Do we use “motherland” or “fatherland” in Jose Rizal’s poem?

[Joe Carillo]

From edmanuelsong (January 11, 2010):

When do we use “motherland” or “fatherland,” as in “The youth is the hope of our motherland/fatherland?”

My answer to Ed Manuel:

That line about the youth is, of course, the most pervasively quoted English paraphrase of the fifth line of “A La Juventud Filipina” (To the Filipino Youth), a poem that Jose Rizal, our national hero, wrote in Spanish in 1879 when he was only 18. The prize-winning poem had since become a staple recitation piece in many a literary elocution contest among young people in the Philippines. I must say, though, that the English paraphrase of the poem’s fifth line is bland, uninspired, unpoetic, and—I dare say—unfaithful to the original Spanish because it totally ignores Rizal’s feminine description of youth as “bella esperanza” (“beautiful hope”).

                                  IMAGE CREDIT: READ.THEBENILDEAN.ORG    PHOTO BY JOSHUA PAUL GACES


Here’s the first stanza of Rizal’s poem in the original Spanish:

     ¡Alza tu tersa frente,
Juventud Filipina, en este día!
¡Luce resplandeciente
tu rica gallardía,
bella esperanza de la patria mía! 

In Spanish, the word “patria” is a feminine noun that means “native country,” and the nationals of Spain traditionally refer to their country as “madre patria” (“mother country”). Thus, when the young Rizal wrote the poem “A La Juventud Filipina” at a time when the Philippines was under Spanish colonial rule, he clearly meant the feminine “motherland” for “patria.”

So, well in keeping with that intent, the poem’s fifth line had been translated in some English versions as “Fair hope of my Motherland.” Likewise, Tagalog translations of that poem often render “la patria mia” in the feminine “inang bayan” (motherland). One Tagalog translation, however, eschewed the “motherland”/”fatherland” choice and used “Bayan kong Mutya” (My Beloved Country) instead.

Another translator, Alfredo S. Veloso, rendered “la patria” also as “motherland” but exercised extreme literary license by translating “bella esperanza” (literally “beautiful hope”) as “handsome hope”! I think there really wasn’t much choice because in Veloso’s translation of the poem’s second line, he specifically identified the youth as the obviously masculine “Filipino.”

Hold high your faultless brow,
Filipino youth, on this day grand!
Shine forth resplendent now,
In gallant glory stand,
Handsome hope of my motherland!

Early in the 20th century, however, the American translator Charles Derbyshire—his English translation of Rizal’s “Mi Ultimo Adios” (My Last Farewell) is, in my recollection, the most popular and most often recited—translated the fifth line of “A La Juventud Filipina” as “Fair hope of my fatherland!”

Hold high the brow serene,
O youth, where now you stand;
Let the bright sheen
Of your grace be seen,
Fair hope of my fatherland!

So what should the correct English translation of “patria” be—“motherland” or “fatherland”? These two nouns, of course, are essentially synonymous, both denoting one’s native land, place of origin, or the country of one’s father or ancestors. Indeed, some traditionally matriarchal nations like Egypt, South Africa, India, and Sri Lanka are referred to by their people as their “motherland,” while some patriarchal nations like Germany, Greece, France, and Italy are referred to by their people as their “fatherland.”

Because of this variability in the English vocabulary for “patria,” I think both “motherland” and “fatherland” are perfectly acceptable renderings of Rizal’s intent for that phrase in his poem. The choice primarily depends on the translator’s poetic sensibility and cultural perception rather than on a specific grammar or semantic rule. Even so, I would venture the opinion that “motherland” is closer and more faithful to Rizal’s intent for “la patria mia” in the original Spanish.

Read Charles Derbyshire’s English translation of “A La Juventud Filipina”

Read Alfredo S. Veloso’s English translation of “A La Juventud Filipina”

Read a Tagalog version of “A La Juventud Filipina” by an anonymous translator