Eat Your Words!
¡Cómase sus palabras!
Babel Fish translation:
¡Coma sus palabras!
Any interpreter will tell you that one of the more annoying aspects of our job is to be challenged. Especially when the person doing the challenging has no business doing so, which of course is usually the case. It’s almost always going to be that person that “habla español un poquito”. And it will undoubtedly be over something pointless and stupid.
Why is that? Why is it that some attorney that learned some Spanish in High School feels sufficiently qualified to do my job? That’s the same as me thinking I can litigate just because I watch a lot of “Law & Order”.
On Friday, the applicant’s attorney for the depo told me that she would not need me for the prep. She proudly proclaimed “I speak Spanish and I can handle it myself.”
While she and her client were waiting to be escorted to a private room, I overheard her client ask “Oiga, ayer me llegó una carta que dice que tengo que volver a ir con el doctor. Y eso porqué?” The Spanish speaking attorney answers “Porque quiero agarrar un reporte más corriente.” I thought to myself... hmmmm… she must work for Babel Fish.
During the deposition, the deponent was being questioned about her meals (don’t ask me why, I thought it a bit strange myself). The term "lunch" came up and I interpreted it as “comida”. The Spanish speaking attorney immediately jumped in to correct me and said “No, no, that’s not right. Lunch is almuerzo. Comida means food.”
I asked to go off the record so that I could stop interpreting and respond. “Judging by the accent, I’m almost certain that the deponent is from Mexico” I said “and in Mexico, we refer to lunch as comida. In many parts of Mexico, almuerzo actually means breakfast.”
“No, that can’t be right. Comida means food. Almuerzo is lunch” she insisted. So I said “Let me talk to her for a moment”.
I turn to the deponent and say (in Spanish) “Ok, you know the meal that comes first thing in the morning? What do you call that?”
“Almuerzo” she replied.
“Now the meal that comes after that one, around the middle of the day” I continued “what do you call that?”
Without hesitation she says… “Comida”. Oh yeah! She shoots… she scores…
I look over to the Spanish speaking attorney with a “there-are-you-satisfied” look. All she said was “Oh… I didn’t know that.”
Babel Fish translation: ¡Coma sus palabras!
Any interpreter will tell you that one of the more annoying aspects of our job is to be challenged. Especially when the person doing the challenging has no business doing so, which of course is usually the case. It’s almost always going to be that person that “habla español un poquito”. And it will undoubtedly be over something pointless and stupid.
Why is that? Why is it that some attorney that learned some Spanish in High School feels sufficiently qualified to do my job? That’s the same as me thinking I can litigate just because I watch a lot of “Law & Order”.
On Friday, the applicant’s attorney for the depo told me that she would not need me for the prep. She proudly proclaimed “I speak Spanish and I can handle it myself.”
While she and her client were waiting to be escorted to a private room, I overheard her client ask “Oiga, ayer me llegó una carta que dice que tengo que volver a ir con el doctor. Y eso porqué?” The Spanish speaking attorney answers “Porque quiero agarrar un reporte más corriente.” I thought to myself... hmmmm… she must work for Babel Fish.
During the deposition, the deponent was being questioned about her meals (don’t ask me why, I thought it a bit strange myself). The term "lunch" came up and I interpreted it as “comida”. The Spanish speaking attorney immediately jumped in to correct me and said “No, no, that’s not right. Lunch is almuerzo. Comida means food.”
I asked to go off the record so that I could stop interpreting and respond. “Judging by the accent, I’m almost certain that the deponent is from Mexico” I said “and in Mexico, we refer to lunch as comida. In many parts of Mexico, almuerzo actually means breakfast.”
“No, that can’t be right. Comida means food. Almuerzo is lunch” she insisted. So I said “Let me talk to her for a moment”.
I turn to the deponent and say (in Spanish) “Ok, you know the meal that comes first thing in the morning? What do you call that?”
“Almuerzo” she replied.
“Now the meal that comes after that one, around the middle of the day” I continued “what do you call that?”
Without hesitation she says… “Comida”. Oh yeah! She shoots… she scores…
I look over to the Spanish speaking attorney with a “there-are-you-satisfied” look. All she said was “Oh… I didn’t know that.”
Exactly! Would you like something to drink with that?
Spanglish Word of the Week
Quiquiándola. This is just great! You take a slang term like "kicking back", slang it up some more and turn it into "kickin' it". Then you take that and translate it into Spanglish and... voilà!
Quiquiándola.
"Hola Omar, qué haces?"
"Pues aquí nomás, ququiándola."
Where will it all end?
posted by Doña Marina at Monday, October 23, 2006
1 Comments:
Hey Clifford! Thanks for stopping by!
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