Gardening glove liner = transatlántico

Here. Forro might have been a better choice. Unfortunately, to be able to demand a sea-going 747 on the basis of trade descriptions legislation I think you might have to demonstrate some intent to deceive.

These wines are aimed at prescribers

Somewhere over the rainbow (p18 to be exact), there’s a country where the health system allows doctors to write prescriptions for alcoholic beverages, and where Torres can openly corrupt them with gifts of the same. Either that or Origin Spain is two redundancies in one: a web magazine, written in Spanglish.

Sepia to the iron with ali smelt

Via Carlos Ferrero Martín and @ucedaman, another great menu, featuring ears to the iron, sepia to the iron with ali smelt, almejas to the sailor, tape of lomo… “Ali smelt” is original and perhaps a calculated insult to one or all Shias, but “a la” as “to the” has tested the imagination, though not always…

Fresh, Nasty and Well-Balanced in the Mouth

An advert for eating young live crab? Of course not: it’s a mistranslated wine label, discovered by the excellent Warren Edwardes. I’m guessing that this is the Casa de la Viña 2010 Chardonnay, whose translated web puff is better, though by no means faultless.

La Razón doubles body count in Florida deaf mistranslation stabbing

Carlos Ferrero Martín points me to this story about the terrible potential consequences of not matching what is meant and what is understood when drunk-signing with armed gang members. La Razón, never to be outdone, converts two victims into four. Fucked translation: deux points.

Spanish “forget the housing crash” roadshow

The Dutch economy looks pretty good from just about anywhere at the moment, but I’m pretty sure government departments there still all employ an English native speaker to draft and translate messages aimed at foreigners. The Spanish economy shows few signs of emerging from its hole, but even though central government seems equivocal about reducing…

Visit Pontevedra, you can’t miss it

From Colin Davies, who I suppose might be prepared to fix Turismo de Pontevedra‘s problems on an ongoing basis in return for free tapas and the occasional lift home in the mayoral limo. The Galician, on the other hand, looks fine – no tourist added-value there, but still plenty of votes, even in a recession.…

Ayuntamiento de Jerez bets on tourism … but can’t afford a translator

This is the The Great Guide of Jerez (La gran guía de Jerez), part of an on-going, multi-million-euro campaign that may or may not impact on Jerez’s image – in novels I’ve read – as the ancestral home of the extremely rich and extremely poor, united only in their drunken delinquency and periodic attempts to…

Chinese overseas aid for Spain?

Victor Mallet has a good piece on Spain’s damagingly mistaken claim that Zapatero had successfully begged $9 billion from China. Chinese state media seems now to be hinting that, while some bucks may be on offer, Spain needs to present some bang asap – usufruct of the Balearics as latter-day Deshimas, proposes a mischievous voice.…