Tag Archives: funny

From Salpicon to Spam and back

I first discovered the amazing salpicón (salpicon in English) on a trip to A Coruña last summer with Belén, tucked away in an odd restaurant in the city centre on an even odder menú del día. I can’t speak for … Continue reading

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Looking back and ahead: Resumen y más aventuras

Now that the uvas (grapes) have been eaten and the cotillón packed away for another year, we can begin enero in earnest. New Year’s resolutions for me: more of the same with a little less sidra and a little more … Continue reading

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More translated food for thought: Am I my film maker’s keeper?

Lost in Translation isn’t just a movie, but what happens when we try to map one culture onto another. It’s like a game of Broken Telephone, where what goes in doesn’t always come out the same at the other end. … Continue reading

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Translation 101: Our many language shores

In his play Translations, the Irish playwright Brian Friel wrote about the difficulty of describing place names in different languages and the meanings for native and visitor alike. Is the ancient local place name Poll na gCaorach (literally “hole of … Continue reading

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Espere … Ctrl-Alt-Supr only as a last resort

Living in a new country is daunting. Living in a new country with expat language skills can be terrifying. Insanity soon prevails, from opening a bank account (8 separate signed pages needed) to signing on at the local police station … Continue reading

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Spanish Quizland. Comments welcome.

This week’s caracola is a quiz with a Spanish flair, one I put together for the Blue Sky Café on Friday night for the curious and the kind, including the winning team Turmi. Come along next Friday if you’re interested … Continue reading

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Help me por favor, más despacio

The language learner in a new place is full of doubts, insecurities, and fears – big breaths in through the mouth and out through the nose are essential. As is a big L sign hung around the neck to indicate … Continue reading

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Game shows galore or how I learned to love anuncios

So far, my favourite Spanish TV show is ¡Ahora Caigo!, a quiz game with 10 contestants circled around a main player, who duke it out in head-to-head questions, until either the main player misses 3 questions (one life or green … Continue reading

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Where English meets Spanish: Las tiendas and on the telly

For the language learner, I think that the order is eye, mouth, and then ear, that is, we learn first to read a word, say it, and finally hear it (and hopefully understand it), firstly on its own (which is … Continue reading

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