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I guess in English we use the term "stand for" to mean two almost opposite things.

We won't stand for it

Kind of means we stand against it

What we stand for

Kind of means we represent it.

Lo que representamos

Is the meaning I'm going for here, but I think that "stand for" evokes a more active participation in the support of the represented thing. It is evocative of "standing up", "standing up for" and maybe even "marching."

One might say "I stand for Truth, Justice and Liberty", but in English we probably wouldn't say "I represent Truth, Justice, etc..."

Maybe

Lo que defendemos

Captures a similar potentially militant approach, but seems defensive if I think of it literally. I imagine I'm looking for a phrase that might have been associated with a political movement.

A few words I have found on reverso.net are:

Significamos

Which I would think means we Signify, which sounds a bit more active than Represent

Apoyamos

Which I'm seeing as Support meaning more active, but not necessarily part of moving the thing forward.

Aguantamos

I think this is Endure, put up with... more the Tolerate side of Stand For.

Solidarizamos

In English at least in America, Solidarity doesn't even have an active version (verb) at least that I've ever heard of before. It's also very evocative of Socialism and other dreaded enemies of the establishment. I imagine that's also true for Spanish speaking Americans.

For this conservatively progressive, liberal organization I'm leaning towards, but undecided between

Lo que significamos

and

Lo que defendemos

Any obvious good choices I'm missing?

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  • 1
    Of the ones you offer apoyamos sounds good to me but I will leave it to the L1 Spanish speakers to give a definitive view.
    – mdewey
    Dec 23, 2018 at 12:04
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    Everything depends on the context. I would translate I stand for Truth, Justice and Liberty with: Estoy para la verdad, la justicia y la libertad Also you can say: La verdad, la justicia y la libertad: esto es lo que defiendo.
    – enxaneta
    Dec 23, 2018 at 16:52
  • However if you need to translate something like 'maison' stands for 'house' in French y would translate this with 'maison' significa 'casa' in frances
    – enxaneta
    Dec 23, 2018 at 17:11
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    @enxaneta I definitely wouldn't use "para" but "por": Estoy por la verdad, la justicia y la libertad. "por" can mean "in favor of," but "para" does not mean that when it accomplies "estar." It can mean that, as far as I know, only when it collocates with other verbs.
    – Gustavson
    Dec 23, 2018 at 17:31
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    @MikeiLL We have no stranded prepositions in Spanish as we do in English. If you want to use the verb "estar" and make it emphatic you can say: Por lo que aquí estoy/estamos es por la verdad, la justicia y la libertad.
    – Gustavson
    Dec 23, 2018 at 21:19

2 Answers 2

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I would say the answer lies between defender and apoyar. The latter sounds a bit soft: apoyar is not sufficiently active, in the sense that it can simply mean "to be in favor of", without the militant tone one associates with the English phrase "to stand for". The former is more forceful but it also sounds reactive: defender tends to suggest resistance against a previous attack. I would say defender is the better choice in your particular case, since defender also means simply "to stand for", in the static sense (the way a fortified tower defends a mountain pass, for example).

You can forget about the rest of the alternatives:

  • significar means "to mean"; saying "I mean truth, justice and liberty" is like saying you are the embodiment of truth, etc., which is not what you actually mean and is also terribly presumptuous;
  • aguantar means "to resist, to endure; to hold fast against; to tolerate"; it's used with things you don't like, so it's exactly the opposite of you need;
  • solidarizarse, in the pronominal form, means "to show solidarity for"; it's used with people, groups of people, or matters affecting groups of people, but not with abstractions like truth, justice and liberty.
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  • Would Lo Que Defendemos be a proper use of the word?
    – MikeiLL
    Dec 23, 2018 at 22:17
  • Yes, I think so.
    – pablodf76
    Dec 23, 2018 at 22:37
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"We won't stand for it" is indeed "No lo toleramos," and also "No lo aguantamos." This is similar to "No lo aguanto" (= I can't stand it/him).

A candidate might define a platform: Candidate B stands for a livable wage. For this meaning of "stand," the exact translation would depend on the context; here's one example: !Vota por Cristina! ¡Vota por un salario mínimo adecuado! (Notice the "for" in "stand for" goes with the preposition "por".)

I think you might get farther in general by using the following two resources: Collins and Linguée.

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    The external resources listed in Linguée remind me of what I've been seeing on the reverse.net site. Very helpful indeed.
    – MikeiLL
    Jan 2, 2019 at 16:22

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