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.
Conjugal Bliss, or You Always Hurt The One You Love. It’s a interlingual malapropism, but let’s swing with it. For anyone contemplating a musical career in Spain, the site contains encouraging evidence: apparently this kind of thing works out at €800/hr. For anyone contemplating marriage here, do consider flying in geezers.
Does this recent MedGaz pipeline story mean we’re about to see more headlines like Swedish BP chairman ‘whisked married lover on luxury cruise as oil spill chaos erupted’ and Gulf Oil Spill: Tony Hayward Attends Glitzy Yacht Race As Oil Spews Into Gulf? BP: from British Petroleum to Barbarian Pissheads? The article reports the words…
The WSJ re the 2007 meeting: Mr. Loughner said he asked the lawmaker, “How do you know words mean anything?” recalled Mr. Montanaro. He said Mr. Loughner was “aggravated” when Ms. Giffords, after pausing for a couple of seconds, “responded to him in Spanish and moved on with the meeting.” So what got his goat?…
Over at Mr Harvey’s place, to whom and all a happy Christmas. One day I’ll explain how for certain folks “Vamos a comprar un pato” came to mean “Let’s get stoned out of our fricking tree,” but today is a day of joy, hope and peace, and so they may slumber on while I cook…
One of the more interesting developments at the guided tours business over the past few years has been an increase in the proportion of weird walks sold as younger customers have started using decent, cheap handheld-hosted apps to cover the basic “¡Look! ¡Ze catedral!” legacy (OK, zombie) guide territory. Real-time optical character recognition with machine…
Here, and just as the regional election campaign was getting underway. The state-financed separatist organisation, Òmnium Cultural, believes there is a plot, and is therefore mounting its own campaign to nobble Google Translate. (H/t Alex)
Studiolum over at the excellent Poemas del río Wang has dug up a German-Russian lexicon, published in 1942 by Mittler & Sohn for use by Germany’s armed forces, which introduces itself thus: The war has demonstrated the simplicity of the means with which the German soldier can make himself understood anywhere. The correct words, juxtaposed…
Programmes are rarely distributed at bullfights, and are never translated into English. There is an excellent reason for this, recounted over at La Aldea del Tauro in an interesting piece on the Taurine Bibliophiles of America (via Salmonetes no nos quedan): It’s said that while negotiating with Cagancho the possibility of him filming a movie…
Lenox at The Entertainer Online picks up El Mundo’s report on the Junta de Andalucía’s new tourism portal. Developed at a cost of €5,400,000(!) by Telefónica(!), it was launched by the Andalusian president José Antonio Griñán at a massive junket with 500 guests and the baritone Carlos Álvarez (who I believe makes in the region…