Spanglish #1

In my never-ending quest to discover the most unusual way to procrastinate, I think I may be onto a way that while probably not the number 1 most unusual way, is definitely in the top ten.

I gave the link to my blog to a friend of mine who only speaks Spanish. I realised straight away that an English language blog would be fairly uninteresting to a Spanish speaking boy. Although he did point out that he liked Jon Foreman. The man has good taste. So anyway I told him about Babelfish, a service from our friends at altavista which provides translation services. What they lack in accuracy they make up for by entertainment value. My friend commented that he liked the way I'd described John. So I decided to check out how Babelfish had worded it in Spanish....

Original: I met John a month ago at the queer group. He sauntered in, sat down next to me and introduced himself: "Hey, I'm John. Nice to meet you." I think I managed to stammer back "Hi. Dan. Thanks." But to be honest it may not have happened that way at all since I was kinda not paying attention to little things like speech. We got talking. Again, I don't remember specifically what was said, but I do remember that when I was talking to him he looked at me intently with his sexy blue eyes and said "right" a lot. He is one of those rare people who make you feel like you are the most important person in the world while you are speaking. He's 23, taller than me, maybe 5'10", thin but not scary-thin, dirty blonde hair, really cute, amazing smile. Actually, he looks kinda like Jon Foreman, the guy up top, lead singer of my favourite band, Switchfoot. Go figure.

And here's the translation. Words in brackets weren't translated into Spanish at all, just left in as English amongst the Spanish.

I satisfied Juan a month ago in the strange group. He (sauntered) inside, sat below at the side of me and introduced himself: "(Hey) I'm Juan. Nice [the city] in order to satisfy you." I think that I managed to babble behind "(Hi) to Dan. Thanks." But to be honest he could not have happened this way in all put that a little I wasn't paying attention to the small things like discussion. We continued that they spoke. Another time I don't remember specifically what was said, but I remember that when I was speaking with him he was looking attentive with his attractive blue eyes and "right saying" a lot. He is one of those rare people that gives him the sensation as you are the most important person in the world while you are speaking. He is 23, taller than, perhaps 5'10", stained only frightened hair - not fine, dirty of the (blonde), really beautiful smile, astonishing. Really, he seems a little the foreman [ie in a building site etc] of the (Jon), the individual on top of the cover, singer of lead [the metal, Pb] of my bandage of the favourite, (Switchfoot). Go the figure.