JohnMcDove Jun 18, 2018:

You're welcome, Marta. Sounds like a reasonable decision. Saludos cordiales. :-)

Marta Gómez (asker) Jun 18, 2018:

Thanks to everyone! i think I will translate it as the Sovereign Bolivar and speak to the client. I have found that name in quite a few places.

JohnMcDove Jun 18, 2018:

Dear Christian, thank you for the contribution. Wow! I do understand what you mean!

Christian [email protected] Jun 18, 2018:

Bad attempt at sarcasm - my apologies I am from Venezuela, but haven't been there since 1985, and will probably never go back, considering the situation there. I just read that the minimum MONTHLY wage in Venezuela is the equivalent to US $ 0.20 (yes, twenty CENTS). So any new name for the Bolívar is BS (Bull S--t). They should just call it the Maduro instead.

Charles Davis Jun 16, 2018:

@bigedsenior You're not wrong about the value of "strong" bolivars:

"Low-denomination bills—anything below 100 bolivars ($0.0005 at the black-market rate)—are often used nowadays for such things as confetti at baseball games."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-02/venezuela...

bigedsenior Jun 16, 2018:

There are quite a few news outlets that are calling it 'sovereign bolivar (BsS)'. Usually, when a country does this with its currency, as France did in 1960, it was called the 'New Franc'. However, in this is impracticable in VZ, because the BsS is replacing the 'Strong Bolivar'(Bs), although Forbes Magazine did all it the New Bolivar. Also, the Strong is not being retired or exchanged for the BsS. They will exist side-by-side. The Bs may not be accepted in many places and its only use might become a substitute for a lacking commodity - Toilet Paper, which is about what it is worth.

Charles Davis Jun 15, 2018:

@John Unfortunately I haven't got a clear answer to post. If it's translated it will inevitably be as "sovereign bolivar" (what else?). But as to whether to translate it, I find it hard to give a clear answer. Yes or no? Maybe. It depends. On what? Mainly, as I say, the type of text and the type of reader. I think the official thing to do will certainly be to leave it in Spanish, but it will probably be routinely translated in the English-language news media. The British government translates it in its advice to travellers, but may well not do so in official economic or political statements.

So I wouldn't want to post an answer saying "always translate it"; that's not what I think. I suppose my answer is everything I've said here. Perhaps I should have said it all in an answer box, but it seems too messy for that.

JohnMcDove Jun 15, 2018:

@ Charles. Well, if this is in use already, put it as the answer. It would be "oficial" u "oficioso", but if it is already in the Media lingo... ¡Saludos!

Charles Davis Jun 15, 2018:

The BBC is translating it:
" the new currency — the sovereign bolivar — will come in on June 4th"
https://archive.org/details/BBCNEWS_20180323_083000_BBC_Busi...

So is the FT:
"Venezuela slashes three zeros off its devalued currency, and rebrands it as the “Sovereign bolívar” (CNBC)"
https://www.ft.com/content/ca4fc57a-2e97-11e8-9b4b-bc4b9f08f...

But not the European Publications Office:
"according to the Central Bank of Venezuela the entry into force of the bolívar soberano has been postponed for an indefinite period and thus will not be effective from 4 June 2018 as communicated in ISO amendment 166"
http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-5000700.htm

I think it depends what sort of text you're translating and who it's for. In an institutional text you might well leave it in Spanish; in a journalistic text you might well translate it.

The decision whether or not to translate things like this is sometimes taken as reflecting an attitude towards the importance or prestige of Spanish as a world language.

Charles Davis Jun 15, 2018:

What does "official" mean? There is an official ISO code: VES (replacing VEF, the bolívar fuerte, which in turn replaced VEB, the bolívar). "Officially" or not, it's inevitably going to be called the sovereign bolivar, and indeed it already is: that's what the financial pages are calling it, although it hasn't actually been introduced yet (it's been postponed until August). So is the British Government:

"Current bank notes are due to be phased out progressively; higher-value banknotes are due to be introduced in June, when a new currency - the “sovereign bolivar” - is adopted (one sovereign bolivar is due to equal 1,000 existing bolivars)."
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/venezuela/money

Whether it's left in Spanish or translated, there is no reason to capitalise it; you wouldn't capitalise "euro" or "dólar"/"dollar".