I’ve been in Spain as long as The Simpsons have been on air (1989). And for me, despite their utter American-ness, they remain utterly Spanish. The first time I heard the ‘real’ Homer’s voice I was horrified. Lisa and Marge sound amazingly similar in both languages, but somehow Homer is cuter in castellano, Moe even [...]
No matter how well you speak Spanish there will always be certain words and phrases in the middle of a conversation that will leave you totally flummoxed. ‘Escotbreetay’? What’s on earth is that? And should you need to ask for said ‘escotbreetay’ without Spanglifying – or Andaluzifying – your pronunciation, you haven’t got a [...]
‘Con Canon, tu puedes’ works almost as ‘You can with Canon’, the ‘con’ and the ‘Canon’ resonating in a similar way to ‘can’ and ‘Canon’. Not all advertising slogans translate so well, though, and on occasion the marketing whizzes have screwed up big time. You would not, perhaps, expect a Spanish drinks manufacturer in the 1950s [...]
Two of the first fillers you ever pick up in Spanish are más o menos (more or less) and así-así (so-so), phrases that you hear over and over again in everyday exchanges. Half the time you don’t even hear them: you see them. “How was the exam?” Hold out your arm and rotate your [...]
If you’re a lover of Colemanballs, malapropisms and all manner of linguistic slips then listen out for ‘La Unidad de Vigilancia Linguistica’ on Fridays at 9.35am on Cadena Ser (in Malaga on 100.4). Forming part of the hugely popular Hoy por Hoy radio programme, the section takes a look at some of the week’s best linguistic [...]
