Mike's musings

Spanish

Two Spanish-related stories today. The first is that at church this morning there was a Mexican couple who it turned out were visiting Essex for their daughter's graduation for her doctorate from Essex University (sociology). They spoke some English - particularly the wife - but not huge amounts. I speak a little Spanish (understanding more than I speak), and invited them to sit next to me and Miri (Jo was at home with Moo, having been sick this morning, though she was well enough to go to a dance rehearsal in the afternoon). I managed to feed them bits of information through the service, and was particularly pleased that I managed to use my phone and The Bible Gateway to allow them to follow the Gospel reading in Spanish. They were very friendly and we had a lovely chat in Spanglish after the service over coffee, and I hope they'll be in touch by email.

The second story revolves around the TV programme "Come Dine with Me" on Channel 4. One of the contestants was using chorizo sausage in a recipe. She mispronounced the word. And then the presenter mispronounced it. At least twice. I'm thinking of starting a campaign. Look, it's really, really simple. In Italian, the letters "ch" are pronounced "c" (as in "consonant"). And the letter "z" as "ts", as in "it's". In Spanish (Castillian, at least), the letters "ch" are pronounced "ch" as in "church", and the letter "z" as "th" as in "thin".

"Chorizo" is a Spanish word. It is pronounced "Ch-o-r-ee-th-o". And NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER "Ch-o-r-ee-ts-o". If it were Italian, it would be "C-o-r-ee-ts-o". It's not. It's Spanish. I've corrected my sister-in-law on this once, and it went very, very badly, but the truth is important. And I'm not going to let it lie. Oh, no.

Labels: church