Lost in Translation

Some things just don´t translate. If you´ve ever taken a Spanish class, then you probably know that "embarazado" does not, in fact, mean "embarrassed", rather it means "pregnant". This is one of those stereotypical cognate mistakes that you don´t want to make- the one that your Spanish 101 teacher will insist on warning you about quite a few more times than is really necessary. But it´s not only language that gets lost in translation, culture too can be misinterpreted, for better or for worse.

In the U.S., Halloween is that one night of the year where every young woman competes to see just how little clothing she can wear without being completely naked. American men, presumably, just enjoy the show. The Spanish, by way of contrast, have chosen to really embrace the scary aspect of Halloween. It´s not a typical Spanish holiday, so those dressed up were relatively few, but when they did dress up, they truly committed to the experience: full zombie, mummy, monster outfits, etc. In other words, not the least bit sexy. To the American eye this was sort of adorable... like a whole nation of trick-or-treaters before puberty set in and, with it, the desire to start taking off one´s clothes.

So maybe the Spanish just didn´t get the memo, or maybe they´re trying to revive that apparently forgotten aspect of fear. Either way, I fully support the Spanish in their Halloween endeavors. Because personally I think cultural translations, or mistranslations, make the world a more colorful, and more endearing, place.