Still Discovering Spain...

http://ukdataexplorer.com/european-translator/

This far more modern map of Europe actually incorporates a simultaneous translator. This fascinating languages map is part of the UK Data Explorer series, the map allows people to enter an English word and see it translated into 30 different European languages from Greek to Dutch. Also see if you can discover which words are unique to any country... try "Platano" for example...

Powered by Google translater, the map is a wonderful way to discover Europe's cultural, linguistic and historical fault lines.

Spain's Arabic past, for instance, means some Spanish words really stand out from other European languages.

In Spain, for example, the word for "oil" is "aceite" while almost everywhere else it's closer to the English word. The Spanish for meatball — "albóndiga", from the Arabic for "the ball" — is a word which is only seen on the Iberian Peninsula.

For Spain-based users of the map, there's another advantage: the map includes translations into the Basque, Catalan and Galician languages too.

In the case of Basque, it also shows just how different the language is from the rest of Europe, where Indo-European roots predominate.

The map is not perfect. Creator James Trimble points out that Google Translate is not always reliable. Only one translation is given, which means alternative meanings can be lost.

In some cases the Google tool can't find a translation and the English word is given instead.