The gypsy beggars and backing-track musos who work the Barcelona local train service systematically and efficiently are an example to Spanish local authorities looking to improve their act: no grasping, arrogant, incompetent, Weberian civil service; a fine tradition of no-budget graphic design; and simple, effective copywriting in the language most likely to mean something, not…
Here. I met a couple of slippered eastern gypsy ladies in Lidl (Barcelona) the other day. They were acquiring monstrous quantities of junk food with their begged euro coins, which they appeared not to be able to count for themselves. I explained that at Alcampo there were self-checkout machines which they could use for small…
This is not turning into a fucked translators blog, but it is said that freelance translation (or journalism, or such) in Spain is born of the same lunatic heroism that impels people to buy houses there or to walk its pavements. The numbers and rules are available at the Ministerio de Desempleo e Inseguridad Social…
Conoci una gitana muy simpatica en mi tienda, a pesar de que nunca las he tragado, congeniamos. Le hice un descuento y se ofreció a leer mis manos gratis. Me dijo que me habian hecho un mal. (Cosa que me han dicho un par de veces. Sé quien fue y sus motivos, se que era…
Make lots of new ~euros in China and sell them under nominal price at gypsy markets. It will end in tears, but there’ll be some good stories. I too was a reluctant fan of Pedro Jota, and El Mundo is still the only MSM source to amuse me. El País is almost Calvinist-Methodist in its…
Colin‘s letter to the Galicians: Ten years or so ago, I sent a personal letter to the Director of the said Rías Baixas Tourist Board, offering to translate all their promotional material for nowt. I never even had the courtesy of a reply. But, anyway, here’s how their English material turned out, absent my help.…
