US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 May 06 - 05:18 PM

No, Puerto Rico is not a state, but it is a possession of the USA. It's an American territory. In any case, Azizi is quite correct that it's people who fear those whom they see as "different" who are zenophobes, and only a zenophobe could possibly be disturbed by the thought of someone singing the USA national anthem in Spanish.

Some English people in Canada get pissed when they hear the national anthem sung in French, and some French probably get pissed hearing it the other way around, and the reason is simple: in both cases, they are zenophobes with a chip on their shoulders. That's nothing to be proud of.

It ain't nothin' to get upset about, and it harms no one.

It's just like little kids beating their fists on the floor and screaming, "I want you all to do it MY way!!!! Waaaaah!!!!"

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 May 06 - 08:59 PM

There has to be some deep sense of insecurity to explain this kind of reaction. A sort of worry that the very survival of the United States isn't something that can be relied on, but that somehow it's all liable to melt away like a dream.

In a world where - rather sadly in some ways - it seems that there is an inexorable move towards English being the universal language of globalisation, it seems a bit absurd for this kind of worry for its preservation as the dominant language in the USA to emerge.

I believe that the US Declaration of Independence was first printed in German, not in English; and that in fact German very nearly got adopted as the primary language for the newly founded United Sates. I wonder how that would have changed things.

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 May 06 - 09:21 PM

Esp considering both World Wars, Kevin....intersting thought.

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Once Famous
Date: 01 May 06 - 09:27 PM

That's completer bullshit, Little Hawk.
fuck the word xenophobes. It is just another stupid politically correct word liberals put on people who don't see it their way.

The national anthem is to be sung in English, the language of America. There is probably not one event in this country where it is sung in Spanish.

Today's immigrants want the easy way out and I hope that they will not get it. comparing them to immigrants who have worked hard and gone through the rigors of gaining citizenship deserve it. The webacks do not if they don't follow the program.

And the moron who said that Peurto Rico is part of the U.S when it is nothing more tha OWNED commonwealth is really quite a moron. The flag has 50 stars for 50 United States.

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Stewart
Date: 01 May 06 - 09:45 PM

How about singing this song to it's original tune (now the tune of the US Nat'l Anthem) in English or even in Spanish? Now wouldn't that be confusing? What would the English-only advocates of the US Nat'l Anthem say to that?

What did I hear on NPR news today about a new bill introduced (or to be introduced) in US Congress to mandate the singing of the Nat'l Anthem only in English?

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 01 May 06 - 09:58 PM

Litttle Hawk--

I haven't found it Russian yet, but thanks to my synagogue list, I can offer it to you in (transliterated) Yiddish:

-----

Oy vey! Der Star spengld bener!

Those who are interested in the controversy surrounding Nuestro Himno, the recently released Spanish language version of the National Anthem might take a look at this 1943 translation of the Star Spangled Banner into Yiddish by Dr. Abraham Asen, described as "the foremost Yiddish adapter of English poetry," and proudly presented in commemoration of the one hundred anniversary of the death of Francis Scott Key:

O'zog, kenstu sehn, wen bagin licht dervacht,
Vos mir hoben bagrist in farnachtigen glihen?
Die shtreifen un shtern, durch shreklicher nacht,
Oif festung zich hoiben galant un zich tsein?
Yeder blitz fun rocket, yeder knal fun kanon,
Hot bawizen durch nacht: az mir halten die Fohn!
O, zog, tzi der "Star Spangled Banner" flatert in roim,
Ueber land fun die freie, fun brave die heim!

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 01 May 06 - 10:05 PM

And the untransliterated Yiddish with even more verses is available at:
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/fishstein/images/12_07%20Star%20Spangled%20Banner.jpg

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 May 06 - 10:05 PM

Well, that's pretty cool. ;-) Martin, I am not suggesting that it be sung in other languages at official functions. I am saying that if some Hispanics want to themselves sing it in Spanish that that is no threat to the United States of America. Matter of fact, it's support for the USA from a possibly somewhat unexpected direction.

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 May 06 - 10:10 PM

McGrath has touched on a quirk of history; he is correct. By July 9, 1776, Heinrich Miller had made a translation and printed it in his newspaper, the German language "Philadelphischer Staatsboote."
German did not, however, 'nearly get adopted as the primary language'. Many Germans had settled in Pennsylvania, and the language remained important there for more than 100 years. Some small groups still speak it at home and English remains a second language.

Foreign language papers were common during the immigrant years.
In Texas, the German paper printed in New Braunfels was published from the 1850's until the 1950's. When I was at the University of Texas, I used German language primers from schools in the New Braunfels area as a help in learning German, a reading knowledge of which was required for the degree. I still have one of them, with its label "This book is the property of the State of Texas," and the injunction in boldface, "Pupils must not write on or mark any page of this textbook."

There are some 17 Spanish newspapers in the United States, plus English papers that have Spanish sections. Qué' Pasa, in North Carolina, has a 24/7 radio service from seven transmitters covering the State. Several of the papers have online editions.

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Stewart
Date: 01 May 06 - 10:13 PM

"Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who supports the Senate proposal, introduced a bill Monday to make the national anthem and other "statements of national unity" officially English, a response to a recent dust-up over a Spanish-language version of the Star Spangled Banner released by the record label Urban Box Office."

And more here in the San Francisco Chronicle

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Once Famous
Date: 01 May 06 - 10:55 PM

The song can be translated into any language.

But really, why bother? What does it really prove?

So the song can be translated into Yiddish, charlie baum. so what? I am sure that our ancestors who came here tried very hard to learn to sing it in English and that it meant more to them to sing it that way, as it should for any immigrant.

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 May 06 - 02:01 AM

No, of course it doesn't prove anything to translate it into another language. But if someone wants to, so what? Are they not paying the USA a compliment by so doing? They wouldn't bother to if they didn't like the song. They just wouldn't care enough to bother in that case.

The only time songs get translated into another language are when they have attained great recognition by the people who speak that language. It's a sign of appreciation and approval when a song gets accepted into another language.

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Kaleea
Date: 02 May 06 - 02:28 PM

Wow! I've never seen or heard the Nat'l anth'm in Yiddish before. I'm truly impressed, LH!

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 May 06 - 02:28 PM

My guess is that for most people in most situations their National Anthems (and equivalent songs) are taken pretty lightheartedly. Not exactly a joke, but there's an element of self-mockery about them - which doesn't of course mean that in some circumstances they can't become deadly serious and powerful expressions of solidarity.

In such circumstances, I can't imagine a better way of expressing national unity in a diverse country than to have a crowd of people singing the same song in the range of different languages they speak at home.

I suppose in a situation where people don't actually sing their national anthem, but sit in silence listening to some hired performer do it on their behalf the question of what language it's done in might be seen as significant. But doing it that way misses the whole point of having a rendering of the national anthem in the first place.

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Amos
Date: 02 May 06 - 02:48 PM

As far as I'm concerned it should be translated into and sung in every language on earth.

No question what our official language is, but, hell, if it sings the praises of the country, I don't care if they sing it in Urdu.

The concept of a "land of the free and and a home of the brave" is a lot more important than which soundwaves you use to pass the thought around with.

A

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Chief Chaos
Date: 02 May 06 - 03:06 PM

Hernandez - not to put too fine a point on it, but the Spanish came to South America first. By your reasoning we wouldn't be having this problem because the Spanish should have learned the native South American languages. And since it is theorized that the Chinese may have gotten to the S. America's first they should have probably learned Chinese. I believe the Nordics were the first European race to hit the shores of N. America. I can't see Mexicans speaking Norwegian though. All of which is moot because we should have all learned the tongues of the native Americans who lived here.

Can't we all just get along?

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 May 06 - 03:19 PM

"...should have all learned the tongues of the native Americans who lived here."

That would have provided ample room for variety - evidently there are about 800 native American languages in the Americas. Of course only a few hundred of them were or are spoken in the territories that became the United States, but still a pretty fair number.

See here.

I wonder if any versions of the Star Spangled Banner exist in any of these?

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: GUEST,Laughing in Toronto
Date: 03 May 06 - 09:52 AM

The Spanish translation of "The Star Spangled Banner" dates back to the First World War when the United States unilaterally delcared Puerto Ricans were American citizens and made them subject to the draft. Put the blame where it belongs, on Woodrow Wilson. Much more recently George W. Bush joined in singing "The Star Spangled Banner" in Spanish many times when he was campaigning in 2000. Did anyone object at that time? Now you have Congressman Peter King who wants to make it a misdemeanor punishable by a year in prison to sing "The Star Spangled Banner," or recite "The Pledge of Allegiance," or take the American citizenship oath in any language other than English. So much for the American Bill of Rights.

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 03 May 06 - 10:10 AM

An early printing of the declaration of independence in German

Yesterday, a German Green politician (far left, this guy) has suggested that the German anthem should be translated into and sung in Turkish. I don't mind really but I think that learning a hymn is a good opportunity to learn the language of a land I intend to live in (and its history too). I know Germans who have emigrated to Ireland and don't see the lack of a singable German translation of the Irish anthem an issue of even minor importance.

That Green guy of course has his constituency in mind (one third Turkish) and probably doesn't even know that Turkish is not the most common minority language in Germany. The most common is Russian.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 03 May 06 - 10:20 AM

McGrath--

So far in searching the Web, I've come upon references to the Star Spangled Banner being sung in Navajo, Cherokee, O'Odham, and Samoan, and while I haven't been able to find lyrics, or even a linkable audio version, you can purchase a CD containing the anthem partially in Cherokee at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/cherokee2.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: US Nat'l Anthem in Spanish?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 03 May 06 - 10:23 AM

I believe that the US Declaration of Independence was first printed in German, not in English (McGrath)

It depends what you call a printing. In a technical sense you are wrong. It was first printed in English. The first publicly available printing however was in German.

Wolfgang

Question: I've always thought that German was the first language the Declaration was printed in (the Steiner printing), I've just noticed that other pages say that the first printing was on the evening of July 4th by John Dunlap, which is a bit of a disappointment! Have you got any further details?

Answer: The Dunlap boradsides was an inhouse document. It was distributed to the legislatures. On July 5, copies were dispatched by members of Congress to the various assemblies. Also on July 5, a copy of of the printed version was inserted into the "rough journal" of the Continental Congress. On July 6 it was first published in English in the Pennsylvania Evening Post. On July 5 the Declaration was announed in the Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote in German and the full text was published either July 5 or 6 as a one page broadside by Steiner and Cist and appeared prior to the "Evening Post." (The Post was an evening paper).

Ruth Reichmann, Ph.D.
Max Kade German-American Center
Indiana Univ.-Purdue Univ. Indianapolis