Learning
English is pretty damn easy,if you're an Anglo-Saxon child, but not so
easy if this advantage is denied to you. Here's The Local's
list of the top 10 things Spaniards struggle with. For some readers,
this may be the first time they've met 'phrasal verbs'(No.5), even
though they're the bane of every foreign student's life. This being so,
imagine their reaction when you tell them you've never heard of what
they're complaining about.
One
of my favourite buildings in Pontevedra is the Palacete de los
Mendoza.
It's had various owners over the past 100 years but now
serves as the - rarely frequented - HQ of the Rías Baixas Tourist
Board. It's built in the Portuguese style, as are all these fine
buildings on the north side of Pontevedra.
I
learned only this week that there's a second film shot in
Pontevedra, this one in the early 80s. It was the rather more
successful Los Gozos y Las Sombras and it featured the
Palacete as the home of the main characters.
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. Craply, in a word. Presumably, though, it came with
the stamp of approval of whichever of the Director's relatives
produced it. For a large fee.
Passing
through a street I regularly use yesterday, I saw there were none of
the 10-15 cars usually parked in it. Then I noticed the new yellow
markings and a Load/Unload Only sign. As the only 2 businesses
within 100 metres are a kindergarten and a hairdressers, I was left
wondering who would be doing the loading and unloading. More
precisely, in whose financial interest was this bizarre (but not
unprecedented) decision made? Perhaps all will become clear in due
course.
In
a BBC podcast on Portugal, the reporter referred to Fado as 'a sort
of Iberian Blues'. More
like an Iberian version of moaning, in my humble opinion. I put the mistake down to the reporter not being old enough to know what Blues is. And/or a cloth ear.
Finally
. . . HT to my Ferrol friend Richard for this guide to the 11(10?) rules a
(Spanish) wife must obey to be a good spouse. First issued in 1953,
it'll astonish, amuse and enrage in equal proportions. Especially the
one about not complaining if your husband has stayed out all night.
At the brothel, presumably. I'm guessing it all had Franco's full
approval, if not his wife's. I'm reminded of Mohammed's wife being
told in the Quran to knock off her complaining about her husband's concubines. By
the way, the Spanish for spouse (esposa in the feminine) also
means 'handcuffs'. Now you know why.
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