I posted to a light-hearted blog called Fucked Translation over on Blogger from 2007 to 2016, when I was often in Barcelona. Its original subtitle was “What happens when Spanish institutions and businesses give translation contracts to relatives or to some guy in a bar who once went to London and only charges 0.05€/word.” I never actually did much Spanish-English translation (most of my work is from Dutch, French and German) but I was intrigued and amused by the hubristic Spanish belief, then common, that nepotism and quality went hand in hand, and by the nemeses that inevitably followed.
Don Colin continues his investigation of Spanish idiomcy and gents’ toilets. Although I have sung with one – flight is complicated for drunken guitarrists in mock-Renaissance robes – I don’t know what “poner una tuna” means. Various types of expert help required. (I get no ghits for “ruiero de combarro.”)
Check out Lenox on the Dump in your Soup School of Translation. The belief that singular and plural, in this case anchovy and anchovies, are qualitatively distinct was also noted by early Soviet linguistic researchers as a barrier to collectivisation in the illiterate hordes of the Great Steppe. I will try to dig out the…
J tells me to take a longer look at the notorious clip featuring Mr Golden Dawn, which I confess I didn’t finish first time round, but which contains a nice “Veni, vidi, vici” moment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4AXJx3IzdY Stuff: Caesar’s comment allegedly came after defeating the Greek ruler of Pontus (whose hazelnuts inspired our al-bóndigas). I don’t think…
I am told that translators all used to be self-employed and not worth suing, but that the slow advance of litigation in the market is changing all that. Phrases like “you can’t sue me for more than the value of this contract” won’t cut it, limited liability companies will need to be considered, and liability…
A divine contribution from our principal supplier suggests that the semantic range of “push” along the hardness axis is more limited than that of “empujar”, which may or may not be true, but which achieves the main object – that users think critically about the door and elect a solution that will not lead to…
Carlos nominates Emilio Botín, who is spending €77 million on a cultural centre in Santander but hasn’t got €77 for someone to translate his bank’s ATM screens, never mind a lawyer to check that it has been done. Asked for comment, the department of equestrian psychology at Glyndwr how the fuck do you get a…
Admirable, artless Almerians (via Lenox – donate, you tight bastards): From the Department of Tourism understand that dining is a cornerstone in the development of the tourist experience. The quality, diversity and professionalism of our restaurants are in themselves a good reason to travel Mojácar. Our wealth joins culinary tradition, innovation, good facilities and very…
The sender tells me this story about the Eurobarmeter (sic) has been improved since publication, but it’s still pretty crap. I think the linguistic establishment takes a quite complex view of the merits of learning a subsidiary dialect, in this case Spanglish, as an introduction to full Estuary or Hudson. [Apparently my English was crap…
The Daily Mail and Tesco and various translation pundits just booked themselves into the nether stretches of the intestines of linguistic hell. From the Mule: I’m not hungry, thanks! Tesco brands Finest spaghetti bolognese ‘the balls of grandad’ Packaging features signs from an Italian market advertising ‘Le Palle de Nonno’ and ‘Coglioni di Mulo’ They…