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Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

modo fático

English translation:

phatic mode

Added to glossary by Wendy Gosselin
Feb 21, 2018 17:52
6 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Spanish term

modo fático

Spanish to English Art/Literary Telecom(munications)
This is a text about an Argentine artist that here discusses the recent disappearance of a submarine there:

Un submarino argentino, el Ara San Juan, se perdió en las profundidades del océano Atlántico. La cobertura mediática se ha tornado una especie de reality show del misterio. Cada minuto que pasa, se sabe menos qué pasó. Televisión, sites, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, todos parecen medios creados para comunicar lo fáctico que ahora quedaron congelados irremediablemente en su “modo fático”.


Thanks!
Proposed translations (English)
4 +1 phatic mode
4 +4 fatuous
2 +2 exchanging small talk
3 fateful mode / horrible-gruesome mode - awful mode

Proposed translations

+1
13 hrs
Selected

phatic mode

One for euphemism fans. In linguistics, a phatic expression is communication which serves a social function such as small talk and social pleasantries that don't seek or offer any information of value. So it's basically just a high-falutin' way of saying chitter-chatter, jibber-jabber, idle chatter, small talk etc.

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Note added at 14 hrs (2018-02-22 08:01:01 GMT)
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Although with this it is admittedly difficult to preserve the factual/phatic wordplay of the original...
Reference:

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

http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/01/11/the-phatic-and-the-anti-inductive/

Peer comment(s):
agree Robert Carter : I think it should be left as "phatic", the word is unusual in Spanish too, but anyone with an Internet connection can look it up if they feel so inclined. "Small talk" is an example of phatic expression, but doesn't really convey the meaning either.
7 hrs
Cheers. But "factual/fatuous" kind of retains the wordplay of the original
neutral philgoddard : I think the only reason for using this would would be to impress people with your vocabulary. There are plenty of synonyms and near synonyms that readers won't have to look up.
10 hrs
Well, as the saying goes "if you've got it flaunt it" :-) And texts about "Argentinian artists" usually have some leeway for impenetrable verbiage ;)
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "THANKS!!"
17 mins

fateful mode / horrible-gruesome mode - awful mode

A bit of a guess here, so my confidence level may be "exaggerated", but it seems to me that the play on words from "fáctico" (factual) to "fático" (from "fato" - Olor, especialmente el desagradable.) (or perhaps a borrowing from Italian, "fatico - faticoso - hard, laborious, tedious) seems to work more or less conceptually here, with a bit of a stretch in terms of an "unduly free translation"(?)

"Fateful" seems to work in the senses of,

Having far-reaching and often disastrous consequences or implications.
disastrous, ruinous, calamitous, cataclysmic, devastating, destructive, tragic, awful, terrible, harmful, fatal, deadly

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fateful



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Note added at 18 mins (2018-02-21 18:11:43 GMT)
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"Fatalistic mode" may also work in therms of keeping the hint of alliteration with "factual".

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Note added at 20 mins (2018-02-21 18:13:25 GMT)
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Erratum:
"Terms", not "therms"... (I was thinking in Asterix Gladiator, taking thermal baths with Obelix)
Peer comment(s):
neutral philgoddard : No, this is not the meaning, as my dictionary references show.
33 mins
Thank you, Phil. You're right. Although I am not totally sure, without further context.
neutral neilmac : Phatic-> from Greek phatos ‘spoken’ or phatikos ‘affirming’.
13 hrs
Thank you very much, Neilmac. :-)
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+2
28 mins

exchanging small talk

I think 'modo fatico' means 'phatic mode' but I am not suggesting that as an answer as I'm not sure many people would understand the meaning of it. Phatic communication is communication that doesn't seek or offer any information of value. ... ie small talk so I wonder if the author here is saying that the means of communication like Twitter etc were frozen just swapping small talk as there was no information to communicate as no-one knew what had happened to the submarine.

Phatic communication is verbal or non-verbal communication that has a social function, such as to start a conversation, greet someone, or say goodbye, rather than an informative function.
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/phatic-communicat...

exhchanging pleasantries is another possibility except that what has happened to the submarine is not pleasant so possibly not a good choice.
Peer comment(s):
agree JohnMcDove : Not totally sure, without further context, but maybe "perfunctory mode"?
2 hrs
agree neilmac : I think it's used precisely because not many people would understand the meaning". They're being arch. That's why I posted "phatic mode".
13 hrs
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+4
54 mins

fatuous

I agree with Jane's explanation. You can either avoid the wordplay, which is a perfectly justifiable choice, or you can attempt to reproduce it.

Fático does indeed mean phatic, ie largely empty of meaning. You can't use that word because, as Jane says, people won't understand it. But by a pleasant coincidence, "fatuous" has a similar meaning to "phatic", and sounds very like "factual".

I suggest: "all of them created to be factual, but now irredeemably fatuous".


"Phatic: denoting speech used to express or create an atmosphere of shared feelings, goodwill, or sociability rather than to impart information."

Reference:

http://en.bab.la/dictionary/spanish-english/f%C3%A1tico

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/phatic

Peer comment(s):
agree JohnMcDove : Yes, it could also be like "vacuous mode", as in "empty talk". (More context would be appreciated...)
1 hr
Thanks! Yes, that's another possibility, though slightly further away from "factual".
agree patinba : A good choice.
1 hr
agree neilmac : But I think you can use "phatic mode" (I knew what it was already), although I do like "factual versus fatuous", which preserves the wordplay of the original.
13 hrs
agree Jane Martin : I like this answer as it conveys the meaning and keeps the wordplay.
14 hrs
neutral Robert Carter : Although this is a clever idea, I think you've misunderstood the word "phatic". It doesn't mean "sillly" or "foolish", as fatuous does, but devoid of content. "Fático" isn't a common word in Spanish either.
20 hrs
No, I know perfectly well what it means, and I've included a dictionary reference. I know the two meanings aren't the same, but they're close enough for my translation to work.
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