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Spanish to English translations [PRO] Social Sciences - Education / Pedagogy
Spanish term or phrase:la transitoriedad del cargo
This is from an article of models of university governance in Spain. I know what it means: positions such as the Rector change regularly due to elections etc. but I am having trouble finding an appropiate rendering:
De hecho, son diversas las características del modelo de gobierno universitario español que lo identifican con el modelo burocrático: la elección de tipo representativo, una gestión no profesional y la transitoriedad del cargo.
My impression of transitoriedad is that, at best, it may be a relatively low-frequency word throughout the rather large and diverse Spanish-speaking world, where one may not hear a broad cross-section of society (in numerous countries of Latin America) using it on a daily basis. That said, I think I may have a couple of neutrals I'd like to remove. :) Cheers from the Northern Mariana Islands
Since you mention it, at lunchtime I asked my wife (a Spanish schoolteacher very familiar with administrative language in education) whether "transitoriedad" was high register, and she said not at all; it's a normal way of describing a temporary position. That matches my own impression. "Transitorio" is more widely used in Spanish than transitory in English. And really, there is nothing informal about the word "temporary".
I don't really think 'transitoriedad' is "very formal", as you put it. Although its noun form may be less usual, the adjective 'transitorio' is fairly commonly used, and it does not really sound that formal. I suppose the writer could have used 'temporalidad' instead of 'transitoriedad'; but, whilst 'temporalidad' may not be so suitable in Spanish, in a formal context, I think 'temporary' would be a suitable choice in English, in both formal and informal contexts.
I happen to agree with Charles's arguments, and I would definitely use 'temporary'.
Like Simon, I rarely disagree with you Charles, but here, not only is there evidence the word 'transitory' is used in the context of employment, but, equally important, it also collocates with 'nature' in this context to create a widely-used word-pair that is often, if not exclusively, seen in formal texts, similar to 'transitoriedad'.
In Spanish universities (at least in all the cases I know), only the Rector is actually elected, and for a fixed term. He or she has a team assembled before the election, an electoral "ticket", and once in office has the power to appoint the Vice-Rectors and other members of the managerial team. None of the others is personally elected, but all of them are replaced when the Rector's term expires (unless the next Rector wants to reappoint them, I suppose, though that would be unusual).
The same is true in Spanish secondary schools: the Director(a) is elected by the staff (though not for a fixed term), and presents a team for election (including Vicedirector(a), Secretario/a and Jefe de Estudios). So again you vote just for the top job, but you're voting for a ticket.
Your general point about collocation is well taken. As for Google hits, I was not basing my argument on them, but using them to back up what my own ear tells me. It's just that we all tend to feel that "it doesn't sound right to me" is a bit feeble, and it's nice to have some backup, but I agree that the latter is not decisive.
That said, and acknowledging the example you've quoted, and some (not many) more examples of "transitory" applied to positions in the sense of posts or jobs, they do not change my opinion that "transitory" is an awkward and unsuitable word in this context.
Certainly "transitory" means not permanent, but it's very much more commonly applied to abstract and emotionally significant things.
I rarely disagree with you Charles but I beg to differ on this one. Just because there aren't many Google hits doesn't mean it's unidiomatic (two words don't have to be commonly used side by side in order to be an acceptable collocation). Transitory simply means "not permanent". But even using Google, there are plenty of examples of "transitory position", for instance, including the title of an academic article on this precise topic: http://works.bepress.com/phyllis_crocker/6/
"The Paradox of Being an Interim Dean: The Permanent Nature of a Transitory Position"
Yes, I tend to agree with you, Charles. I was having trouble finding an expression this morning partly because there is nothing before or after the sentence to suggest which "cargo" they are referring to. There are certainly more posts than just the rector which are temporary at Sapnish univeristies, although perhaps rector is the only elected one. In fact, I have "posts" in my provisional translation.
In other words, while I fully agree that it's idiomatic to talk about the "transitory nature" of a number of things (the universe, happiness, and many others), those things do not include posts: "transitory" is simply not a word applied to posts in English, in my opinion.
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Answers
5 mins confidence:
the transitory/short-lived nature of the role
Explanation: This is how I'd phrase it.
Simon Bruni United Kingdom Local time: 18:08 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 319
