Even the Russian central bank is struggling

Though its interest rate hike press release is only slightly more difficult to understand than Joseph Cotterill’s comment, and, despite its rather pressing concerns, it is still doing much better than the Ajuntament de Vic. Here’s a free comma to hang behind “loans” in para 2: ,.

Appreciating the ugliness of (Spanish) vernacular architecture

José Fariña is writing about Galicia, but his comments are generally applicable: form follows function, so rural flight and the conversion of C20th smallholding culture into industrial agriculture and bear forests will inevitably lead to the entire replacement of the gloriously heterogeneous building culture of the past by drab “rural” 2nd home estates of Asterix…

Non-compete agreements for freelance translators: the Groucho clause

My standard fare is NL/FR>EN legal and industrial, which goes down with a general lack of fuss and fury. But every now and again some loon writes, looking for someone to undercut Google Translate on, say, Serbian>Welsh, and sometimes I put out my horns, like the little Kyloe cow (do click!): for Romanian, for example,…

I just bought my km0 Christmas turkey

It doesn’t look like a normal turkey because it’s a special Catalan breed, and it’s also free-range and organic, says my friend from the bar on the corner. What would I do without my new friends here?

Get your lice at Vic municipal market this Christmas

Vic, deepest Catalonia, has a council that cares – but not necessarily about ratepayers: In the Mercat Municipal de Vic (Municipal Market of Vic) you can find all products that customer may need all of them of top quality: butchers, delicatessens, butchers, greengrocers, lice, food, fish side, bar restaurant, bakery, cheese, kiosk, system products ,…

Incompatibility of science and corrupt society

This lovely story of a Castilla y León government tender for a small investigative boat which already included the name of the winner, a company linked to the governing party, reminded me of this beautiful idea re (some of) the Greeks in Martha’s dad’s book: Travel alone was not enough to create ‘science’. These thinkers…

Barrel organ braking

El fanclub del Nokia 100 soy yo, y su radiación es buena para ti.I am the Nokia 100 fanclub, and its radiation is good for you.[:nl]De fanclub van de Nokia 100 ben ik.El fanclub del Nokia 100 sóc jo, i la seva radiació és bona per a tu.

Note that the wheel exposed to radiation has better color

JA>ES translator gets it wronger than the Madrid police

If you’re in Tokyo the logical assumption is that that local police car is not a Yokohama one, so the “Tokyo” (or whatever) always (?) gets left off: Qué curioso, en Madrid tienen 警視庁 (Departamento de Policía de Tokio Metropolitano)… / cc @Darth_Mantis 20:34 – 12 de dic. de 2014

Google Noticias

Enquiry from a Spanish emigrant to the UK: I have no assets in Spain. What could the AEDE / the Spanish justice system do to me if I set up an offshore aggregator using IP spoofing to avoid shutout and financed by ads?

That the apple is the forbidden fruit is NOT down to translation error

One Alfred López, rehashing what he has found in a thousand other places on internet: ¿Sabías que fue un error de traducción lo que convirtió a la manzana en el ‘fruto prohibido’? […] si cogemos la Biblia original (escrita en hebreo) y la repasamos no hay ni un solo momento en el que aparezca nombrada…