Here's a reader Tattler Tale originally brought to us in Spanish by Efraín Martínez. I enlisted my pal Tovi, a Puerto Rico native, to do the translation. So thanks to Efrain for the first Spanish comment on the Tattler and to Tovi for his help.
Here's the story:
This morning I get on the 147 bus and sitting next to me are two women, around 40-50 years old, speaking French (elementary level). It seems like they were practicing for some trip abroad. It happens that, like every morning, the bus is full and they thought they were in a baseball stadium.
Suddenly, an elderly woman stands in front of me, waiting for me to give up my seat. I didn't realize this as I was reading Choke by Palahniuk, so the other woman next to me (not the one speaking French) stands up and lets the elderly woman sit down.
It is only then that I notice the elderly woman so I feel a little ashamed but I keep on reading about sex addicts in my book.
Suddenly, I hear the witches sitting beside me say: "Ces spiks, ils ne sont correctement jamais instruits" ("These spiks, they are never educated properly"). I ignore them since I refuse to lower myself to the level of these middle class women who think they are from a higher class.
When I get off at my stop, at Michigan Avenue, one of the women gets down after me, stands next to me, and says: "You should let older people sit down."
I look at her with a "leave me alone" face and tell her: "Arretez, je ne parlent pas anglais" ("Stop there, I don't speak English"). She stands there surprised since she just realized that I heard here insulting me.
She tries to ignore this and starts to tell me in French: "Vous devriez laisser des personnes plus agees s'asseoir" ("You should let older people sit"). I stop her again in her tracks, this time with a solid voice: "No entiendes mujer, que yo no hablo frances" ("Don't you understand woman, that I don't speak French!").
Click below to read the story as originally posted in Spanish. And all you Francophiles out there, don't get your undies in a bunch if the French translations aren't exactly spot on.
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