JimenaPulse

About Jimena de la Frontera, the province of Cadiz and Spain as a whole, focused on this small village in the mountains

FOR THE CONFUSED

September 13, 2007 at 21:03 · Filed under FACILITIES, LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS, PROPERTY RENTALS, SITES WORTH A VISIT, UPCOMING ITEMS and tagged: ,

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6 Comments»

  Tom wrote @ September 14, 2007 at 12:35

Prospero,

I get a little annoyed with these flyers and posters in Ruiz Galan and Mercaronda among other places. Very often I see these in English only and on the few occasions when they’re translated into Spanish, fairly unintelligible.

I think thios creates a terrible image of the guiris here. It gives the impression that we are so insular that we don’t even need to bother advertising in Spanish. I think it’s also plain common courtesy to translate them anyway.

I think you could use your blog to great effect if you were to encourage your readers to keep this in mind.

Keep up the good work!

  jimenaprospero wrote @ September 14, 2007 at 15:07

Thanks, Tom! I feel the same. I would ask you and anyone else to use http://bbayeng.wordpress.com (English) or http://bbayesp.wordpress.com (Español) to sell their stuff. I would really love to get this moving properly as it’s a very good, charitable idea. PLEASE PASS THE WORD. (I’ll be putting up some posters soon)

  Anonymous wrote @ September 18, 2007 at 08:18

A rather stinging comment from Tom! Many of us have tried for years to learn Spanish, with varying degrees of success, and it is comments like Tom’s that inhibit people such as myself from using more of it. Most of the critisism comes from fellow ex-pats who seem to be very smug once they have mastered the language. The local Jiminatos are very encouraging of any effort. With Tom on the case, I will be very wary now of trying out my Spanish, oral or written.
Indignant!
PS: Please do not print my name!!

  LEARNING SPANISH « JimenaPulse wrote @ September 18, 2007 at 08:40

[…] we received in response to another comment on learning Spanish that came for an ad for bBay (click here to see […]

  jimenaprospero wrote @ September 18, 2007 at 09:17

Thanks for your comment!
I have to agree with Tom’s ‘stinging comment’, though I don’t see it as such. The fact is that a lot of local people feel the same way but they won’t let you know it – out of the kind of courtesy they feel is missing from us! What they say, among other things, is: why should we learn English when they don’t make any effort to learn Spanish – there are people who have been in Jimena for many years and still don’t get much beyond ‘cerveza’. There are several excellent exceptions to this generalization, of course, some of whom came here at a considerable age. After all, nobody expects a ‘mature’ person to speak the language like a native!
One of the purposes of this site is to help redress the balance; to show that we can and do at least try to integrate despite difficulties with the language. But what I find is that the vast majority of English-speaking readers do not integrate even among themselves! The distinct lack of participation on JimenaPulse, where comments can even be made anonymously if you ask for it as you have, is ample proof of that.
A question: how often do you see a mixed table of ex-pats and locals at any of the numerous bars and restaurants around here?
One more thing: language is probably the clumsiest form of communication. What really counts is the willingness to make an effort to communicate beyond ‘buenos días’, ‘gracias’ and, of course, ‘cerveza’ .

  Anonymous wrote @ September 21, 2007 at 16:54

How can Tom’s comment have been taken so badly? I think it was entirely justified.

Many of these adverts and flyers offer services and items for sale/rent. If they are only in English, one has to assume that their authors do not even want responses from anyone Spanish. How dreadful is that in a small Spanish village!

I don’t think that those of us ex-pats who speak Spanish are smug at all. I for one would love it if the majority of Brits at least tried to learn Spanish and tried to integrate. The simple fact is that, in the main, they do not.

I agree with Prospero entirely – local people ARE affronted and say so often. It is not so much the language (to be seen to be trying is sufficient), I believe that the biggest problem is the Brits reluctance to integrate and respect local customs and culture.

For example, how many foreigners attend velatorios or give a pessame? Precious few. I have suggested in the past that Brits should do these things, not to is disrespectful, even insulting. I have been met with replies like “Oh, well in England we don’t do that”, or “In England we only go to funerals of close relatives and wakes are disgusting”, or “The way the Spanish behave when someone dies is awful”.

It is my belief that if foreigners integrated more, albeit that they don’t speak good Spanish – but are seen to be trying, there would be far less resentment.

Capricious


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