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I work for a production department where we create promo spots for movies in Spanish. My question is, if we are graphically showing phrases, such as "Bravery Lives Here" would it have to show as "La Valentía Vive Aquí" or "Valentía Vive Aquí"?
Thank you for your help!
You need to use the definite article when you are referring to abstract beings or entities, in a general meaning (See this related question).
La paciencia es una virtud
La valentía vive aquí
La libertad es una estado de la mente
El amor nunca muere.
Obviously the definite article wouldn't matter for the graphical representation, but if you are showing a caption with the phrase or a voice reads them, it needs the article.
Otherwise it could be understood that you are not referring to an abstract entity (valentía, libertad o amor) but to a concrete one. So, with "Valentía vive aquí" I could understand that a girl called Valentía (concrete being) lives in that place, not that (The) Bravery (or Freedom or Love) as an abstract entity is found in a certain place.
Definitively, you have to add articles to refer to abstract beings as subjects.
In addition to previous answers, I'd like to add that a phrase like "La Valentía vive aquí" seems a bit odd, I'd go for a expression like:
"El lugar donde vive la Valentía"
Here you change your subject from Valentía to aquí ("El lugar" --> aquí) giving more emphasis to the place (channel, program, place where it happens) more than the abstract concept of Bravery.
Depending on what are you trying to express, would be a better solution than a direct translation of an english sentence. Keep in mind that different languages have different ways to construct sentences and what sounds perfectly legit on one can sound odd on other.
It's not so much a matter of the graphical representation, or even of the phrasing. In Spanish, abstract qualities, like love, justice, or bravery, are always accompanied by el or la. It would sound funny without it.
