Spanish Shilling

It is hard to learn a foreign language, and hard to understand the culture behind the conversation. The accents, the words spoken in laughter or whispered or referencing some icon not known to a foreigner: all making comprehension difficult.

Today, the Guardia Civil gave a talk in our local auditorium to the English-speaking residents regarding personal safety and how to avoid robberies and rip-offs. They also told us what to do if anything looked suspicious or if anyone became a victim of a robbery or an assault.

Two young Guardias gave the lecture, apparently on their day off, and did a good job explaining the different chapters in their talk on crime and prevention. I had been asked to translate, but an enthusiastic lady from the Cruz Roja took charge and so instead I sat at the back in a mild sulk.

The presentation was fun, with the two Guardia helping the 'translator' to more or less get the ideas across. They were aided by a power-point presentation in Spanish which the Cruz Roja lady gamely tried to translate, with lots of 'how you say in English...?' and other garbled explanations.

Never mind, as the two Guardias pantomimed various scenarios and everyone was amused and, hopefully, informed.

A leaflet in English was handed out to help with the presentation, but it had an important mistake - a wrong phone number for the local police.

Which begs a question - if you call the local police, or the Guardia Civil, will they understand you?

Those numbers:

• Any emergency 112
• Local Police 091
• Guardia Civil 062
• Police Foreign Tourist Service 902 102 112
• Ambulance 061
• Fire Brigade 080