Category: Language

Colombian Mexican Restaurant: Are you Confused Yet?

~ Mi Blog es tu Blog ~ 1 Comment

ColombiaMexican

Well, as I said before, this whole Colombia vs. Columbia thing is becoming ridiculous, lately confusing the almighty writers over at The New York Times — and even this poor blogger.

And just to continue to mess up with our heads, comes a Colombian Mexican Restaurant, an apparent new addition to Restaurant Row in Midtown Manhattan.

So let’s recap: It’s not Columbia, it’s Colombian, and it sells Colombian, not Columbian, and Mexican food in New York City.

Wait. What?!

Click here for a comprehensive coverage of this blog’s Colombia vs. Columbia conundrum.

Hat tip: Chris Albi

Taylor Swift Wants you to Know Bodegas are Our Friends

~ Mi Blog es tu Blog ~ 2 Comments

Screen Shot 2014-11-01 at 8.31.32 PM

Taylor Swift, who recently bought a $20 million property in Manhattan, has tons of New York City vocabulary to teach you, including what a bodega is all about. (Hint: it’s a corner store, which is open pretty much all the time and -more importantly- is our friend.)

Click here or on the link below (if you dare) to learn a thing or two about this wonderful city in the words of our new “ambassador,” including how to pronounce Houston and why SoHo and NoHo are very different things.

Oh, and please don’t shoot the messenger (i.e. this blogger)

What Else Were you Going to call a Mexican Restaurant?

~ Mi Blog es tu Blog ~ 2 Comments

Call me crazy, but I think calling your Mexican restaurant Illegal Pete’s might not be a super terrific idea. Still, founder Pete Turner seems unaffected by the “fury” of about 50 people demanding a name change.

I’m sure it must be difficult to embark on a name change, especially if your name is Pete and you already has several restaurants open and many more to come. But, how about Undocumented Pete’s?

Just an idea!

Via: CBS Denver

The National Pork Board Wants Hispanics to be Inspired by Pork

~ Mi Blog es tu Blog ~ 1 Comment

Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 5.36.17 PM

The national organization known as the National Pork Board this week launched a Spanish-language version of its popular Pork Be Inspired website, inexplicably called Pork te inspira.

And I say “inexplicably,” because as any bilingual person will tell you, cerdo or puerco would be the correct Spanish translation of the word “pork.” See? Pork is NOT Spanish for Pork, thus the weirdness of the whole Pork-te-inspira-business.

I have no idea why they decided to go that route, but I’ve already sent them a VIT (a Very Important Tweet) asking for a comment or -in the worst case scenario- a clarification.

I suppose El puerco te inspira or El cerdo te inspira would be slogans better suited for the National Porn Board, but we’ll never know for sure until they get back to me (which very likely will be never.)

I will keep you guys posted, though.

California Wants Kids to go Out to ‘Juagar’ -or Something

~ Mi Blog es tu Blog ~ Leave a comment

Juaga

It is always a good thing when U.S. organizations take the time to embrace other cultures -and languages. But, here’s a piece of advice: If you are a children’s museum seeking to encourage children to play and explore in English -and Spanish- you will be well advised to use proper Spanish translations and -ding!- do it right.

Now, you probably don’t have tons of money to hire someone awesome like, ahem, myself, but heck! at least you can use Google Translate. See below. It works!

Screen Shot 2014-07-30 at 2.02.35 PM

So in a nutshell: Don’t be freaking lazy; do your job properly or stop “juagando” with my people.

UNLESS, of course, you meant to say “JuanGa” in which case I’m in and I wan to play!

Hat tip: Begoña Lozano, purveyor of awesome postings.

I Want to be Friends with Whoever Translated this Thing

~ Mi Blog es tu Blog ~ Leave a comment

20140529-211146-76306111.jpg

After almost eight years of blogging about the wonderful world of Spanish-language media, marketing and pop culture, I’ve come across all kinds of weird, poor, lazy, bad and terrible translations from English to Spanish and viceversa.

Some are plain silly, others are just hilarious. But this one above (whose origin is still shady) takes the cake -or should I say ‘se lleva el pastel?’

NOTE: In all honesty, I think the above might just be a case of very witty Photoshop. But… oh, how I wish it were true!

Hat tip: @tropicarlitos