The Spanish language can be stunningly poetic, romantic and in some case beautiful. Certain phrases translated into English can leave you on the verge of tears or make you instantly fall in love with the speaker. Certain Spanish language phrases come to mind. A perfect example is how Spanish speakers say to give birth; dar la luz (to give to the light or give light) or I cried; Las lasgrimas me saliaron (the tears left me). Is your heart on the edge of it's seat? If it isn't you have a heart of stone!
Aside from having a poetic tongue Spanish speakers are allowed the luxury of being direct and not wasting words as 'fill'. Words such as 'claro' can be: sure, no worries, I told you so, sure thing, I knew it, don't you know it etc... This directness has come to lead to some very awkward and some funny moments throughout this little romp around Cuba and South America. The problem isn’t how the locals speak, it’s how it sounds translated. In Cuba a Scottish girl with Asian features was referred to as ‘chinita’ Little Chinese. In Mexico while playing Spanish bingo in the hostel the black man in the picture was referred to as ‘nigger’. In Columbia a Spanish girl referred to the arrival of black people in Cuba to an African American guy as ‘the nigger slaves were sent to Cuba...’ These phrases have continued to lead to pretty awkward moments. Awkward moments aside poorly translated hostel signs can be pretty funny too; ‘Please not make sex in dorm rooms’, ‘make party not make war’ , ‘please dip toilet paper in bin not water please’.
So if travelling in South America or Spain you’re guaranteed to cringe at poorly translated politically incorrect terms but don’t let this ruin your holiday. Roll with it and you can just roll right over it and put it down to language barriers claro!
In Mendoza drinking wine,
Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment