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Hace unos meses hice parte del Camino de Santiago con dos amigas mias y al ver la concha amarilla volvi al camino. Tambien a Madrid en el museo del Prado cuando vi Las Meninas, mi obra preferida de Velazquez.

Aunque soy una americana de 25 anos estos imagenes me hicieron volver al pais que es, para mi, un segundo hogar.

Me gustaria ver el anuncio en ingles. Traducido entre dos personas… un espanol y un americano/ingles. No queremos mas fallos como el anuncio para la ensenanza bilingue en la Comunidad de Madrid. YES WE WANT! Que error.

And it seems more than a mere coïncidence that it would be Catalunya (making an exception for Canarias, back in 1991) that, in an act calculated to irritate any Castilian to immesurable length, the ass kicking (or engaging in even more degrading behavior!) the bull, that sent this clamorous humaniarian ban (favoring bulls…) into the world at large.

Personally, I grant Catalunya the fullest right to make such decisions for themselves. I’m willing to accept that Nation, not as my own, but as part of our Europe in formation. And, no, I’ve never been to see any bullfight, whether in Juarez, Lima or anywhere in Castilla or Andalucía or other such deep-down tauromaquía havens. Of course there is cruelty there, down to the young boys at the local fiesta or carnaval…

I have revelled in biographies of “El Cordobés” and Juan Belmonte. Tears at nostalgy for a country and a culture I”ve never even known. Without the utter poverty of most bullfighters’ existence, few ever to climb that gilden stairway, Spain (or should I say Castilla?) would not be what it WAS, or even what it IS.

The argument is hotly disputed. Once again, as ever and always in Spain, we have completely conflicting visions confronting themselves. And no, bullfighting will not disappear: there are far too many old men around, unwilling to give up a culture uniquely theirs. I, for my part, will probably never attend a bullfight. For lack of understanding that ritual.

I understand all the cultural and symbolic importance of bullfighting for spain however I believe nothing can justify the torturing of animals to death. The principles of humanity I think are more valuable than any tradition or industry.

Regarding your second question, I believe the answer is yes. There’s a stereotype associated with a strong Andaluz accent but I wouldn’t necessarily go so far as to say that there is a stigma attached to it. But when comics in Spain and TV shows want to generate laughs, they sometimes trot out an Andaluz accent or “character” from Andalucía.

Regarding your request for info about the extrameño accent, I’ll keep that mind. I need to find a good audio example of a speaker from that area.

Thanks very much for your comment and suggestions!

Un saludo,
Eleena

Dos o tres personas me han enviado un correo preguntando por el significado del texto en inglés porque les gustaría entenderlo del todo y me ha parecido que el mejor plan sería ponerlo aquí directamente.

Un abrazo,

Matthew.

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“How to Approach Fables”

de Augusto Monterroso

Slowly, like with any small thing. But don’t be afraid. You’ll end up discovering that fables won’t hurt you, except when they try and teach you something. That’s bad.

If it wasn’t bad, the world would be ruled by Aesop’’s Fables but be bereft of everything that makes it interesting: rich people, racial prejudices, the colour of underwear and war; the world would indeed be a very boring place because there wouldn’t be any injured people to fill the wheelchairs, or any poor people to help, or any black people to work the docks or any beautiful people to be photographed in Vogue.

So it’s best to approach fables looking for something to laugh about.

- That’s it. There’s a book of fables over there. Run off and buy it. No, hang on, I’ll give it to you as a present: you see, I had never laughed so much in all my life.

Primero felicitarte por tu blog porque me enseña mucho de lo que hay en “el otro lado”. Yo soy profe de español y aunque nunca he ido a España, desde que doy clases me ha dado mucho interés; un interés que ha sido infundado por mis estudiantes que, por su cercanía con el país, asumo, muestran muchísimo interés y fascinación por el país.

A mí lo que más me atrae de ir a un sitio es la gente, el modo de vida, de modo que, en general, este tipo de campañas turísticas no me atrae. Lo que siente de todos estos comerciales, en general, es una repetición de estereotipos y un turismo dirigido a esos que quieren aislarse por un rato del trabajo, de la vida cotidiana y meterse en un rincón donde nadie los moleste. No es lo que esperaría al ir allá. Esperaría una experiencia basada en la interacción con locales y en conocer esos lugarcitos de los que hablas cuando mencionas el anuncio de los asiáticos.

Personalmente el de los tres amigos es el que más me gusta. Creo que es porque refleja esa interacción que yo esperaría y también por esa frase inicial “Amigo, la primera palabra que he aprendido en español”. Pero, como dije antes, en general todos me parecen típicos anuncios turísticos y poco atractivos.

Saludos,

Un saludo cordial,
Eleena

I love your blog! I’ve been studying Spanish for about 3 months now and so far it has been fun but also absolutely difficult. Watching TVE, particularly the news brings out the reality that I have light years to go before I can really master the language.

How about pitching in a blog entry about prayers in Spanish? Especially prayers before meals? It would be a good way to practice the language, and you wouldnt sound weird if you were talking aloud by yourself in a table.

Muchisimas gracias!