The best thing about working in a school is that once in a while, when nobody from the non-school environment expects it, you have a week holiday. Yes, half-term my friends, is a blessing. There´s a week when you can catch up with studies, with sleep or with reading. In this case, however, I have decided to come to Spain. And here I am, in my childhood home! It is nice not having to worry about making a dinner that can be stored in a lunch box to take for lunch the day after. It is nice to be with my family and hear the non-stop voices coming from the radio or the tv. I have discovered (not so much as a discovery really, but an information for blog readers) that Spain seems to be a place where there is no silence. Not with my family, at least. There´s the massive tv and all those digital channels, which´s films I watch one after the other although I get oh my so angry because of the dubbing. When are we going to start reading subtitles? That´s a much better option! I am not trying to undermine the work of dubbing actors, but maybe somebody should make rules? Accents, way of speaking and the use of non-standard language are a common feature in many foreign (non-Spanish, I mean) films. So it is in books, and although this use of language brings a lot of colour to a story, in Spain we do not seem to be able to translate it. Standard voices and correct and flawless Spanish accents permeate films, series and translated books. It enfuriates me, but I would be kind of ok with it if this was applied to every aspect of translation. Being a translator is a very, extremelly difficult and unrecognised job. Prestige and salary do not match the effort, that is for sure. That´s why, I guess, there are constant horrible translations around. Spaniards who read this blog: do you not get angry when somebody in a film says, fo example, "Yo no no hice"?. What the hell is that? "I didn´t do it"? Nobody would say that!! Maybe "No he sido yo" might be a better choice, one that does not make you brain blow up if you have a bit of English knowledge? I am sure that the same applies to other laguages and that is why I say NO to dubbing in films and tv series!! And if they keep doing it, regardless my appeal (insensitive bastards!), could they not give enough time to translators to deliver a satisfactory make-sense kind of work? Books have better translations.

In the UK, foreign films are also subtitled and I would adventure to say that it is the same in the other English-speaking countries. Sure, they might not release much foreign (or non English-speaking) stuff, but at least what they do is "faithful" to the original. In other countries like France and Germany, the Spanish case repeats itself. Dubbing, dubbing, dubbing. Is this really necessary? On the contrary, in Sweden, every film and series is in its original language, subtitled. I am sure that this is one of the reasons why 99% of Swedish population has an incredible facility to communicate in English, but that is another matter.

Right, I have gone on and on and on about it and I am sure that this is not such a simple issue and that I have not been too impartial but hey, this is my blog! Feel free to disagree (and to let me know about it too!)

In the meantime, loads of love from Spain, where the sun shines and the TV is never switched off.