Lost in translation: Watch the hilarious live TV interview with two tourists in Murcia
A Caravaca woman has gone viral for her catastrophic English-Spanish interpreting live on air
Me cago en la puta. Viva Caravaca de la Cruz y sus putos Caballos del Vino🍷Me postro ante esta señora, me arrodillo ante ella y le beso los pies 🤣🤣🤣🤣👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/BtYA4CUWGr
— David (@vivoenelnumero7) May 11, 2024
Being fluent in another language is hard, as anyone who has moved to Spain or has had dealings with Spaniards in English will know. But when you get an interpreter, you at least expect them to have enough basic grasp of both languages to translate the main points saliently, even if it is a “friend”.
A hilarious translation mishap in Murcia has gone viral recently after a live television interview on Spanish TV with some international visitors to the Caravaca de la Cruz Wine Horses event 2024.
This was on Thursday May 2, when presenter Gil López from Telecaravaca interviewed a couple from Britain and Sweden by way of a self-proclaimed “friend” of the couple who acted as ‘interpreter’, to put it loosely, who assured, when asked if she spoke a little English, that “Yes, very well”.
A good interpreter should make themselves relatively invisible, merely acting as a conduit, and should never become the protagonist themselves. All López wanted was to do a bit of a vox pops to find out how tourists and locals were enjoying the fiestas, which have been declared Intangible Heritage of Humanity by Unesco. But he got more than he could handle when this so-called interpreter got in front of the camera.
López’s first question to the pair is whether they have come to Caravaca specifically to enjoy the fiestas. Our nameless interpreter then turns to the pair and, totally straight-faced, says, “Yes, you are welcome.”
Well, what could the pair do except say, “Yes” and “It’s wonderful”?
Question two: What do they think of the fiestas?
Our hero turns and asks the question in Spanish, which the pair of tourists obviously don’t understand.
“Sorry?” says the woman.
“[Incomprehensible] Muy bien, yes, very well, very well.” Inspired stuff.
Interviewer López charges on, unperturbed. Are the foreign tourists staying in Caravaca just for today or for the whole duration of the fiestas?
“Where you stay in todes les fiestes?” comes the translation. Just to be clear, that’s neither English nor Spanish.
This time, the poor confused foreigners can only look around dumbfounded. “What?”
“Yes, yes, very well.”
And after that roaring success of an interview, our nameless hero assures us that if she needs anything else, she’s right here and we can count on her.
Erm, no thanks, it’s all very well.
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