In a local bar, which has recently been bought from its aging previous owner by Colombians, there were two Mexicans. One of them was wearing a battered backpack with the following printed on it: “One medida of Kahlúa, two of milk and one of hielo, all OK agitado”. Translate that! Where would you start? Kahlúa, the backpack man told me, is a Mexican coffee liqueur made with herbs. Whatever, they really know how to mix their languages. My experience of Mexican alcohol is sadly limited to tequila and Coronita. And I should probably know this, but what does Kahlúa taste like? And that’s a lovely accent on the “u”, isn’t it? And is it really all OK agitado? I am reading a good (monolingual) translation at the moment--Anne McLean’s, of Javier Cercas’ bestselling novel Soldados de Salamina. More of which later, no doubt. And speaking of translation, Gail Armstrong, who describes herself as a “hopelessly parenthetical freelance translator, etc.”, has an offbeat, thoughtful and eventful blog at www.openbrackets.com--well-turned anecdotes about her Southern French life, mixed in with multiple reflections on the tools of her trade, words. It all makes provocative reading for anyone interested, as she and Kahlúa so obviously are, in how languages deviously slip and slide between one and the other.
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