Spanish 101: Lost in translation

President Arroyo flew back to town yesterday fresh from her "religious pilgrimage" from the Vatican in Rome and Santiago de Compostela in Spain when she spent a brief stay along with the First Gentleman and other members of the First Family. As expected, Mrs. Arroyo did very well in promoting the interests and welfare of the Philippines and the Filipinos during her state visits to Italy and Spain. Bienvenida, Señora Presidenta!

That’s what’s left of my very little (un poco) knowledge of the Spanish language I learned in college. I had six units of Spanish 101 and three units of Rizal Studies, a subject about the life and works of our national hero, Dr.Jose Rizal who wrote most of his literary pieces in Spanish. That was the only time I was forced to memorize with correct Spanish pronunciation and diction the "Mi Ultimo Adios" (My Last Farewell) of Rizal in order to pass the final oral test for this subject.

And I feel sorry now for not learning by heart this very beautiful language of our Spanish colonizers who lived with us for more than 300 years. This is especially unfortunate for me because Spanish blood runs thick in my veins.

One fourth of my bloodline is of Spanish origin from my mother’s side. My late grandfather. Gaspar Galvez y Anduiza, hailed from E.A.Vizcaya in Bilbao, Spain. My mother tells me her father came from a town known as stronghold of the Basque (Basco) rebels in Spain. This is where, she says, we trace the rebellious streak in the family.

My fond memory of my grandpa was his being a devout Catholic and God-fearing man. The Catholic religion is one of the Spanish legacies in the Philippines. As soon as the clock strikes 6 p.m., my grandpa would lead the family in "oracion" (prayer) at the altar. And Sundays are always a "must" go to Church activity every week. He died in his sleep at the age of 76.

I remember how, as a young girl, I had difficulty to understand my grandpa whenever he talked to us. My mother had to translate it to us in Tagalog. But the language was not a barrier to my grandparents during those times when Spanish was like the second language in our country. My grandma talked in Spanish with thick Bicolano-Visayan accent which Don Gaspar completely understood although he did not speak the local dialect. He and my late paternal grandmother were also able to engage in animated conversation with ease because the latter, who hailed from Davao, spoke fluent Chabacano. This is a local dialect with Spanish pedigree and mostly spoken in southern Philippines, especially by Zamboanga folks.

The President herself is a polyglot. She is both conversant in Spanish and Chabacano. While covering one of her presidential trips in the south, I asked local residents to translate to me what Mrs.Arroyo said to them in Chabacano. But they told me she mixed her Chabacano with certain Cebuano words that they didn’t understand. Oh well, that’s the danger of speaking too many tongues.

But it is like sweet music to hear conversations in Spanish. It was not surprising the Chief Executive successfully charmed her Spanish hosts with her facility in speaking their language. First Gentleman Jose Miguel Tuason Arroyo also traces his family roots in Spain. That was why, I was told, the First Gentleman opted to stay behind in Spain to retrace his Arroyo family roots. As per Mrs.Arroyo’s public speeches, her husband’s maternal clan from the Tuason side is more of Chinese descent. The surname actually originated from Tua Son but through the years, it was merged into one name.

It is funny to recall an incident that happened while we were having a nightcap at the hotel’s presidential suite in Shanghai, China on the eve of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ summit when we witnessed the First Couple engaged in argument in front of us media. Mrs. Arroyo and the First Gentleman tried to cover up their argument by speaking in Spanish.

The funny part was that the argument between the First Couple was something inconsequential. The debate was whether or not only one or both of them should be considered as wedding godparents while only one of them was listed as principal sponsor of the wedding. They talked in fluent Spanish and we were completely shut off by a language we have little understanding of.

The First Gentleman, however, was only too glad that the President finally made this trip to Spain. Her trip to Spain had been scrapped several times in the past while I was still covering Malacañang Palace. As I gathered from those who covered this trip, they had extreme difficulties to get substantive briefings from Cabinet delegation who were with Mrs.Arroyo in all her official functions because they, too, except perhaps for Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, barely could understand discussions in Spanish.

Offhand, presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye, despite his being the official mouthpiece of the President, readily admitted he had very little knowledge of the Spanish language. There was of course, an official interpreter or translator to do the job. A young Filipino-Spanish guy Jose Rodriguez, served as the interpreter for the Filipino reporters covering Mrs.Arroyo. He is the 21-year old son of Pepe Rodriguez, the former bureau chief of Spanish EFE here in the Philippines.

But no matter how good the interpreter is, somehow the essence and meaning of the message is being lost in translation.

But I could not accept the lecture of Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila about the job of the Philippine press, especially those of us in the private media, as the principal means of communications of the government to the people. He was apparently smarting from the flaks he got when reports reached Manila on the complaints of Spanish businessmen on red tape, the high cost of doing business on top of the lack of infrastructure as among the principal reasons why they stay away from investing in the Philippines.

It’s not the job of private media to act as propaganda machines for the government, Mr.Favila. You even brought a fairly large government media personnel in these trips abroad, some of whom were like excess baggage. The government has huge information machinery and Mrs.Arroyo has a lot of supposed communications experts in the State payroll in addition to private local and international public relations (P.R.) agencies hired to do this business of image projection. Performance in office is the best P.R. job and the private media certainly can easily spot solid accomplishments and write about these good things happening in the country.

But Mr. Favila, you cannot tell private media what to write about, not even to scold them for coming out with stories that get you into trouble. The Spanish people have a word for this kind of arrogance in power.

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