influence in the party get chosen for constituencies where the Labour or Conservative candidate is bound to win. But Colombia has proportional representation. In a PR system, a party can guarantee that a particular candidate will be elected if it has closed lists. And the CD used to have closed lists, but in the most recent election it opted for open lists, where electors can vote for particular candidates. So what does "montó" mean? It must mean that she endorsed the candidate and her influence with voters made people vote for that candidate.
Muriel Vasconcellos Aug 18, 2018:
Agree about the irony I tried to capture that idea with 'managed to get'. See update in my answer.
Not sure I agree with you about 'House of Representatives'; my clients (international organizations) prefer to stay as close as possible to the original rather than try to find an equivalent in a different culture.
David Hollywood Aug 18, 2018:
agree with Stuart and Aida on this
Stuart and Aida Nelson Aug 17, 2018:
Ironically The idea of appointment is ironically implied in montó

Proposed translations

+2
58 mins
Selected

managed to get an ally elected to the Chamber

This is my understanding.

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Note added at 1 hr (2018-08-17 22:26:31 GMT)
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I don't think it's clear that this was an appointment.

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Note added at 6 hrs (2018-08-18 03:54:46 GMT)
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Since it's unclear whether the ally was appointed or elected, here's an alternative:

'managed to see that any ally got a seat in the Chamber'
Peer comment(s):
agree Stuart and Aida Nelson : Yes, but elected to the House of Representatives.
1 hr
Thank you!
agree Charles Davis
9 hrs
Thank you, Charles. I feel honored!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you ALL so much for the very insightful discussion! In the end, I went with "she managed to get someone who toes her line elected to the Chamber of Representatives" after consulting with other colleagues who work in the same translators' pool with me."
51 mins

named an individual to representative him in the assembly,or government

*monto* en terminos colombianos quiere decir que postulo o nombro una persona que la represente en la camara. esto quiere decir que ella como tiene poder politico en colombia cree que puede nombras a todas las personas que estan a su alrededor como colaboradores para tener mas beneficios personales.
Hello, I am a translator here in Colombia. I hope the above explains the translation properly to you
Peer comment(s):
neutral AllegroTrans : appointed a representative more probably
7 mins
neutral Muriel Vasconcellos : He's a "she." Does it say that the person she favored is actually taking over her previous seat? I don't think it's that specific.
12 mins
Something went wrong...
2 hrs

she got somebody in her line into the Chamber

or: House of Representatives (as rightly suggested by Stuart and Aida)

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Note added at 2 hrs (2018-08-18 00:05:02 GMT)
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and "camp" rather than "line" on reflection

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Note added at 2 hrs (2018-08-18 00:06:10 GMT)
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so: she got somebody in her camp into the Chamber/House of Representatives
Something went wrong...
1 day 2 hrs

pulled strings to get someone of his ilk elected to Congress

... or, worked behind the scenes to get .....
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

1 hr
Reference:

Cámara de Representantes de Colombia -House of Representatives of Colombia

La Cámara de Representantes es una de las dos cámaras del Congreso de la República de Colombia, hace parte de la rama legislativa. La Cámara es un cuerpo colegiado de representación directa que es elegido por votación popular cada cuatro años.

http://www.camara.gov.co/

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Note added at 1 hr (2018-08-17 23:03:00 GMT)
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La senadora Paola Holguín del Centro Democrático, en sesión de la Comisión Segunda

http://paolaholguin.com/

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Note added at 12 hrs (2018-08-18 10:04:05 GMT)
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United States House of Representatives

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Represe...

Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_United_States

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Note added at 13 hrs (2018-08-18 10:38:08 GMT)
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Elección de un Representante a la Cámara

La Cámara de Representantes actualmente está compuesta por 166 miembros pero con la eliminación de una de las curules para colombianos en el exterior, a partir del 2018 quedará conformado asíː 165 representantes de los cuales 161 serán elegidos por circunscripción territorial: por departamentos y por el Distrito Capital, y los cuatro restantes a través de circunscripciones especiales: dos para las comunidades afrodescendientes, uno para los indígenas y una para los colombianos residentes en el exterior (antes del 2018 eran dos).

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cámara_de_Representantes_de_Co...
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