Tina Vallès (Catalan) reports that the word translator was used as an insult for Mourinho of Chelsea – see this article (Portuguese LATER NOTE No! it’s Spanish…should have recognized that before being corrected by a lover of pedantry) – he used to help Robson at Barcelona press conferences:
bq. Un grupo reducido de aficionados del Barça, cerca de una veintena, le recibieron con gritos de “traductor, traductor”, en alusión a su época en el Barça, cuando llegó como asistente de Robson en las ruedas de prensa.
(Via Trevor)
Murinho may be Portuguese, but the article is, in fact, in Spanish – not even Catalan.
Maybe there’s a remote connection with the Italian adage: ‘traduttore, traditore'(Sp. traidor) – translator = traitor. But, then again, acting as Bryan Robson’s interpreter at press conferences in Barcelona doesn’t sound like treachery.
At least Jose could have raised a smile when the Blues won a well-deserved but sadly futile last-minute penalty against Barca – despite Austrian TV soccer pundits’ mistaken view that it didn’t deserve a penalty in the first place.
Sorry, you’re right. It’s the weblog that’s Catalan. I should have noticed this as I have learnt Portuguese, but I guess it was the word Mourinho that caught my eye.
If we’re going to be pernickety, then it should be pointed out that the adage is Latin – traductor/traditor. I don’t know who came up with it, but early (ie well before Luther & Calvin) Spanish-language bibles were indeed lousy. Übersetzer/Verräter doesn’t work and doesn’t need to work because German translators have always operated with better quality control, except in Alberta.
Not being pernickety, I assume Bryan Robson is Catalan for Bobby Robson.
Even the partisan English pundits thought it was never a penalty, by the way. For an explanation as to why the player concerned, John Terry, gets the benefit of so many outrageous penalty decisions see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,27-2059743,00.html
No, Spanish, of course!
That is a very amusing law. I bet Nigel Cawthorne in my next entry hasn’t got that one in his book.
Thanks Trevor and Ciaran. This website claims even tradutor traditor is Italian and not Latin.
(cf. the well known Italian saying tradutor traditor). – One single meaning is not encapsulated in one word for ever. There is no absolute stability in a …
diplowizard.diplomacy.edu/tara/ getxDoc.asp?ParentLink=none&IDconv=2546
At the risk of boring the lady-readers of this blog, I can only assume, Ciaran, that you are not a Chelsea FC supporter. Also the tongue-in-cheek ref. – in the Times Online article – to a throw-in from the spot where the ball goes out and not 5 yards up has long been known as ‘yard-pinching’ and featured as a soccer tip in the Tiger Comic almost half a century ago when (Sir) Bobby Charlton used to write the Roy of the Rovers cover story.