VivirLatino

Why all of the fuss regarding translating this song into Spanish? We should be proud, as Americans, that our national anthem transcends language and borders to spread the word that freedom, liberty and basic human rights are the rights of all mankind. I would be happy to see the anthem translated into every known language to get this message out there.

I am an American. I am proud to be an American. I am also proud of our Latino brothers and sisters who come here to work in this country, to do the jobs that a lot of Americans will not do. I will gladly and proudly play this song for all of you, all of us on Monday. Let freedom, liberty and EQUALITY reign!

This was e-mail I originally sent to my sister; I thought perhaps it could join the national conversation.

Ang-wish, of course, is the state into which English-teachers get when W or his father begin to speak in public.

Now, having seen the story on the CNN website, "Sing [it] in English [only]," see http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/28/bush.anthem.ap/index.html, I could not resist doing something. Feel free to circulate (w/ credit to me). -D.
Ach, sag, kannst du seh’n, Oh, say, can you see
Beim Frühmorgenröt’, By the dawn’s early light
Was so stolz gegrüßt wurd’ What so proudly we hail’d
Beim Zwielichtserlöschen, At the twilight’s last gleaming
Dess’n Streife un’ Stern Whose broad stripes and bright stars
Durchs Nachtengefähr Through the perilous night
Über Festung gesehe’, O’er the ramparts we saw
Tapfer blühend g’wea. Were so gallantly streaming.
Und Raketengefeuer, And the rockets’ red glare,
Wie Bombengeheuer, The bombs bursting in air,
Bewies’n den Gött’ Gave proof to the stars
Daß die Fahn’ noch da steht. That our flag was still there.
Ach, sag, blüht die sterndeckte Fahne Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet
So schön, Wave,
Über Freiheitsland und Tapferenhöh’n. O’er the land of the free, and the home of
The brave!

My own effort at a translation, and I don’t necessarily vouch for its perfection, but (as they say), “Whoomp, there it is! Whoomp, there it is! . . .” Perhaps I took a few liberties with the grammar-book and used at least one tribal dialect form (my tribe’s usage, thank you), but so be it.

Until 1917, the largest minority language in the US was German. We used to have daily newspapers, political speeches, labor unrest, sermons of Sunday morning in churches of either side of the Reformation, schooling, recreation, trade, beer-drinking, and the whole bit in what was our language. Then came a war we didn’t provoke and a backlash we as a cultural and linguistic group did not survive, complete with laws against our using our own language in our own schools, laws the Supreme Court would later determine violated the Bill of Rights. [The case is styled Meyer v. Nebraska, and reported at 262 U.S. 390 (1923).]

My personal take: Last I heard, this is supposed to be a free country. If they want to sing it en español, that’s their right. If I want to sing the mess I just wrote in that linguistic Gemisch (as in mélange) my relations back in the old country might not quite get, that’s my right.

So, stick it, Dubya!>>

Felicidades a todos de la lengua castellana en los EE.UU. y buena suerte a los que trabajan para igualdad y la verdadera justicia.

I'm a reporter in New York for The Observer newspaper of the UK - can anyone help me get hold of Adam Kidron urgently? Need to talk to him for fresh story today on Star Spangled Banner.

Joanna: 917 676 0158