Shelling Out

The Galicians love of seafood goes overboard during the Christmas period. Demand is always high for the much-prized percebe or goose barnacle (pictured). This festive season, Galicians were prepared to pay up to 330 Euros per kilo for them. A more typical price was 150 Euros for 1200g for the quality Roncudo type although they could be bought for as little as €20 per kilo if you were prepared to accept the frozen version from the North Sea.

Average prices for small crabs were 40 Euros per kilo for local produce and €12.50 for frozen ones from Ireland. Larger crabs cost €60 for the local goodies and those brought from Scotland were available frozen for just over 20 Euros.

Lobsters were more pricey – around €180 per kilo fresh although you could get them for less than €30 if you were prepared to rough it with the frozen ones imported from Cuba.

Portuguese Language Reforms

I read today about some reforms to the Portuguese language. This may also lead to yet more alterations to the Galician language in the coming years as there is a movement to make Galician even closer to Portuguese for reasons which include improved communication for trading purposes with the Portuguese-speaking world.

The following is loosely translated from www. caetanobarata.wordpress.com (an interesting Brazilian blog):

From January 2008, Brazil, Portugal and other Portuguese speaking countries will undergo language reforms in an effort to unify spelling. Portuguese is the third most spoken western language after English and Spanish. (Hands up, who thought it was French?) Having two different spelling systems (Brazilian and European Portuguese) impedes the spread of the language at international events. Unification would help define criteria for exams and certificates for foreigners. The proposed modifications would result in about 1.6% of the vocabulary in Portugal being modified while only 0.45% of Brazilian words would be affected. However, it will not influence pronunciation differences in any of the countries.

The figures show a general drift towards the Brazilian form of Portuguese. That may be why Portugal appears to be in no hurry to introduce these reforms. Isabel Pires de Lima, the Portuguese culture minister has said that the reforms will come into force within ten years.

Some examples of the reforms include:

In Brazilian Portuguese the circumflex will be removed from words like “abençôo”, “enjôo” and “vôo” which will now be spelt “abençoo”, “enjoo” and “voo”.

The dieresis will be done away with altogether. That is, “linguiça” will replace “lingüiça”, “frequência” instead of “freqüência” and so on.

The new alphabet will consist of 26 letters as “k”, “w” and “y” are added.

In Portugal, the “c” and “p” will disappear from words where the letter is not pronounced. For example in “acçio”, “acto” and “baptismo”.

Also, in Portugal, the “h” will disappear from some words such as “húmido” which will be spelt like the Brazilian “úmido”.

MORE ON THE PORTUGUESE-SPEAKING WORLD
http://bama.ua.edu/~clc/portuguese/portuguese_language_info.htm

MORE ON GALICIAN
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galician_language

Grass backs Saramago

In an interview with the Portuguese magazine Expresso the German author Günter Grass has given his backing to the idea of uniting Portugal and Spain suggested by José Saramago.

“Maybe it won’t happen but it should be given some thought. A single Iberian federal state in Europe would carry more weight than two individual ones,” says Grass.

He adds that the suggestion is interesting and that Saramago deserves credit for speaking his mind on controversial subjects.

Read more about what Grass had to say on other European issues at my other blog

www.catadonia.blog.co.uk

Rain in Spain

It has been raining a bit in A Coruña today. Nothing unusual about that you might think. But when a fine drizzle (the famous Galician orballo) fell on the streets of A Coruña yesterday morning it was the first drop of rain for 17 days. In fact, since the start of October only 7 days have seen any rain.

I’ve been quite happy about that after last year's dreich autumn but it’s not good news for Spain as a whole. The country depends upon Galicia for much of its water supply. Last October it rained 22 days out of 31 in A Coruña.

The English Cemetery

Recently a student lent me a book called Mar Tenebroso – A costa da morte do Sol – by Ramón Allegue Martínez and Ramón Allegue Barreiro. I’ve only had time to dip in and out of it but it touches on a topic I’d like to find out more about: the intertwining history and legends of the Costa da morte; so-called because it has been a graveyard for many ships over the years.

One of the best known of these was an English ship called The Serpent, which left Plymouth in choppy waters in November 1890. It was heading for South Africa with a cargo that included gold and armoury when it sank off Punta Boi with only 3 survivors out of a crew of 175.

When the bodies of the victims were washed ashore, they were said to have been plundered for clothes and jewels before other ships from both Spain and Britain arrived on the scene.

The victims were buried in a cemetery in Punta do Boi between Cape Vilán and Trece beach. It is known as the “Cementerio de los ingleses”. There is also a plaque in honour of these sailors in the San Carlos Gardens in A Coruña.

Breakfast Thoughts

After a 3-week holiday in Scotland I'm having a late breakfast of Spanish coffee, orange juice and Donuts in one of my regular cafes in (L)os Mallos. There may be less of it but Spanish coffee beats Latte any day. Prices are cheaper here too and I'm glad to be away from the fierce North Sea winds which make a mockery of the air temperature. It's good to be back then although I awoke to the sound of morning traffic and construction. Not as peaceful as waking up to the chattering of birds on an Edinburgh back green. My partner and I hope that's the air travel over for a while. It's always been a bit stressful but it's such a carry on now with the extra security measures.

One Day in Europe (Galatasaray-Dépor)

Four vignettes set in Moscow, Istanbul, Santiago de Compostela and Berlin during a fictional European Cup Final between Galatasaray and Deportivo La Coruña. In each story someone is either robbed or claims to have been robbed.

In the Galician capital fans of Depor wander through the streets of the old town and in the police station an officer sits drinking out of a Dépor mug with a scarf on top of the telly. That seems quite feasible even if I have always been led to believe Santiago is a predominately Celta Vigo supporting town.

This film by German director Hannes Stöhr (b.Stuttgart 1970) is unusual in that it comes from an objective European perspective. That’s to say it is not a German film. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that includes so many languages: Russian, English, German, Turkish, Spanish, Galician, French and even a few words of Hungarian.

You don’t have to like football to enjoy this film but it helps. Ideal for those who like their cinema to be realistic and slow-moving without becoming too heavy. I loved it.

Order it here