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We held a Q&A session in Barcelona with selected bloggers (video excrepts below).
And this is how a session like that looks from the other side:
Como he escrito con anterioridad, en España el nivel de uso del idioma inglés es francamente bastante malo (aunque tengo varios amigos que son bastante buenos, tienden a ser la excepción a la regla).
Lo que me vuelve loco es cuando algún español utiliza términos en inglés para referirse a lugares en México (que cabe recordar es el país hispanoparlante más grande del mundo) como "He ido a Mexico City" o barbaridades por el estilo.
La última que me pasó fue cuando estaba hojeando un libro en el aeropuerto de Barcelona. "Las 50 batallas que cambiaron el mundo", traducido por Gabriela Ventureira, tenía un capítulo dedicado a la batalla por México-Tenochtitlán entre los aztecas y los españoles. Lo que me sorprendió y me hizo dejar ahí el libro fue cuando me encontré a los totonacas referidos como "totonac" (su nombre en inglés), los nombres de los emperadores aztecas también en inglés y otros detalles por el estilo. Vaya, pareciera que la traductora no se dignó en checar que los sucesos a los que se refería tenían nombres en español.
In Europe, if you speak 3 languages you're trilingual. If you speak 2 languages you're bilingual. If you speak 1 language you're English, French or Spanish.
5 games, 4 wins, no defeats. And with goals like those below, we can dream of the title.
One thing that I couldn’t stop noticing when I was in Barcelona was the amount of foreigners and people from other parts of Spain who call the place home (which I personally think is a good thing). Whereas before Spain used to be a point of origin of emigrants (one only has to remember the large amount of people who fled the Civil War and the resulting Franco rule) now there is plenty of people from all over the world here, which doesn’t detract from its “Spanishness”. Now, the small neighbourhood stores are operated by Chinese or Pakistanis, many waiters are Filipinos, Ecuadorians or Argentines, and I have Mexican and British acquaintances who operate IT consultancy companies there.
Even though the immigration climate doesn’t seem hostile, it’s not all rosy and fine, as anybody who’s been shouted “sudaca” in the street will tell you. I was, however, pleasantly surprised with the relative peace I found between the different communities (then again, I was not there for long).
This week I was in Barcelona in a very important trade fair. I really enjoy visiting the city, as it is beautiful, has very pleasant weather, the food is generally good (but salty) and I have many good friends living there.
One thing that always surprises me a little bit of the city is the character of the locals: Barceloneses are generally proud Catalonians who have their own language and customs different to the rest of Spain (or, as they say, FC Barcelona is more than a club for a slightly less than a country).
Regardless, visit it when you have a chance, just don’t do it when there is a trade fair as the place will be absolutely full.
Funnily enough, one starts to think that spring is coming when you leave the office after five and there’s still some light (even if the weather’s not that great). That’s what a dark winter does to you.
There were a few events today that reminded me of the importance of friendship in life (not that I ever forget).
Cuando me subí al avión a Londres Heathrow, me encontré con una mujer que estaba teniendo problemas para abordar, ya que tenía tanto un bebé como la carreola de éste y no se daba abasto. Lo que me enervó bastante es que el esposo, que estaba viajando con ella, no se dió por enterado y simplemente se subió al avión dejándola "morir sola". Como estaban viajando a México, le pregunté a la mujer a dónde iban y ella me respondió que a Veracruz, de donde es el esposo.
La actitud del hombre me pareció espantosa, ya que si fué lo suficientemente machito para traer un bebé al mundo, tendría que también ponerse las pilas para hacerse responsable al respecto. Qué pena.
Back here. But at least there's good weather.
