Don Gato on Qaaludes

Looks like it's Latin America Folk Song Week here on Bienvenido: today's pick comes to us from Mexico.

Did any of you sing "Don Gato" when you were kids? 

The version I learned was really energetic with lots of clapping - which makes this video even funnier by comparison because it's sooooooooo laid back. It also has some pretty trick art work that I like.

Since this is supposed to be a bi-lingual post, here's the lyrics en Espanol, via Yahoo translator.

Do you think cats really go "maullido" in Mexico?

Oh Senor Don Gato era un gato
En una alta azotea roja Don Gato se sentó
Él fue allí a leer una letra,
Maullido, maullido, maullido
Donde estaba mejor la luz de la lectura,
Maullido, maullido, maullido
' Twas una nota del amor para Don Gato
Le adoro escribí el gato de la señora
Quién era mullido, blanco y agradable y grasa
no había un gatito más dulce,
Maullido, maullido, maullido
En el país o la ciudad,
Maullido, maullido, maullido
Y ella dijo she' d wed a Don Gato
Oh, Don Gato saltado tan feliz
Él se cayó de la azotea y rompió su rodilla
rompió sus costillas y barbas,
maullido, maullido, maullido
Y su pequeño plexo solar,
Maullido, maullido, maullido
Ay Caramba gritó Don Gato
Entonces los doctores todos vinieron
en el funcionamiento apenas ver si algo podría ser hecho y llevaron a cabo una consulta,
Maullido, maullido, maullido
Sobre cómo ahorrar a su paciente,
Maullido, maullido, maullido
Cómo ahorrar a Senor Don Gato
Pero a pesar todo intentaron a Senor pobre Don Gato para arriba y murieron Y él wasn' t muy feliz,
Maullido, maullido, maullido
Yendo al cementerio,
Maullido, maullido, maullido
Para la conclusión de Don Gato
Cuando el entierro pasajero el cuadrado de mercado tal olor de pescados estaba en el aire Aunque su entierro slated,
Maullido, maullido, maullido
Él reanimated,
Maullido, maullido, maullido
Él volvió a la vida, Don Gato

Mi Caballo

I love the internet *almost* as much as I love horses.

Just came across an old Chilean folk song I learned in seventh grade - we sang it in Spanish, but at the time I had no idea what we were singing, other than "My horse...galloping away."

Translating is so much more than simply interchanging a word in one language for a word in another. Words have meaning, even more so when they are strung together in a sentence. So I took great creative license in this translation, in an effort to capture what I feel is the "spirit" of the song.

I hope you like it.

My White Horse

My white horse is bright like a sunrise,

we are always together,

he is my most faithful friend.

Me on my horse, galloping away.

Me and my horse riding on and on.

When I am sad he carries me

on wings of happiness.

Me on my horse, galloping away.

Me and my horse riding on and on.

I told the Lord (and He knows this well)

when Father God calls me to His side

in my saddle I will go.

Me on my horse, galloping away.

Me and my horse riding on and on.

My white horse is bright like a sunrise,

we are always together,

he is my most faithful friend.

Me on my horse, galloping away.

Me and my horse riding on and on.

PS - This is Shiloh, a quarter horse stallion that I love like crazy.
He's not mine (unfortunately) but I still get to play with him.
When I'm in his stall, he tries to chew through the cargo pockets on my pants -
because he knows that's where I keep apples for him!
Shiloh es mi favorito caballo blanco.

Subconscious Discographic Hypnotator

 

During my commute to WT I've been listening to a romantic CD sung entirely en Espanol. The drive is 40 minutes each way: suffice it to say I've listened to the same handful of songs at least a bazillion times.

It may come as no surprise then that I'm able to sing along to many of them. Well, to the choruses anyway. But I don't just mouth the words, I belt 'em out in true Karaoke style. Hey, it's a long trip. I've gotta do something to stay awake.

Anyway, one song in particular,"Amor Quedate," is very big vocally and great fun to sing. (I think the title translates to "Don't go" or "Lover stay" or something similar.) 

One day, as often happens, I had a crazy thought.  What if I heard this song so many times, the chorus got stuck in my head and it's all I could say?

You know, like in that Dexter's Lab episode where he built a Subconscious Discographic Hypnotator to learn French while sleeping  - but the record got stuck on cheese omlette, so the only words that would come out of his mouth thereafter were "Omlette du formage!"

Imagine if, no matter what question I was asked, I'd answer with a line from this CD, sung passionately in the manner I'd learned it?

"Does anyone know the formula for determining the slope of a line?" I'd have to scrunch my face up like I was in pain and wail into my calculator "Amor Quedaaaateeeeeee!"

or

"Can anyone tell me how Newton came up with the idea of gravity?" Unable to stop myself, I jump up, throw my arms wide and and cry "Amor Quedaaaateeeeeee!"

egads.

*contemplates the horror*

Maybe I should stick with the radio from now on?


Naaaah. :)

ENTREVISTA!!

Te presente mi amiga, Diana.

Q. Diana, de donde eres?

A. Tampico, in the state of Tamaulipas. It’s a beautiful city located on the Gulf Coast of Mexico, about half a day’s travel south of the Texan border.

Tampico, en el estado de Tamaulipas. Es una bella ciudad localizada en el Golfo de Mexico, aproximadamente a medio día de camino al sur de la frontera con Texas.

Q. What do you like most about it?

A. I love most everything about my hometown. The beaches, the food, people, music, etc .

Amo la mayor parte de las cosas sobre mi ciudad natal. Las playas, la comida, la gente, música, etc.

Q. Has Tampico been impacted by the drug wars?

A. Very much. Tampico is located in one of the bloody border states. People are dying every day and everybody’s trying to live their lives as normal as they can, while looking over their shoulder every single second.

Demasiado. Tampico está localizado en uno de los estados fronterizos. Hay gente muriendo diario y todos están haciendo su mejor esfuerzo por vivir sus vidas lo más normal possible, manteniendo un ojo pelado a todo momento.

Q. When I met you we were both living in Japan. What caused you to leave Mexico?

A. A variety of things happened around the same time: I graduated from University, my Grandmother living in Colorado needed help and I needed a change. I thought I’d stay for a few years to help my Grandma, until a more permanent solution was found, then either go back home or travel around some more. My plans changed a few years later when I met and married my husband.

Una variedad de situaciones se presentaron al mismo momento: Acababa de terminar mi carrera, mi abuela viviendo en Colorado necesitaba ayuda y yo necesitaba un cambio. Planeé quedarme un par de años, ayudar a mi abuela hasta que una solucion mas permanente se pudiese hallar para ella, y luego regresarme a casa o seguir viajando. Mis planes cambiaron despues de algunos años cuando conocí a mi esposo y me case.

Q. When I travel outside US, I face a lot of prejudice because I'm American; we are not the most loved country in the world. How has your nationality impacted  international travel for you?

A. In Japan, they find it interesting.

I have dual nationality: I’m half Mexican through my father and half American through my mother.

I’ve had both positive and negative reactions to either of my nationalities on both sides of the border. I hate stereotypes and it sucks that they’re alive and kickin’. Negative reactions have gone from random vulgarities said to my face, to job interviews gone south when interviewers realize what country I went to school in.

But, at the same time, I’ve also met people who are genuinely interested in learning about the culture I grew up in. I’ve developed great friendships with some of them.

I’m past the anger when a stereotype is directed at me, because I know people will not magically change their mind. The only thing I can do is change their minds through my actions.

Q. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? 

A. Oh my...that's a hard one. I don't think I could pick just one. I love traveling and there's a lot of places I've been to that I would like to live in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that about wraps it up. Diana, thank you so much for joining us.
That's all we have time for today, Clase.
See you next week on *the whole audience shouts* BIENVENIDO!



EASTER EGG! Lucky readers, here's one more cultural tid bit for you. Check out a place Diana and I liked to eat called MikesTex Mex, a hub of MexAmericana in Japan.

You! Shall! Not! Pass!

I love learning new languages.

In addition to studying Spanish in class, I've been building up my "restaurant vocabulary" at our local Jalisco's. I start by asking a native speaker how to say something useful, then I repeat the phrase about a bazillion times.

Lesson one was learning how to ask for my favorite meal: dos tacos polo de queso y crema solo (two chicken tacos with only cheese and sour cream).

Since I've mastered that, I asked my very patient language coach (our regular waitress) how to say "To Go Box".

She told me several times, but I couldn't quite catch what she was saying. It sounded like she was speaking a foreign language! Oh, that's right... she was. I just wasn't getting it. We both got a good laugh out of my efforts, though.

Registering exactly how dense I am she eventually wrote the phrase down on a piece of paper: It's exact translation is "box for to carry" but I'm diggin' the Spanish version.

caja

para

llevar

The closest I can pronounce it is "Ca-ha pa-dah yeh-vahr" but I can't hit the impossible little tongue roll to the "para" and "llevar".

Still, the three words together have a rather catchy cadence.

I find myself practicing them in crazy ways: singing them in a silly sing-song voice; saying them mysteriously as if I'm about to reveal something wonderful to a breathless audience; even pretending I'm Harry Potter memorizing a new spell at Hogwarts.

But my favorite way to use them is in imitation of Gandalf's last stand against the Balrog.

Whenever Rob is trying to get past me in the hallway, I plant myself firmly in his path, throw my arms wide and yell commandingly:

"CAJA PARA LLEVAR!!!!"

For one frozen moment in time I am in complete command of the hallway, and my new phrase.

Then Rob simply picks me up and sets me aside, reminding me that I've got a long way to go.

MOOve Over Picasso ...There's A New Artist In Town

~Los Colores on the Farm ~

A vaca with marron spots.

A rosa cerdo.

A sheep (oveja)! A dog (lobo)! An ovejalobo? Whatever it is, it's blanco. 

A hungry verde rana.

This is definitely a lobo with two negro orejas and a negro nariz.

HEY! How'd he get in here?!

The Last Straw

 Zulma, my friendly El Salvadorian barista

In the past when I've dabbled with other languages, I lived in or was visiting the host country of each language. Asking store clerks, neighbors, even random passerby "how do you say..." or "what is...." almost always gets me a straight answer. (No one is safe from my inquiring mind!)

Regrettably, I'm not as successful learning Spanish here in America. Not everyone here speaks Spanish, and those that do are from an array of countries - which means a mish-mash of dialects - resulting in a variety of answers per word.

This weekend I wanted to learn how to ask for a "straw" in Spanish. (Thank goodness my favorite Starbucks drink is universally pronounced in English! Instead of having to learn "decaf-grande-white-chocolate-mocha" in a dozen languages, I just have to learn the accoutrements like extra-hot, no-whip, and of course, straw.

Which brings me to Zulma, pictured above.

She is first generation American, her family having immigrated from El Salvador. Zulma happily (as you can see from her smile) told me that in El Salvador I would ask for una pajilla.

Next up was Miguel at Walmart, who stammered and said, "Sorry I don't speak Spanish!" Then he hastily added, "I think my Gramma calls it a sorbe...but, uh, she also calls the baby bottle that, too." We agreed that "sorber" could possibly mean "sucky thing".

Third time's a charm, right? Not necessarily. Mister-Stranger-on-the-street advised me to ask for a popote. Unfortunately, I kept saying poputa. *blush!*

Next time I need a straw? I think I'll just point.

Un leopleuradon magico!

The first time I saw this video in English I spewed my drink and laughed for an hour. :D

Since then, my kids have always gauged my mood by trilling, "Charrrrlieeee!"

If I busted up laughing at just the thought of this clip, they knew I was in a silly mood and open to anything.

On the other hand, if I treated them to my best parental glower, they knew to back out of the room - quietly.

For your sake, I hope you are in the mood for a nonsensical laugh, because this animated short is even funnier en Espanol!





If you're not of the generation that has the above script memorized in English, here it is with Spanish subtitles.

Un vampiro by any other name

Guess what el libro I picked up 
to read for Spanish class?

Oh, Eduardo!

SpongeBob knows which 

team he's on....

do you? 

Vote now! 

Eduardo ("Ed-whar-do"),

or Jacobo ("Ho-co-bo").

            

For the significance 

of this particular el libro choice, 

la clicka HeRe.